Paradise of the Blind Study Guide

In a first person voice, the novel tells the story of a young girl, Hang, as she grows up in the slums of Hanoi. Raised by her mother, a poor street vendor named Que, Hang eventually learns the truth about her father's disappearance and her uncle's role in it during the time of Land Reform. Over the years, she becomes close to her father's sister, Aunt Tam, who is as bitter of the past as she is wealthy. Hang gives up her college aspirations to spend her young adulthood as a textile worker in Russia to help support her mother after she loses a leg in an accident. When her aunt dies, she must make a choice to fulfill her aunt's request and stay in her family's village or change the dysfunctional family pattern by moving on. She chooses to leave in pursuit of her own dreams. (read more)