What is important for anyone who is curious is the thought hidden in the title of the book, or in the translation in this case: The Pain of War. It is short and effective, if a little simple, as it immediately lays out the main theme of the book while inviting the reader to see how and why. It says what it says: war is bad. War will only take away everything we know and love. War shows the useless sacrifices of the nobles and the virtuous. War forcibly transforms humans into inhuman beasts capable of atrocious actions just like any serial killer. The lucky survivors are themselves cursed as they must adapt to a society zombied by the festering wounds of past bloodshed. What was curious was the alternative translation: The Understanding of Love. Labeling it a war book in the title shows the utmost accuracy of what readers expect, but showing this loss through the perspective of love doesn't change the overall imprint the book leaves. Through all the wars and torments, Kien often feels that he has been kept alive by God's will and that the purpose of it all is to spread the message. Not only is the writing process shown, but Kien fumbling with what to show is reminiscent of his sporadic memory. He suffers from PTSD, which manifests itself through key moments leaving other people in the dark about the source of his torment. His writing is a way to relieve this torment, but it is an eternal cycle of reliving and relieving that leaves Kien as empty as a ghost. This torment begins when Kien was in high school. Kien's luck in surviving skirmishes allowed him to become commander in his twenties. However, this stroke of luck serves as a haunting reminder of an early stamp on his identity as a battle-hardened veteran s...... middle of paper ...... Kien and his companions break into the gears of Being the war machine, Phuong represents the only idealized image in which he maintains his true being. Without that which completes him, no amount of alcohol could fill the void of his true self. Perhaps it would be a better idea to combine the two titles as such: The Sorrow of War and the Understanding of Love. Rather than comparing them to see which theme is more important, it's a better idea to see how a general theme like the loss that war brings fits into a more specific theme of Kien trying so hard for his beloved Phuong. Understanding why Kien is willing to fight for everlasting love even as the world threatens to take everything away from him gives the book a better feel than if it had clearly been left with loss, loss, and more loss. To remember what has been lost is to see the true tragedy of a destructive action.