Resource Key
LEVEL 1
brief, basic information laid out in an easy-to-read format. May use informal language. (Includes most news articles)
LEVEL 2
provides additional background information and further reading. Introduces some subject-specific language.
LEVEL 3
lengthy, detailed information. Frequently uses technical/subject-specific language. (Includes most analytical articles)
Linked Databases
- Britannica Schools This link opens in a new window
Britannica School covers the core subject areas of English, Maths, Science and History. Interactive lessons, activities, games, stories, worksheets, manipulatives, study guides and research tools.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Scholarly resources on JSTOR include Archival and Current Journals, Books, and Primary Sources.
Senior Library Books
Paradise of the Blind by Call Number: F DUOISBN: 9780060505592Publication Date: 2002-08-20Paradise of the Blind is an exquisite portrait of three Vietnamese women struggling to survive in a society where subservience to men is expected and Communist corruption crushes every dream. Through the eyes of Hang, a young woman in her twenties who has grown up amidst the slums and intermittent beauty of Hanoi, we come to know the tragedy of her family as land reform rips apart their village. When her uncle Chinh's political loyalties replace family devotion, Hang is torn between her mother's appalling self-sacrifice and the bitterness of her aunt who can avenge but not forgive. Only by freeing herself from the past will Hang be able to find dignity -- and a future.
Summary
Paradise of the Blind tells the story of three women fighting to maintain their dignity under a government that discards old values and tears families apart. Hang, a young girl growing up in the Hanoi slums, learns the truth about her father's disappearance and death during the era of government-imposed land reform. Meanwhile, Hang's long-suffering mother, a struggling street vendor, watches helplessly as her life is destroyed by the political aspirations of her own brother. And the mysterious Aunt Tam, who has accumulated wealth and bitterness in equal measure, fights for her niece's loyalty - and her future.
Duong Thu Huong - Biographical Information
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Dương Thu Hương (1947) has won worldwide acclaim as a novelist. She first wrote professionally as a playwright and screenwriter, was suppressed as a documentarian, issued essays of social critique, and has published poems and short stories. In the space of the last decade, Dương Thu Hương has become the most prolific and most widely-read Vietnamese novelist in the world. Although banned in her native Vietnam since 1991, Dương remains, by the breadth and quantity of her work – eight full length novels, half a dozen short story collections, poetry, essays, and film scripts – one of the most important and most influential voices of her generation. Source: Viet Nam Literature Project
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Source Materials
- Paradise of the Blind Summary. And the Plot Thickens... Retrieved from http://and-the-plot-thickens.blogspot.com.au/2010/10/paradise-of-blind-duong-thu-huong.html
"A rich, sensuous journey through a Vietnam rarely seen by outsiders. Paradise of the Blind tells the story of three women fighting to maintain their dignity..."
- Paradise of the Blind. Danny Yee's Book Reviews. Retrieved from http://dannyreviews.com/h/Paradise_Blind.htmlIn the land reforms that took place after North Vietnam achieved independence from the French, Hong's father's family were classified as landlords and dispossessed. The purging of the village was led by her mother's brother, Uncle Chinh, and the resulting rift between the two halves of her family will determine the course of Hong's life.
- Report from the field: street vendors and the informal sector in Hanoi Martha Lincoln Dialectical Anthropology Vol. 32, No. 3 (September 2008) , pp. 261-265
A scholarly anthropology essay which relates to issues and conditions raised in Paradise of the Blind.
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