Thursday, May 20, 2010

The Man From Saigon, Marti Leimbach

Marti Leimbach, has a wonderful style of writing which draws the reader into the story from the start. This is obvious in "The Man From Saigon", a story of a female reporter/journalist, In-Country, to give reports of the war from the side of a woman, for a Women's Magazine.
As the story unfolds, Susan Gifford is sent Saigon to cover the war in 1967. She fuinds and falls in love with another reporter, Marc, a TV Reporter, who is also in Saigon covering the war. There is a thrid main character, in Susan's photographer, Son, a Vietnamese man who is looking to make a name for himself, yet finds Susan and wants her to take him on as her photographer.
Right from the start you see drama and unexpected turns in the story. Susan is the type of reporter/journalist that does not want to stay in Saigon and cover the war from a press conference point of view, so she ventures out with patrols of military personnel to get the story right from the source.
The question I have is whether this novel is a non-fiction, fiction, or historical fiction. Many of the details are true to form with descriptins of conditions and topography throughout the story, and Marti Leimbach has done a lot of research for the time period. Bravo Marti.
There's also the hiden agenda of Son. What are his true movites for wanting to be so close to Susan and the American Military establishment. Is he up to no good, or are his intentions really what he wants us to believe? You'll have to read this novel to find out for yourself.
When Susan and Son are seperated from their esorts of military personnel in the jungle, a new set of circumstances take place which again, will keep the reader on the edge of the seat. What is the outcome? Again, this is a must read.
"The Man From Saigon", belongs in a permanent library for reading over and over again.

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