The Unwanted
A Memoir of Childhood
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Saigon fell to the Viet Cong on April 30, 1975. Kien Nguyen watched the last U.S. Army helicopter leave without him, without his brother, without his mother, without his grandparents. Left to a nightmarish existence in a violated and decimated country, Kien was more at risk than most because of his odd blond hair and his light eyes - because he was Amerasian. He was the most unwanted. Told with stark and poetic brilliance, this is a story of survival and hope, a moving and personal record of a tumultuous and important piece of history.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The son of a wealthy Vietnamese woman and an American businessman, Nguyen was nearly eight when Saigon fell to the Vietcong. For the next decade he and his family endured hardships brought on by the privileged lives they had enjoyed under the capitalist regime. Although his writing lacks the lyricism of recent memoirs like The Liar's Club or Angela's Ashes, Nguyen's voice is clear and strong, and he is adept at capturing both the broad sweep of life under the Vietcong and the peculiarities of growing up in a colorful and emotionally dysfunctional family during a jarring and vicious revolution. Perhaps the most engaging aspect of his memoir is its portrayal of the ironies that ensue when the old order collapses and the social hierarchy is turned upside down. At one point, Nguyen's mother, imperious and a virulent snob, is called before the newly installed communist leadership only to encounter her former gardener, a man she barely acknowledged before the revolution but who now has the power to strip her of all she owns. For the most part, though, this memoir reminds us of life's many undeserved injustices. Nguyen and his half-brother, Jimmy, who is also Amerasian, pay a particularly high price for the accident of their genealogy, enduring the scorn of their countrymen, especially the communists. At 18, the author and his family emigrated to the United States, where he now works as a dentist. With the purely personal goal of "healing" himself, Nguyen concludes by hoping that his narrative will also help other Amerasians born during the Vietnam War mourn their "lost childhoods."
Customer Reviews
AMAZING!!!
I don't like reading at all! But I read this book and it was so thrilling! I loved it so much and I recommend it to everyone!!!
The Unwanted
Amazing story
Best, even the second read
The first time when I read The Unwanted was on paperback, and I finished it overnight. This time, having found it on iTunes Bookstore, I took my time and still finished it rather quickly. Absolutely a must read for anyone who wants to see first hand the experience of a Vietnamese - including one of an Amerasian - during the leading toward and the fall of Saigon. I chose to make the book purchase while taking a trip visiting my family in Saigon so every time I drove past the areas that Kien wrote in the book, then came back and read about it, it really felt like I was there, and it all happened around me. The struggles that were described are few of many untold stories, sad to say.