The Sorrow of War: A Novel of North Vietnam

In his room in Hanoi, Kien reveals that he is not in the Jungle of Screaming Souls, but rather remembering it almost fourteen years after the war. He reveals that at times unbidden memories will come to him: smelling rotting meat and remembering the decomposing bodies on Hamburger Hill; lying in bed, listening to the ceiling fan, and remembering the sound of helicopter blades; or watching war movies and feeling a rush of adrenaline, a desire to fight again. 

Kien also reveals he is almost forty, and writing a novel about his experiences during the war. He has the idea that he has been chosen to perform the sacred duty of writing about the war. He believes he has been kept alive through the war years to perform this duty. 

As Kien contemplates his novel in his room, he begins to remember the years after the war. Almost five years ago, he visited the tiny hamlet of Doi Mo, where he had first trained, before the war began. There, he meets the daughter of the woman he stayed with. After spending the night with her, she tells him he can always return to live with her. He remembers visiting his mother’s second husband just before Kien left for the war, and returning after the war to find his step-father dead.