This book presents a good view of Vietnam during the pre-WWII days. Victor Michelin Lesage, his American-born wife Jessie and their young daughter Lucie move to Hanoi, where Victor is to take over the management of the rubber plantations owned by the Michelin family. The story focuses on Jessie, and her adaptation to the life there while escaping her past and the secrets it holds. Life in Hanoi is different from any Jessie has ever known. She is quickly caught up in the life of ex-pats who spend their time drinking and smoking opium, as opposed to the life of the Communists who would prefer the French treat the Vietnamese better or just go home. The book follows Jessie and the ex-pat she befriends Marcelle de Fabry, the wife of the president of the chamber of commerce. As the book progresses, we see Jessie’s disillusionment with the French in Vietnam as well as with the Michelin family, as she slips farther into a sort of mental stupor or illness. The book, as I said, presented a good picture of the decadent French in Vietnam, or Indochine, as they called it then. I enjoyed finding out what the country was like then, as I have always been interested in the area and in the French, whether ex-pats or not. The book definitely gave me a picture of this. The two main characters were interesting opposites, and it was fascinating to watch them interact with an react to each other and the small group in which they traveled. This is a good book for a reader interested in historical fiction and/or this small country. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.

Jessie has moved to a new land to take over a new business in a sinking economy. As time goes on jesse is unable to decide what to do or how to go about changing life.

Jessie Lesage is an expert in reinventing herself and fleeing her past. She’s done it multiple times, from an impoverished childhood in rural Virginia to marriage to a Michelin in 1920s Paris. Moving with her husband, Victor, and young daughter, Lucie, in 1933 to Hanoi, Indochine seems like it should take her far enough away. But does it?

Marcelle de Fabry gives every appearance of being the fun, new best friend Jessie needs to adjust to her new life in Hanoi. They are both expats from Paris. Jessie has some initial doubts when Marcelle seems to know things about Jessie’s past she’d like to keep hidden, but as Marcelle reveals her not-so-secret lover, Jessie trusts her again.

But as Jessie begins to suffer hallucinations and memory loss, she wonders if she is going crazy. And is her husband’s family as evil as Marcelle would have her believe?

A HUNDRED SUNS gives readers entree to a time and place in history they may know little about. Colonial Indochine is a hedonistic world with prostitution, opium dens, and private clubs where bored wives drink all day. It is a wonderful way to escape 2020. #AHundredSuns #NetGalley

I am always fascinated by the era of french colonialism in Vietnam (where my family is from) and how the lingering French influence had changed so much of the country. I thought I would be a bit biased reading this as my family felt so strongly about one side but the dual storyline really helped me to empathize with the cause of the ones working at the rubber plantations and being treated poorly.

Tiny Synopsis: This is a historical fiction taking place in Indochine specifically in Hanoi. It is 1933 and Jessie Lesage, an American woman, has just arrived from Paris with her husband Victor and daughter Lucie. Her husband is a wealthy Michelin heir and trying to make a name for himself in the family business and Jessie seems to have a secret of her own. The story parallels that of Marcelle, a French woman from humble beginnings that came to Indochine with her wealthy French husband. However these women could not be any more different as they both strike up a quick friendship and their secrets start to unravel.

Thank you so much to @stmartinspress and #netgalley for the advanced copy for my honest review!

My Review:⭐️⭐⭐⭐/ 5 stars

I have not heard too much of this book but I just loved the premise so much(maybe more so for personal reasons). There were parts of the book I was so offended by - the derogatory language towards the Vietnamese throughout - but I had to keep reminding myself that it was a different time. I loved the character of Jessie as she was so mysterious - and it had a bit of psychological twist in there I was not expecting. The female characters are so strong. I couldn’t tell if I loved Marcelle or just loathed her. Jessie was naive but I rooted for her all the same. I don’t see too many books of this era in colonial Vietnam - if you have any recommendations, I would love it! Highly recommend it if you are looking for a good historical fiction!

Exploitation and vengeance are the principle themes I found in this book. The French exploited the Indochina (Vietnam) population and its resources as it develops the rubber industry shown through the world of the Michelins. They avenge their livelihood by breaking the backs of the laborers and squelching the uprising of communism. The two main characters, Jessie and Marcelle, exploit and avenge their situation and against each other. Jessie seems vulnerable but determined as her story unfolds from abuse and poverty in rural Virginia to wealth and love in Paris and eventually to Vietnam. Marcelle appears strong and strong willed as she shuns her wealthy upbringing to supporting the uprising of communism in Vietnam.

As the story takes place in the 1930's Vietnam, I learned a lot about the French control and colonization of Indochina. My knowledge of this history was very limited.. The author weaves both the history and the story nicely with a good pacing and character development. I would definitely recommend this book for those who enjoy women's stories and historical fiction.

Thank you NetGalley, Ms. Tanabe and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Jessie Lesage, her daughter, Lucie, and her French husband, Victor, relocate to Hanoi to advance Victor’s prospects within the Michelin family and company. Victor is tasked with overseeing the company’s interests, specifically rubber plantations, in Indochina. Jessie just wants to keep her secrets secret. Marcelle de Frabry, another French ex-pat with a wealthy Indochinese lover, takes Jessie under her wing and introduces her to the world of the ex-pats as well as the world of the Vietnamese.

This book is set in 1933 Viet Nam, which is on the cusp of being a French colony and becoming ruled by the communists who want the colony returned to the people. The characters are caught between the two giants fighting for what each thinks of as their rightful place.

Tanabe has written a well-researched novel set in a place that isn’t often seen in current historical fiction. She captures the era well and does a very good job of creating the tensions building between the French and the natives. Her descriptions of Viet Nam in the 1930s seems accurate and setting her fictional characters amongst the events of the time is well done. She has also created two strong women characters, the mentally fragile Jessie, and the politically astute Marcelle and pitted them against each other despite their friendship.

If you love historicals set in unique locations, this may be the book for you and should be placed near the top of your to-be-read pile.

My thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an eARC.

I enjoy reading historical fiction set in a place and time that I know very little about—in this book I was transported to 1930’s Indochine, a time of much turmoil. This book also includes some psychological suspense, as well as a bit of romance.

Told in alternating chapters we meet Jessie, an American married to the French born Victor, also an heir to the Michelin dynasty meets Marcelle de Fabry, also a French ex-Pat who also has a moneyed lifestyle and, by virtue of knowing “almost everyone” including her lover and silk merchant Khoi Nguyen. Marcelle and Jessie seem to bond – at least until the cattiness starts as allegiances are tested, the rich and need always to be entertained get bored, and Jessie finds herself disillusioned with both the country and her ‘new friends’, particularly when political tensions start to rise and the contrasts between what she ‘thought’ this move would provide and what she is actually navigating in her daily life.

What emerges as the story unfolds is the convoluted and complex issues that surround imperialism and colonization, the abject poverty and horrible conditions that the Vietnamese every-day person endured: from long hours for little pay to dangerous situations, strife within families as the unrest over social inequities give rise to a pro-communist viewpoint, and the utter disregard for the years of unique history and family dynamics that were the mainstay of the culture prior to the Michelin’s involvement and hunt for rubber. Added to this is Jessie’s history of mental illness and the long hours spent simply indulging in whims that only the rich could afford, perhaps manipulated and encouraged into more and more ‘questionable’ pastimes, leaving her close to crisis when she starts to see the dire consequences for her (and all of the ex-Pat’s) attitudes and actions.

Bringing the time and place to life and light, it is a part of the history of the world that not many people are aware of, knowing of the ‘boat lifts’ during the late 1960’s and 70’s, and little else. Researched and presenting information and little pieces of ‘side knowledge’ that is not well know regarding the Michelin dynasty, as well as presenting the story as one where the ‘downtrodden’ – the Vietnamese workers who were so exploited and abused – become the only people to truly cheer on, finding their turning to communist ideals quite logical and discovering the hearts of the people who simply wanted to ‘regain’ their own country, and have been fighting for just that for long years now. A nice mix of suspense and history with a dash of frenemies and romance added in, the story takes readers on a journey that entertains and enlightens.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-aEU/” > <a> I am, Indeed </a>

I originally was approved for this digital advance reader copy in August 2019, but put off reading it until March 2020 because the publisher’s blurb didn’t really compel me. I doubted why I even picked this out of the catalog to request. However, once I brought myself to start it, I couldn’t put it down. Despite late nights at the office, I finished it in a little over a week.

The novel starts out in early September 1933, with one of the two female narrators having just arrived in French Indochina. The second chapter, told by the same narrator, fast forwards to a traumatic event in late November 1933. The third chapter, told by the same narrator, then goes back to the same timeframe as the first chapter and adds a little more flesh to the events of the first chapter. From there, the narrative proceeds like a dance of the seven veils, roughly alternating between female narrators to gradually reveal the true nature of each of the narrators and to build out the sense of place in that particular time. Approximately fifty pages from the end, the tale reaches late November 1933 and essentially duplicates the second chapter. Knowing so much more about the people and the place brings the climactic event into a new light. From there, the plot feels like it glides to its end in early January 1934.

The main reasons for my enjoyment of this book were the psychological tension and the setting. The psychological tension of this novel was as well developed as recent books that were billed as psychological thrillers. I’m specifically thinking of Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward, which made me both gasp and hold my breath. However, I’m much more inclined toward historical fiction than psychological thrillers. This book definitely was a well developed historical fiction - relying on the sights and sounds experienced by the narrators to develop the sense of time and place. And the choice of colonial French Indochina between the Wars was refreshing. The historical fiction genre seems to be suffering a glut of European World War II settings, so much so that our book club has ventured out of historical fiction into contemporary fiction, where there is so much more variety. This novel, untainted by the shadows of either War, was a very interesting change in tone from the inevitable darkness and heaviness that accompanies European World War II novels.

Overall, I enjoyed this book so much more than I ever expected. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys odd historical fiction, as well as to anyone who enjoys a slower burning psychological thriller.

I received this book as a digital advance reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars, rounded down
I love to be introduced to a different time and place by historical fiction. But in order for it to enthrall me, I really want to feel I’ve learned something. A Hundred Suns tackles Vietnam in the 1930s. The French rule, but communists are already causing dissent. This book would have done better to have concentrated more on the issues affecting the country and less on the partying lifestyles of the French expats.
Jessie Lesage is the wife of a Michelin heir sent to run the rubber plantations. She’s a poor American who married well. Upon her arrival in Vietnam, she meets Marcelle de Fabry, the wife of the president of the chamber of commerce. If Jessie is a bit of a naive, Marcelle is the opposite.
Vietnam is a typical colony. There are only 30,000 french in the entire country, but they rule what they perceive as a primitive race. They spend an inordinate amount of time drinking and carousing at all hours of the day and night. In fact, I had a hard time imagining anything got done, for good or ill , with all the drink and opium.
This book combines historical fiction, psychological thriller and women’s fiction. The book follows Jessie’s loss of innocence concerning the French and in particular, the Michilens. We are also given glimpses into her mental health, as there are more and more frequent hallucinations. I had trouble relating to her, as she never quite felt real. Marcelle was more interesting. Her sections actually give us much more history about the communist unrest although she’s the most unlikely of communists.
Tanabe does a decent job giving a sense of the time and place. The ending is way too pat and unbelievable. I hope that the final edition of the book gives an author’s note that describes her research.
My thanks to netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book.

This is the story of Jessie who marries a Michelin heir and they go to 1930s Indochine so he can manage the rubber plantations. Jessie and their daughter enjoy the life of affluence there, but Jessie soon finds herself caught up with not-so-nice people...

A Hundred Suns swept me away to a part of the country I knew little about. I loved learning about the Michelin rubber plants yet was horrified by the treatment of the workers. The relationships between the characters were so close, almost incestuous in a way. This book has so much inside it's pages: postpartum depression, romance, travel, communism, drugs, history and all is never as you think it is. Highly recommend!

I finished this last nite and choose to mull over my review today before actually writing it since this one is such a hard one to do. I didn’t find it haunting, evocative nor did it leave me richly satisfied. Once again, the description didn’t quite say what this book was really about.
It’s not a bad book, but it’s not a remarkable one either, first off, I never grew to really care about Jessie Lesage, I felt she was a flower blowing in the wind and whichever wind she decided to follow that day is where she went. She was quite devious, with her cunning and lies, but she wanted to be portrayed as a strong independent woman when she really wasn’t. She made a lot of bad decisions. Toward the end she tried to redeem herself, but I felt it was all to convenient by that time and a little too late. Also, I wish Victor’s character would have been developed a little bit more and it might have helped to explain who was taking care of little Lucy all those times when Jessie was galivanting around somewhere. I know, this is fiction, I shouldn’t expect that all explained.
If the story would have stayed more along the lines of the communist regime trying to overtake the government and the Michelin business struggles, I think I would have liked it more. The pros, I did find some of the history of Vietnam very interesting.
I thank St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. The best I can do is 3 ½ stars rounded down to 3.

3.0 stars

I received a complimentary e-book copy of this book from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you to Karin Tanabe, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

First off, let me say that I was so excited to read this book. I knew very little of pre-communist Indochine and this novel was based primarily in 1933 Hanoi. However, this book did not come close to my expectations. I did not like EITHER of the two female protagonists. They were fully-fleshed out and that was the problem - the more I learned about the characters, the less that I liked them.

The author does write beautifully, but the storyline was a bit convoluted for me with too many complicated and divergent plot lines that conveniently merge and are tied up in a bow for an ending.

I may be in the minority for reviewers, but I just didn't like this book. It was just average to me and didn't really get interesting until about 375 pages into it. VERY lukewarm recommend if you like the time period.

Great historical fiction set in 1930's Indochina. The story revolves around an american woman married into the wealthy Michelin family moving from France to support her husband running the family rubber plantations. She is befriended by a french woman who manipulates her secret past to a create havoc and justify her own motivations. The author takes you on a suspenseful ride inside their privileged lives while combining descriptions of the plantations horrible working conditions, their callous regard for the locals, communist resistance and past atrocities. Definitely full of surprises, good read!

Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book!

I thought I would enjoy this more than I did, but for some reason it didn’t grab me from the beginning and I never was fully into it. It was a little too slow and tedious for me. I am in the minority of opinions based on other reviews, so I will just chalk this one up to “ it’s just me”.

Step into a bygone era where travel was luxurious and living abroad was just a thing that young, rich couples did with Karin Tanabe's A Hundred Suns. It is 1933 when America Jesse Lesage steps off a boat from Paris and into the exotic world of pre-war Vietnam. Along with their young daughter, Lucie, Jesse has accompanied her husband Victor Lessage, cousin to the French rubber barons Edouard and André Michelin, for a three year period where he will over see the rubber plantations.

However, everything is not as it seems as Jesse is hiding deep secrets of her own about the life that she left behind in America. The epitome of the modern woman in most respects, Jesse narrates the novel with sympathy and compassion as her story unfolds. She explains the struggles of living in Indochina and those of her husband as he struggles to maintain the plantation while up against political and personal attacks that stem from the rise of communism in the region as well as workers who are wanting their fair share.

Outside of the politics of Indochina in the novel, you also have the politics of love and relationships fueling the novel. Similar to Jesse, Marcelle is another who arrives in Hanoi, eager to put her rural, underprivileged life behind her, but who is also bent on revenge against the Michelin family. She has come to Hanoi to be near her love, who is part of a wealthy silk family who is not her husband and she plans to befriend and use Jesse to her advantage-- having studied her from afar for sometime before their paths inevitably crossed.
Karin Tanabe's A Hundred Suns has it all: politics, colonialism, love affairs and revenge all set against the vast backdrop of Vietnam in the early 1930's. The lushness of the setting drives the novel and turns this work of historical fiction into a thriller in most parts-- eager to find out who survives, who benefits and ultimately, who falters. Tanabe's talent for bringing the world of the elite and how it often clashes with those around them shines in her fifth novel.

It is gearing up to be a busy time for the author as Tanabe's earlier work, The Gilded Years, is scheduled to become a major motion picture starring Zendaya and produced by Zendaya and Reese Witherspoon for Sony/Tristar according to the author's website. Karin Tanabe is a former reporter whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Miami Herald, Newsday, The Philadelphia Inquirer and in the anthology Crush: Writers Reflect on Love, Longing and the Lasting Power of Their First Celebrity Crush. Currently, she works as a journalist focusing on lifestyle pieces and book reviews. This is her first novel for St. Martin's Press.

Book Information
A Hundred Suns by Karin Tanabe is scheduled for release on April 7, 2020 from St. Martin's Press with ISBN 9781250231475. This review corresponds to an advanced electronic galley that was supplied by the publisher in exchange for this review.

Victor Lessage—cousin of the French rubber barons Edouard and André Michelin—arrives in Hanoi, French Indochina, in 1933, accompanied by his wife, Jessie, and young daughter, Lucie, to stay for the next three years to oversee the work in the Michelin rubber plantations in Cochinchina. Up to that time, the family has managed the work from afar. Victor’s appointment in the colony may bring family bounty if he is capable and quashes dissention effectively. The Lessages’ stay is complicated by diverse local interests—some close and personal, and others that impact their livelihood, for the coolies workers in the plantations are demanding better working conditions and salaries... The alternative is certain death for French colonialism, for Indochina is already being seized by the fever of communism.

A Hundred Suns is a heady concoction of personal and political interests among the heat and hedonism of French colonial life in Indochina—opium smoking with ensuing oblivion, and philandering are ways of life, but so is buying and selling information and services to the highest bidder. It becomes apparent early on in the novel that those interests are going to collide in unexpected ways, maybe violently so, but it is nice to take a back seat and let the story unfold at its own pace.

The novel is narrated from Jessie’s point of view. She is a sympathetic character, a modern woman by all standards, a woman of agency, despite deeply believing she has been “saved” by finding the right husband. Jessie has a complicated past, one that makes one wonder if she is telling everything one is supposed to know about her and her family, and if she is an unreliable narrator. The answers to those quandaries are provided as the book moves to its inevitable conclusion. Suffice to say that Jessie may have to dig deep into her inner self to find the woman she used to be if she wants to save her family from the chaos that envelops them.

Disclaimer: I received from the publisher a free e-book via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Beautifully wrought novel predominantly set in 1933 Indochina.

American Jessie Lesage and her husband French Victor Michelin Lesage travel from Paris to Indochina, ostensibly to oversee the Michelin rubber plantations there. While that is one of the reasons, the main push was done by Jessie, as she frantically tries to escape her past.

In Indochina, she meets and is memorized by Marcelle, a Frenchwoman with a communist past and a long term lover in native Khoi Nguyen.

Layer by layer a rich history is built, of people, countries, affairs and more. The heat of A Hundred Suns indeed.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

Genre:
Historical

American Jessie Lasage moves to Vietnam, then was a French colony called Indochine, along with her French husband Victor Michelin Lasage and their daughter Lucie. Victor takes his family there due to his new position as the supervisor of the family plantations there.

Jessie meets locals there and also expatriates. She becomes a friend with some of the new persons she meets including Marcelle who like she is another expat wife, but it turns out she is different and has a local boyfriend! Gradually Jessie gets to find out the secrets of people surrounding her, secrets about the plantations and along with that her own secrets also come out.

Though this is considered historical it felt more like a thriller to me. I feel what it could give me as a reader more descriptive views about that era and Vietnam at that time. Several times while I was reading I was imagining it as a modern-day thriller. Yes, there are parts where it talks about the plantations but still, I feel it lacked to create the proper setting to make my mind live that era with the characters.

This was an enjoyable read overall. At times it slowed down for me and other times it was moving a bit faster. There was no consistency with the pace of the story but still, I feel it was a fun book to read. I feel those readers who enjoy historical books with thriller elements would enjoy it most of all, more than the others. I am going with good 3.5 stars out of 5.0

Many thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for providing me a free advanced reading copy in return for this honest and unbiased review.

The book is expected to be released: April 7th, 2020