Absolution

I'm a huge fan of Alice McDermott's work, and ABSOLUTION is my favorite novel of hers, hands down. Her choice to give voice to the American women in this story about the Vietnam War was fresh and fascinating. I loved the line in the jacket copy about "the quest for absolution in a broken world." Sadly, so relevant.

I was so taken by this book about the wives of a couple of engineers in Vietnam in 1963. The narrator is green in every sense (in her marriage, in her understand of the political landscape, in her desires), and the woman she becomes close to, though also trapped by her circumstances, is the opposite, refusing to be simply so. I found their dynamic and the way they are both ultimately held in place to be so revealing of power and lack thereof.

I loved the many different characters, all of whom were real and complex human beings, and their intricate web of relationships. I also loved the setting -- the little-known world of American diplomatic wives in Saigon in the early 1960s, when they could still be naive about the coming war.

I served in Vietnam in 1970-71 so I appreciated the glimpse of the early years and what the spouses (women) of U. S. Diplomats, etc. had to contend with…

Absolution is about the wives of American men with non-combat roles in the U.S. government in Vietnam. The men have brought their families to Saigon. Tricia is a new arrival, and Charlene lures her into the insular world of the American wives. I’ve always been interested in the politics of the late 1960s in the U.S., so I found this book fascinating because it takes place in 1963, before the Kennedy assassination. 

I was captivated by Tricia and Charlene’s friendship because it is complicated and intense. I loved how Tricia is intrigued by Charlene but also intimidated by her and… show more.

Alice McDermott offers a fascinating peek behind the curtain at the military wives thrust into a different culture as they struggle to find their own place in their families and in military culture.

I loved her vivid depiction of the pressures the wives felt to be mothers, help elevate the status of their military husbands, and participate in a charitable way in the culture of Vietnam. From a modern-day perspective, their efforts are tone-deaf, even selfish, and I love the wisdom that time offers on these issues.

McDermott writes gorgeous prose that broke my heart and left me feeling a… show more.