In the Year of the Rabbit

A combat photographer seeks respite from his grief in Harkins’ novel of the Vietnam War, a sequel to The Big Buddha Bicycle Race (2018).

In 1972, U.S. Air Force cameraman Brendan Leary is in a military hospital in Thailand, recovering from injuries sustained in a deadly attack. Among the dead is Tukada, a Thai woman whom Leary loved. After he’s discharged, he’s depressed and haunted by strange visions: “It’s just a bunch of flashes—gunfire, the thumping of chopper blades, Tukada’s death rattle.” He tries to distract himself by teaching English, playing in a garage band, and exploring meditation with the help of a Buddhist monk.It isn’t long before he’s sent back up in the air, however. He experiences another brush with death when his gunship is downed over enemy territory, and he and a friend are the only ones to make it out alive. After a long ordeal involving capture by the North Vietnamese Army, Leary makes it to safety. But as he reaches the end of his rope, Buddhism and perhaps the love of a new woman may be the only things that can save him. Harkins’ prose is muscular and immersive, detailing Leary’s war experience with surprising imagery: “The engine exploded again and, like the tongue of a hungry dog, flames began lapping at the gash in the wing…suddenly we skidded sideways like an airborne hockey puck.” The novel marks an atypical entry in the annals of Vietnam War literature, as Leary isn’t a soldier, per se and isn’t stationed in Vietnam. It’s also a difficult book to enter cold, as it starts right where the previous novel left off, with little explanation, and some 16 different characters are introduced or referenced in the first four pages. Like many characters on spiritual quests, Leary can come off as a bit annoying at times, quoting Khalil Gibran and going on for way too long about his band. Overall, the narrative is slim and slow, and as a result, its readership may be narrowed to those who underwent similar disillusionment during the Vietnam era.

A meandering, cerebral work about a man clawing his way out of darkness.