By Carmen Lebar
Content warning: death, war, violence, racism, rape
Em is the newest novel by Kim Thúy. This short novel centres around the Vietnam/American War, and the explicit and implicit effects it has on the characters in the story. Although this is a short novel, it’s multifaceted and delivers a lot within its few pages. The novel weaves together fact and fiction in a beautiful and meaningful way. By the time I finished reading this novel, I felt like I had read a novel quadruple in size. I learned a lot and experienced a bird’s eye view into the many atrocities that happened during this time in history. It’s a novel that I think excels in its historical referencing and narration.
Thúy begins the novel with the arrival of French colonizers in Vietnam and depicts the plantations they built. From there, she describes many key moments in Vietnamese history, mainly during the war. One moment you’ll be learning about the plane crash in Operation Babylift and how some of the characters were connected to this horrible accident, and the next you’ll learn about Operation Frequent Wind and the lives that flourished after this evacuation. These significant historical events are so deeply rooted in each and every character that it creates a vast web that is extremely intricate and delicate. I was shocked by these events, but also amazed by how eloquently Thúy writes about them. Thúy uses these historical events to frame the stories she tells, but also to expose how all stories are rooted in history.
Although sparse, the narration in this novel does more than most novels can do in 500 pages. Each chapter provides a brief glimpse into history or story. This scarcity of language reflects the ways in which a lot of the characters (and the real people who experienced these historical events) couldn’t speak of the atrocities and horrors they saw. It forces the reader to fill in the gaps and make connections. Thúy is skilled in her narration; she evokes so much emotion in these small chapters. I will say that the book does end a bit abruptly in a way that diverges from the rest of the novel a bit. Yet, I feel it doesn’t hurt the overall story in the slightest.
Em is a wonderful, brief novel that is poignant yet optimistic. It left me wanting to learn more about the main characters—Tâm, Louis, and Emma-Jade. Yet all I will get are these brief vignettes of history and fiction woven into this amazing story. I didn’t know a lot about the Vietnam/American War going into this novel, but now I feel I have learned enough to have a starting point in understanding what happened. And that’s what great historical fiction does—it teaches you history you may not have known, and it influences you to educate yourself. I highly recommend this novel to anyone who likes reading shorter books—but shorter books that don’t lack depth. If you love historical fiction, literary fiction, or want to read more novels by Asian authors, I think Em by Kim Thúy is a great pick.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review. Please note that Carmen has recently acquired a new position with Penguin Random House Canada. Her thoughts and opinions are her own, but for transparency we'd like to share this detail.