chapters 1-3 Summary

The book begins with a quote from Homer's most famous work, "The Odyssey."

"....we reached the country of the Lotus-eaters, a race that eat the flowery Lotus fruit....Now these natives had no intention of killing my comrades; what they did was to give them some Lotus to taste. Those who ate the honeyed fruit of the plant lost any wish to come back and bring us news. All they now wanted was to stay where they were with the Lotus-eaters, to browse on the Lotus, and to forget all thoughts of return" (Preface).

"The city teetered in a dream state." (Chapter 1, p. 1).

The protagonist, Helen is introduced. The city of Saigon is in danger of falling. Helen, an American photojournalist, is determined to get photos of the end of the decade-long conflict in Vietnam. At the beginning of the story...