Red Clay Ashes
In 2005 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, young Bee’s mother, Hazel, dies. Hazel was a reporter in Vietnam during the war. Among Hazel’s books, Bee is surprised to discover photographs, notes, and a letter from a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Suzanne, from New York. Bee goes to see Suzanne wanting to learn more about her mother’s past.
In 1967, 22-year-old Hazel, recently graduated from college, boldly follows her dreams of being a freelance journalist and travels to Vietnam. In Saigon, she meets Vince, the Bureau Chief of The Washington Dispatch. He helps her get a job as a “female-reporter” for a small newspaper, Overseas Weekly, and she obtains her government ID. These credentials permit her to stay in Vietnam and travel with the troops. Hazel does her job, facing up to the warzone hardships and the anti-feminist attitudes. She finds love and heartache as well.
Julie Tulba’s novel is so well-developed that it reads like a real-life story. Its underlying theme of women reporters striving for the recognition of their efforts, and equivalence to their male peers, is admirably presented. The war and its physical and psychological effects on soldiers and civilians are well narrated. Most of the significant events, such as the Tet Offensive, the warfare in the treacherous Cu Chi tunnels, and the actions by the Khmer Rouge in neighboring Cambodia are woven into the well-researched plot. Tulba doesn’t hesitate to dialogue the soldiers’ swearing and show the battle scenes in their gory details, including the burned ashes of the casualties on the red clay earth. Readers will feel transported to the period, although the long-drawn ending is somewhat disappointing and melodramatic. An informative read.
