Overseas Vietnamese"s novel captures thoughtful human relations

Unexpected danger and chaos make people weak and highly swayed. Yet theonly thing that provides strength in these situations is having everyonecome back to the human foundation of connecting with one another. That theoretical thought is intriguingly captured by Tien Vo, a seniorat a boarding school in the United States, Phillips Academy Andover, inher debut novel Beneath Stone and Water.

The cover of “Beneath Stone and Water” by Tien Vo.

In December 2014, a tunnel collapse in Da Dang- Da Chomo Hydroelectricsite in Lam Dong, Vietnam, claimed the breaking news of national pressfor four consecutive days.

Rarely did a tunnel collapse happen, and muchmore rarely there were survivors trapped inside waiting to be rescued.

Throughout four days of the incident, no one knew if the mission wasgoing to be a success, but many blessings stayed on our side as thetwelve trapped workers were all ultimately rescued.

The sensation stayedstill though, whenever people thought about the real heroes of thestory, those very own twelve workers.

There have since been a lot of talks surrounding what kind of obstaclesthese resilient human beings went through, how they did it, and wherethey drew such strength from.

There have also been lots of follow-upinterviews and reports on the health condition and reminiscence of theseworkers as they settled back into their daily lives.

Few people,however, got a chance to conduct first-hand interviews with these heroesright after they survived the collapse.

And among them, one person hadthe outstanding drive and talent to sympathise with the workers’struggles and compose all details into one, though rather short inlength, succinct debut novel, Beneath Stone and Water. That person isthe young author Tien Vo.

Vo’s novel is first of all, not a nonfiction account. Regarding thequestion as to why she did not choose this more obvious track, Vohumbly stated that as a young writer and a senior at a competitive highschool, she did not have a chance to fully approach every detail of theincident to be able to recount everything with perfect accuracy, and bygiving her own creative spin to the story while maintaining the plot,she was able to more freely convey her own admiration and sympathy withthe situation.

Vo’s protagonist, casually called Mai, is a woman that represents thelife many young ladies in central Vietnam. She gets married to Hung, acollege student at that time, barely after finishing high school andsoon after gives birth to a lovely boy named Tung.

Throughout her marriage, Mai meets with strong distaste from hermother-in-law, and further suffers from marital stress as Hung startsworking as an engineer on construction projects faraway from home.

Atone point when pressure builds up, Mai decides to leave Tung in hermother’s care and go to Hung’s project site to give him a surprisevisit.

Hung, in the meantime, is the lead engineer of Tunnel 7 at DacomHydroelectric in Lam Dong, working everyday with a team that consists ofcontrasting personalities but sharing a rare camaraderie.

At the timeof Mai’s visit, Hung leaves Tunnel 7 for his team and steps out for ameeting. In a short instant, Mai enters the tunnel, meets his team,excluding Hung, and the tunnel collapses.

Trapped in bombastic sounds, dirt, darkness, fear, and disorientation,Mai’s first job is to pull herself together and starts learning aboutthe eight men that she meets for the first time minutes ago.

Theyinclude Uncle Tri is the oldest and takes care of everyone with greatcomposure from the very beginning, and Mai’s brother-in-law, Toan,dislikes everything about her and has a cranky personality, but takesgreat care of his young brother, Binh, who suffers from mild asthma.

Mai’s biggest mission, however, lies not only in dealing with thereality but also in sorting out her inner conflicts and reflections onher marriage life.

As the book is set in intriguing parallel structure, virtually eachsection about life inside the tunnel is followed by a section of theaction-paced happenings outside, with Hung as the protagonist, the leadof the rescue team.

Hung trembles with guilt as he thinks about hiswife, brother-in-laws, and teammates trapped inside.

Like Mai, throughfour days he constantly reflects on his marriage with Mai, but unlikeher uncertainty, his only concern is to safely rescue her and correctthe things that he has done wrong.

Vo’s book does not stem from any immaculate factual details or intenseuse of technical terms, but it reflects thoughtfully on the power ofhuman-to-human relationships in dire moments.

Vo has enough sensitivity to formulate profound stories and enoughlinguistic control to freely explore her thoughts, and her Beneath Stoneand Water is worth reading and reflected upon./.

PV

Overseas Vietnamese"s novel captures thoughtful human relations

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