Day after day I go out with photographers who are tourists of the war. – Nguyen Pran Linh
One would be hard pressed to think of a war zone as a tourist destination. Yet, for the photojournalists in Tatjana Soli’s The Lotus Eaters that is exactly what, in a perverse way, war-torn Vietnam becomes for them.
Helen Adams, fresh from college and just cutting her teeth as a photographer, finds her way to Vietnam as part of her struggle to understand what her brother, a special forces solider who was killed in action, experienced before his death.
Once in country she meets veteran photojournalist Sam Darrow and his guide/assistant Nguyen Pran Linh. Together they take a journey deep into the horrors of war, finding that even amongst such darkness there still blooms dignity and hope.
The title of the book comes from Homer’s Odyssey, in which those who ate the lotus fruit became so intoxicated by it they lost all desire to return to their homeland. Just like the lotus-eaters, Helen and Sam become so intoxicated by the rush of combat photography that they actually resist the idea of leaving Vietnam. (more…)
