Reviewed by Jess

TITLE: Ánh Sáng

AUTHOR: Barry Brennessel

PUBLISHER: Manifold Press

LENGTH: 120 pages

RELEASE DATE:  May 1, 2018

BLURB:

When his father leaves Thái Nguyên City for the northernmost reaches of French Indochina, Bùi Vân Minh must shoulder new responsibilities to help keep the family afloat. His mother’s blindness and his uncle’s caustic personality add to the young man’s challenges.

A chance meeting with a captivating youth, Ngô Công Thao, throws Minh’s life off-kilter in a most exciting and confounding way.

The young men soon discover their feelings for one another transcend mere friendship. But the struggles under French colonial rule and the effects of the Great War alter their lives to a degree they never could have imagined.

REVIEW:

Sometimes, especially in gay historical romances, we don’t get a happy ending. We might not even get a happy-for-now. But that doesn’t mean the story and the journey isn’t absolutely amazing, and it doesn’t mean we’re not made better after reading it.

This story takes place in French-occupied Vietnam (“French Indochina”) during the height of World War I. This is both a setting and a time frame I am pretty unfamiliar with, so I definitely went down the anger-inducing rabbit hole as I researched more and more about French colonialism during World War I and how horrifically Vietnamese citizens were treated. Minh’s struggle to keep himself and his blind mother afloat while being forced into French pride and nationalism in his own country is absolutely heartbreaking, but it’s a valuable point of view I have never read about before in any genre.

Brennessel’s writing is stark and neat. He never pulls his punches. He packs rage, confusion, and fear into Minh’s thoughts and dialogue, no matter how brief. I can’t believe this is only a novella-length work, because there’s so much good story in so few words. If an author manages to write historical fiction that makes you want to read a dozen more books on the subject, you know he’s passionate about his work.

The romance between Minh and Thao, a local farmer, is sweet and spare, always popping up when both Minh and the readers just need a little bit of hope and sunshine. Life constantly hangs in the balance for all citizens in Thái Nguyên City, never leaving time for courtships and lengthy romances, but Minh and Thao manage to carve those small, quiet moments out of hard and busy lives. A glance through a restaurant window or a quick embrace before heading home has to suffice, but it’s enough to keep the hope building throughout the story.

Since this is not a traditional romance, go in with expectations for a realistic ending rather than a HEA. The climax of the story nears during the Thái Nguyên uprising of 1917, which is known as one of the most effectively destructive anti-colonial rebellions of the time, so we know things can’t end cleanly in any way. I don’t want to spoil anything, but while it’s not a happy ending, we do get to see Minh and Thao together until the last page. For a gay historical work that feels very grounded in a real time and place, it’s an ending that completely fits the narrative and will leave you completely wrecked in the best way.

This story, expanded from a shorter piece, was also adapted by Brennessel into a screenplay that was a finalist in the 15th annual American Zoetrope Screenplay Contest in 2017. You can view a beautiful reading of the screenplay on US Youtube here—but trust me, you’ll need the tissues handy!

RATING: 

BUY LINKS: 

Manifold Press

Amazon