Critical Praise

"[A] haunting debut novel…quietly mesmerizing…If it sounds as if a love story is the central element in The Lotus Eaters (which takes its title from those characters in The Odyssey who succumb to the allure of honeyed fruit), Ms. Soli’s book is sturdier than that. Its object lessons in how Helen learns to refine her wartime photography are succinct and powerful. By exposing its readers to the violence of war only gradually and sparingly, the novel becomes all the more effective."

—Te New York Times

"The novel is steeped in history, yet gorgeous sensory details enliven the prose… 35 years after the fall of Saigon, Soli’s entrancing debut brings you close enough to feel a part of it."

—People, (3 and a half stars)

"If it’s possible to judge a novel by its first few lines, then The Lotus Eaters, Tatjana Soli’s fiction debut, shows great promise right from the start: ‘The city teetered in a dream state. Helen walked down the deserted street. The quiet was eerie. Time running out.’… Anyone who has seen Kathryn’s Bigelow’s Oscar-winning film, The Hurt Locker, understands that the obsession with violence and risk, at least for a certain personality type, is hard to shake. That Soli’s story explores this mindset from a woman’s perspective (and a journalist, not a soldier) adds interesting and unexpected layers…The author explores Helen’s psyche with startling clarity, and portrays the chaotic war raging around her with great attention to seemingly minor details."

—The Boston Globe

"[A] splendid first novel…Helen’s restlessness and grappling, her realization that "a woman sees war differently," provide a new and fascinating perspective on Vietnam. Vivid battle scenes, sensual romantic entanglements and elegant writing add to the pleasures of The Lotus Eaters. Soli’s hallucinatory vision of wartime Vietnam seems at once familiar and new. The details --- the scorched villages, the rancid smells of Saigon --- arise naturally, underpinning the novel’s sharp realism and characterization. In an author’s note, Soli writes that she’s been an "eager reader of every book" about Vietnam she has come across, but she is never overt or heavy-handed. Nothing in this novel seems "researched." Rather, its disparate sources have been smoothed and folded into Soli’s own distinct voice."

—New York Times Book Review