What do readers think of The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli? Write your own review.

First novels, as The Lotus Eaters is, are usually some of the finest reads. But the plot of this book was like an endless loop: the heroine, Helen Adams, is afraid of photographing the Vietnam war and equally afraid of what the other journalists think of her. Then she faces her fears, is successful, and goes on to cover the next battle, afraid of photographing the ... you get the picture. I saw no real character development and we know as much about Helen at the end of the book as at the beginning. The plot slogs along, with some predictable events. What redeems this book, however slightly, is the insight it gives into the Vietnamese culture.

This novel pulls the reader in with old-fashioned powerful storytelling. It offers tension, atmosphere, compelling characters, strong plot. But what makes "The Lotus Eaters" special - and maybe a little amazing because presumably the author did not experience this place at this time herself - is the depiction of war-time Vietnam.
Though the primary focus appears to be on the American perspective, largely through the eyes of the photojournalist Helen, what comes across as more complex and more unique is the Vietnamese perspective. It is borne mostly by Linh, Soli's strongest creation, but also by minor characters such as Mr. Bao, Grandmother Suong and the orphan Lan. It is not just that the Americans don't really understand what is going on here, but that for all their firepower and wealth, they hardly matter.

Soli gives us breathtaking images, not just the ones of war but just as memorable scenes such as the young women singing love songs on the riverbanks, the tiger appearing like a dream image in a high mountain clearing.

It is not a perfect book. There are many jarring point of view shifts in mid-paragraph. The story really took hold beginning in chapter two and remained hard to put down through chapter thirteen, then flagged a bit. Helen's quest, especially when it moves outside Vietnam, is uneven in its hold on the reader.
But overall it is a moving, absorbing, masterfully told story.