To share your reaction on this item, open the Amazon app from the App Store or Google Play on your phone.

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Audiobook Price: $17.03

Save: $9.54 (56%)

eBook features:
  • Highlight, take notes, and search in the book
  • In this edition, page numbers are just like the physical edition
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Lotus Eaters: A Novel (Reading Group Gold) Illustrated Edition, Kindle Edition

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 874 ratings

A New York Times Best Seller! A New York Times Notable Book!

A unique and sweeping debut novel of an American female combat photographer in the Vietnam War, as she captures the wrenching chaos and finds herself torn between the love of two men.

On a stifling day in 1975, the North Vietnamese army is poised to roll into Saigon. As the fall of the city begins, two lovers make their way through the streets to escape to a new life. Helen Adams, an American photojournalist, must take leave of a war she is addicted to and a devastated country she has come to love. Linh, the Vietnamese man who loves her, must grapple with his own conflicted loyalties of heart and homeland. As they race to leave, they play out a drama of devotion and betrayal that spins them back through twelve war-torn years, beginning in the splendor of Angkor Wat, with their mentor, larger-than-life war correspondent Sam Darrow, once Helen's infuriating love and fiercest competitor, and Linh's secret keeper, boss and truest friend.
Tatjana Soli paints a searing portrait of an American woman's struggle and triumph in Vietnam, a stirring canvas contrasting the wrenching horror of war and the treacherous narcotic of obsession with the redemptive power of love. Readers will be transfixed by this stunning novel of passion, duty and ambition among the ruins of war.

Editorial Reviews

From Bookmarks Magazine

While the horrors of war are never far from the surface, the love stories, as well as Helen's personal evolution, lie at the center of The Lotus Eaters. (A few critics compared Helen's wartime experience to the rush experienced by characters in the Academy Award–winning The Hurt Locker, and the title refers to the lotus eaters who, in Greek mythology, become addicted to the opiate.)Soli's visceral writing captures an alluring, dangerous country, and she excels at conveying the intricacies of war-torn lives. A few critics disagreed about the centrality of the romance and the characterizations, but overall, they had little but high praise for the work. "If you've never read a novel about the Vietnam War, this could be the book for you," concluded the Dallas Morning News.

From Booklist

Soli’s debut revolves around three characters whose lives are affected by the Vietnam War. Helen Adams comes to Vietnam in the hopes of documenting the combat that took her brother from her. She immediately attracts the attention of the male journalists in the region, and quickly falls into an affair with the grizzled but darkly charismatic war photographer Sam Darrow. As Helen starts to make her own way as a photographer in Vietnam, drawing as much attention for her gender as for her work, Darrow sends her his Vietnamese assistant, Linh, a reluctant soldier who deserted the SVA in the wake of his wife’s death. While Linh wants nothing more than to escape the war, Darrow and Helen are consumed by it, unable to leave until the inevitable tragedy strikes. The strength here is in Soli’s vivid, beautiful depiction of war-torn Vietnam, from the dangers of the field, where death can be a single step away, to the emptiness of the Saigon streets in the final days of the American evacuation. --Kristine Huntley

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B003DYGNU6
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Martin's Press; Illustrated edition (March 29, 2010)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 29, 2010
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 735 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 874 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Tatjana Soli
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Tatjana Soli is an American novelist and short-story writer. Her first novel, The Lotus Eaters (2010), won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Book Prize, was a New York Times Bestseller, and a New York Times 2010 Notable Book. Her second novel, The Forgetting Tree (2012) was a New York Times Notable Book. Soli's third novel, The Last Good Paradise, was among The Millions "Most Anticipated" Books of 2015. Her fourth novel, The Removes, was published by Sarah Crichton Books in June, 2018 and has been named a New York Times Editor's Choice. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications including The New York Times Book Review.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
874 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers

Customers say

Customers find the book engaging and enjoyable to read. They appreciate the compelling storyline and well-written writing style. The book provides interesting insights into the Vietnam War from a different perspective. Readers appreciate the vivid descriptions and complete picture of the war and its people. The emotional content is described as profound and touching.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

102 customers mention "Readability"93 positive9 negative

Customers enjoyed the book from start to finish. They found it compelling, interesting, and a joy to read. The adventure, terror, and romance were described as thrilling and captivating. Overall, readers described it as a masterful debut novel that they could not put down.

"...Linh becomes an assistant to Darrow and Helen. This is a compelling book with a complex theme and complex but lovable characters...." Read more

"...I felt like I was drowning at times. While this is an excellent book in many ways, I found it to be more a book about war than about people...." Read more

"...All in all, a masterful work that I literally could not put down. Highly recommended." Read more

"This is a great read. I was in high school during the VietNam war and never really paid too much attention to it, as it did not affect my life...." Read more

73 customers mention "Story quality"63 positive10 negative

Customers find the story engaging with an interesting and compelling tale of lives and war. They appreciate the moving backstory and heartbreaking descriptions of events. The suspenseful beginning hooks readers right away. The book has adventure, love, and details about the place.

"...by a book with a war theme but The Lotus Eaters pulled me in almost immediately and I remained enthused throughout...." Read more

"...The story is both a war story and a love story...." Read more

"This is a fascinating novel and all the more impressive in that it is a first novel...." Read more

"...later, I find I am very interested in the politics and the cultural aspects of this war. This book is well researched...." Read more

54 customers mention "Writing quality"47 positive7 negative

Customers find the book well-written with beautiful descriptions and a sense of place. They say the writing is easy to read and understand, with knowledge, depth, and intimacy. The author writes with sensitivity, grace, and great descriptive skills.

"...It is sad, thought provoking , yet easy to read and understand. It is a novel that rings very true as history...." Read more

"...There is no doubt Tatiana Soli is a great writer who keeps the reader intrigued and turning pages...." Read more

"...in the country — the beauty, the lushness, the brutal heat, the simplicity, the corruption, the ephemeral nature of life and love...." Read more

"...Neat, tidy and handy...." Read more

43 customers mention "Insight"43 positive0 negative

Customers find the book provides an interesting perspective on the Vietnam War. They find it educational and thought-provoking, providing a different point of view. The book is described as engaging and gripping.

"...This is a compelling book with a complex theme and complex but lovable characters...." Read more

"...The novel is very educational in that the reader learns about the North Vietnamese, the South Vietnamese, Cambodia and the United States and what..." Read more

"...It is sad, thought provoking , yet easy to read and understand. It is a novel that rings very true as history...." Read more

"...It's a great exploration of those things." Read more

42 customers mention "Detail"39 positive3 negative

Customers find the book provides a vivid and comprehensive depiction of the Vietnam War. It is told from the perspective of war photographers, an American woman and a native Vietnamese man. The story integrates the photojournalists' addiction to war with their struggles with love.

"...This is a saga about the Vietnam War as seen through the eyes of Helen, an American photojournalist...." Read more

"Tatjana Soli spent ten years writing this amazing novel about the Vietnam war and the photojournalists who were obsessed, perhaps even addicted, to..." Read more

"...A story of war and futile loss and suffering alongside love and compassion...." Read more

"...What I liked, though, was the rich sensory imagery and detail that brought to life the contrasts in the country — the beauty, the lushness, the..." Read more

21 customers mention "Emotional content"15 positive6 negative

Customers find the emotional content compelling and compassionate. The story is told with grace and a deep understanding of the human heart. It affects the soul and provokes thought about life, love, and humanity. Readers appreciate the author's research, open heart, and compassion.

"...It is sad, thought provoking , yet easy to read and understand. It is a novel that rings very true as history...." Read more

"...the book, forming a sort of love triangle that is actually more emotionally compelling than the ghastly tragedies of the war...." Read more

"...It was disturbing to read at times, but Soli gave a very complete picture of the war and the Vietnamese people. I thought this book was excellent." Read more

"...a great character - she has courage, hope, self-doubt, love, compassion for everyone, and she endures physical pain and extreme discomfort that..." Read more

16 customers mention "Visual quality"16 positive0 negative

Customers find the book visually appealing and engaging. They appreciate the author's descriptive writing of the country, people, and characters. The story provides a realistic backdrop for the love story and gives an inside look at American journalists during the Vietnam War.

"...that brought to life the contrasts in the country — the beauty, the lushness, the brutal heat, the simplicity, the corruption, the ephemeral nature..." Read more

"...inside story of pathos and love centered around a young and very brave photographer, Helen...." Read more

"...The imagery was incredible; I felt like I took a trip to Vietnam every night. This book is well worth your time." Read more

"...over the TV and from first hand accounts, this story seemed very real in its backdrop but also a love story that throws a almost hazy sheen over the..." Read more

33 customers mention "Believable characters"23 positive10 negative

Customers have different views on the characters. Some find them compelling and heartbreaking, with page-by-page character development. Others feel the character personalities are dull and boring, and they never connect with the main characters.

"...This is a compelling book with a complex theme and complex but lovable characters...." Read more

"...It is beautifully written and has some compelling characters and heartbreaking descriptions of events...." Read more

"...The characters' motivations don't ring true. The mistakes tend to jar one out of the story completely. But enough...." Read more

"...I was amazed at the page by page growing characters and developing complex plot. The relationships grow in unexpected shapes and colors and sizes...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2012
    I never thought I'd be enthralled by a book with a war theme but The Lotus Eaters pulled me in almost immediately and I remained enthused throughout. This is a saga about the Vietnam War as seen through the eyes of Helen, an American photojournalist. The novel revolves around the life and loves of Helen, Darrow, and Linh from the early sixties to the fall of Saigon in 1975. Helen describes herself as a "scared kid from California." She drops out of college to become a photojournalist after her brother Michael is killed in Vietnam. She travels to Vietnam to find the truth of her brother's death. She stays in Vietnam even after learning the truth because she is enmeshed in Saigon culture and addicted to the adrenaline rush of war. She finds it hard to return to California and "normal" life. She becomes like one of Homer's lotus eaters: She simply forgets all thoughts of return. Darrow is an elusive photojournalist who has already won a Pulitzer for his work. He has a wife and child in the US but acts as if they don't exist. He is totally disillusioned with life and with himself until he meets Helen. He hates war but is also addicted to the adrenaline rush of getting just the right photo. Linh is a Vietnamese soldier who deserted the South Vietnamese Army because he is a gentle soul described as more comfortable in a poet's robe than battle fatigues. Linh becomes an assistant to Darrow and Helen. This is a compelling book with a complex theme and complex but lovable characters. It's a book to treasure and to read again ... and again.
    2 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2013
    Tatjana Soli spent ten years writing this amazing novel about the Vietnam war and the photojournalists who were obsessed, perhaps even addicted, to the violence and adrenaline of the war. The novel starts in 1975, at the fall of Saigon, and goes backwards to 1965, telling the story of the war and of Helen Adams, Sam Darrow and Linh - the three photographers who worked closely together, side by side. By 1975, Helen had spent ten years in Vietnam and was reluctant to go home to the United States. "The country deep inside her idea of who she was; she would tear out a part of herself in leaving it." She came to Vietnam initially to photograph the country and to find out how her brother Michael had been killed in the line of duty. Yet, once Saigon has fallen, Helen does not leave. She wants to be the last one standing, the last photographer to take pictures of the fallen city.

    The story is both a war story and a love story. Helen loves first Sam Darrow and then, after his death, Linh, Darrow's assistant, a Vietnamese photographer with a shadowy past. As the novel progresses we see how Darrow and then Helen get so caught up in the war that they find it an obsession. It leaves scars on both of them. "The curse of photojournalism in a war was that a good picture necessitated the subject getting hurt or killed". How much can one witness without getting post-traumatic stress disorder or becoming immune to pain and suffering? The reader watches as Helen definitely suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder but continues on her mission to photograph every battle she can. As Darrow said, "Like an addict who had to keep upping the dose to maintain the same high, he found himself risking more and working harder for less return. . . .A steady loss of impact until violence became meaningless?"

    It is interesting that "the Americans called it 'the Vietnam war', and the Vietnamese called it 'the American war' to differentiate it from 'the French war' that had come before it, although they referred to both wars as 'the Wars of Independence'. The novel is very educational in that the reader learns about the North Vietnamese, the South Vietnamese, Cambodia and the United States and what drives them all to engage in this fruitless and horrendous war.

    Helen evolves from a naive young woman to a seasoned photojournalist who is marginally accepted by the men but has access to all their resources. She gets her pictures on the cover of Life magazine and she is known as the first woman combat photographer of the war. Once Saigon falls to the north, she puts the injured Linh on a helicopter and returns to the city to see the war to its end. "The end had arrived with a sputter, and although she had prayed for an end to the evils of war, now that it had arrived she couldn't deny being strangely brokenhearted. Like a snake swallowing its own tail, war created an appetite that could be fed only on more war." 'At first the war is exciting, then it's proficiency and endurance' along with "a camaraderie in war, an urgency of connection impossible to duplicate in regular life. She felt more human when life was on the edge."

    The other side of the war is the tenderness and poignancy that death and suffering bring. "The dead enter the living, burrowed through the skin, floated through the blood, to come at last to rest in the heart." However, like the lotus eaters in Homer's Odyssey, once anyone tastes the fruit of the plant, they lose any wish to go home. The war is the metaphor for the lotus fruit, a fruit that keeps one in place, forgetting all thoughts of home.

    While I enjoyed this book, Helen never seemed particularly real to me. I couldn't see how a college dropout would just jump on a plane to Vietnam and know how to become a photojournalist. It seemed too much of a stretch. Darrow, I could understand, as well as Linh. The truth of it, however, is that I didn't connect deeply to any of the characters. Having been a teenager and young adult during the war, I saw many of my friends go to Vietnam. Some came back and some didn't. I was emotionally burnt out by this novel, given my background and having heard so much about the war previously. I felt like I was drowning at times. While this is an excellent book in many ways, I found it to be more a book about war than about people. The descriptions of the different battles were too intense and too descriptive for my taste.
    12 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2013
    This is a fascinating novel and all the more impressive in that it is a first novel. While set in Viet Nam and while the protagonist is the first woman photographer there, I think the novel is really about the nature of obsession in general and obsession with mastery of a life skill or craft in particular. What happens when, driven to become the "best," we become so obsessed with mastery of the skills necessary to accomplish that, we lose our humanity. When the young idealistic photographer--we see examples of a woman but also of men-- becomes so obsessed with the skill and craft needed to get the "cover" photo that she will become almost as brutal as the soldiers on both sides.

    I was and am opposed to the US war in VN but I don't see this as an anti-war novel except in the sense that, as the protagonist says, all photos of war are anti war. It is amazing how Soli captured so much of the "what it was like to be there" feeling when, apparently the novel is based purely on book research and the author did not visit VN during the long course (10 years) of writing the novel. (Her website shows photos of what appears to be a publicity trip to VN after publication.) While the protagonist starts out as a scared, fumbling, amateur we see her gradually become an adrenaline junkie and then more--even as she criticizes her male partner there, also a photographer, of precisely the failure to maintain her humanitarian values that she will have to confront.

    While the work is excellent, I do see some weaknesses: 1) it is too "writerly," the scenes she described are too beautifully written with beautiful words. (You can almost see many parts of this as exercises for a creative writing class.) And 2) while her descriptions of VN do make us feel right there, with regard to her characterizations of people, we don't really feel in the protagonist's skin or in the skin of her lover(s), the soldiers on both sides, or the others in this elaborately plotted work. But these are minor quibbles that do not in any way interfere with the captivating qualities of the book.

    All in all, a masterful work that I literally could not put down. Highly recommended.
    5 people found this helpful
    Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Lotus Eaters
    Reviewed in Canada on October 28, 2020
    I throughly enjoyed this account of what it was like to follow the war as seen through the eyes of the press. It gave me a close up of the extreme sadness but also sometimes the bittersweet joy of a very dangerous job.
  • Lily AN
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 29, 2018
    excellent read
  • Girl with a book
    4.0 out of 5 stars I enjoyed this, mostly
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 3, 2017
    I enjoyed this, mostly, which I'm sure was enhanced by the fact that I read it in Vietnam. The descriptions of the country are magnificent and almost perfect. I found the lead character annoying at times, and found some of the actions implausible, but that doesn't take away from a pretty good book with some accurate descriptions of the damage done - to everyone involved - by the Vietnam War.
  • Mona
    4.0 out of 5 stars The Lotus Eaters
    Reviewed in Canada on November 4, 2011
    Captivating story of Vietnam War,evolving cultural values and the photojournalist perspcetive from a woman's point of view. The main characters are credible and easy to relate to as they evolve from their personal losses to a greater sense of the world or not. This book has unique insights into the reality of war and the role of the media.
  • cindy
    5.0 out of 5 stars Life of a Reporter
    Reviewed in Canada on March 23, 2017
    Excellent story about a female reporter in Vietnam during the Vietnam-Amnerican War. You gain an understanding of the life of a reporter during the war.

Report an issue


Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?