Review: Life, Death, and the Next Generation
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 12, 2014
Ephraim Luther is a young man taken prisoner during the Vietnam War and held in a place called the Citadel where he is interrogated by the prison commandant, Heng Souk. They will each impact the other's life in unexpected and monumental ways. During his confinement Ephraim is given a notebook and a pencil by Souk and told to write. And he does. Decades later this journal will come into the hands of a new generation. This diary, written by a young man who has become convinced that it will contain his last thoughts before death, will have a profound effect on many different lives.It's interesting that Sun, the niece of Heng Souk, was sickened by what he had done during the war. This will ever be one of the ironies of war; that those who come after reject the brutality of their forefathers. They are blind to a time when the luxury of taking the long view was impossible. People were dying, countries were being invaded, information had to be obtained, and decisions had to be made. As Heng tells his niece when she asks if the words in the journal written by the young American were true, "I did what needed to be done". I think that therein lies the hope for the human race; that generation by successive generation reject things that were done in the past. And although repelled, Sun is either unwilling or unable to stop reading and questioning, demanding to understand.Meanwhile Thomas Allen is on his way to Vietnam to look for traces of a father he has never known. His path will cross with both Sun and Heng Souk and the results will be both bloody and unexpected. Thomas and Sun, children of the generation following the war but from opposite sides, are left to find and make peace with the actions of men who fought each other in a war that left deep scars on two different countries.When our children look into our pasts there is always the chance that they will unearth things better left buried. Secrets long hidden, decisions made, acts committed, pain tucked away, can come back to life to haunt us, and worse, our children. Sometimes they go to the grave with us but many times, through unforseen circumstances, even a kind of cosmic bitter retribution, they are unearthed.In the end, this is an age old story about children searching for the truth of their lives through the examination of those who came before. Coming to terms with what they find out is a solitary process that can answer some questions and leave them with more. The lessons learned will be shown in how they proceed with their lives.