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title: The Lotus Eaters

author: Tatjana Soli


published: 2010

pages: 389

genre: fiction

source: received for review/part of a book tour

first line: The city teetered in a dream state.


rated: 4 out of 5

In the final days of a falling Saigon, The Lotus Eaters unfolds the story of three remarkable photographers brought together under the impossible umbrella of war: Helen Adams, a once-naive ingenue whose ambition conflicts with her heart, over the course of the fighting.; the mysterious Linh, the Vietnamese man who loves her, but is torn between conflicting loyalties to his homeland and his heart; and Sam Darrow, a man addicted to the narcotic of violence, to his intoxicating affair with Helen and to the ever-increasing danger of his job. All three become transformed by the conflict they have risked everything to record.


In this much-heralded debut, Tatjana Soli creates a searing portrait of three souls trapped by their impossible passions, contrasting the wrenching horror of combat and the treachery of obsession with the redemptive power of love. Readers will be transfixed by this stunning novel of love, duty and ambition among the ruins of war.

I started reading The Lotus Eaters at around 10 o'clock one night after I settled into bed figuring I'd wind down my day with about 20 minutes of reading, instead I read for the next two hours unable to put down this intriguing book.





The Lotus Eaters opens up with thirty something American journalist and photographer Helen Adams living in Vietnam. It is 1975 and a war torn Saigon is falling.


Linh is the Vietnamese man who is the love of Helen's life, he too is a photographer.


Sam Darrow is an American photographer, whose passion for his work Helen can relate to. All three of these peoples lives are intertwined.



Author Tatjana Soli captures the setting perfectly, I felt like I was walking the streets in Saigon, witness to the sights and sounds she described.

She stood by the window drinking tea, looking at the overcast sky, roiling clouds in varying shades from light pewter to the muddy, brownish gray of scorched earth. The breeze had turned sharp, the smell of rain and thunder promising a strong monsoon shower. Saigon was loved precisely because it was so unlovable-its squalor, it biblical, Job-like misfortune, its imminent, hovering doom.
p. 19

I liked Helen's character right away, it was easy to imagine her drive and passion.
The story had everything I enjoy in a book, interesting plot, passionate well-written characters and beautiful prose.




As the story unfolds you get a glimpse into a warn torn Vietnam. Helen uses her camera to capture the beauty and violence of this country. She has come to love Vietnam and its people, her nickname being 'Helen of Saigon' among her fellow journalists. Helen is also struggling to make it in a dangerous and male dominated line of work. The death of her own brother in the line of duty drives her even more.
In the midst of all this chaos, she does not want to leave the country she has grown to love.

Outside, the plunged into a stream of people and were carried along. The ruttish noise deafening. Families argued over which direction to go, children cried, dogs barked, and on top of it all was the impatient blaring of horns as vehicles tried to force their way through. Far in the background, like the steady thrum of a heart, the sound of bombs exploding. The image of a bloodthirsty army approaching close and close made each person jog instead of walk, push instead of wait. Like a fix, Helen ached to pick up her camera and start shooting. What was the point of living though history if you didn't record it?
p. 26

I highly recommend The Lotus Eaters. I really enjoyed this one and was captivated from start to finish. This will be on my top favorite reads for 2011.











About the author:

Tatjana Soli is a novelist and short story writer. Born in Salzburg, Austria, she attended Stanford University and the Warren Wilson MFA Program.


Her stories have appeared in StoryQuarterly, Confrontation, Gulf Coast, Other Voices, Nimrod, Third Coast, Carolina Quarterly, Sonora Review and North Dakota Quarterly among other publications.


Her work has been twice listed in the 100 Distinguished Stories in Best American Short Stories and nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She was awarded the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Prize, the Dana Award, finalist for the Bellwether Prize, and received scholarships to the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference.


She lives with her husband in Orange County, California, and teaches through the Gotham Writers’ Workshop.


Visit Tatjana’s website HERE.





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