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Interviews | April 16, 2012

Jill Owens: IMG Leni Zumas: The Powells.com Interview

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Leni ZumasLeni Zumas's writing crackles. Her books are sharp, bleak, funny, and possibly dangerous. When her collection of short stories, Farewell Navigator,... Continue »
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eBook editions

The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood

by Kien Nguyen

The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood Cover

ISBN13: 9780316284615
ISBN10: 0316284610
Condition:
All Product Details

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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

When Saigon fell to the Viet Cong in April, 1975, Kien Nguyen was there. He watched the last US Army helicopter leave without him, without his brother, his mother or his grandparents. More at risk than most in the decimated country, with his odd blond hair and light eyes, he was the most "unwanted" - an American. This is a memoir by an Amerasian who stayed behind in Vietnam and is now living in America. Told with stark and poetic honesty, it is a story of survival, a story of hope, and a moving, personal record of this tumultuous time in history.

Synopsis:

Told with a stark, poetic brilliance, Kien's account of his early years--from the fall of Saigon to his family's eventual escape--is a work of profound emotional resonance. A Reader's Pick Selection.

Synopsis:

A story of hope, a story of survival, and an incredible journey of escape, 'The Unwanted' is the only memoir by an Amerasian who stayed behind in Vietnam after the fall of Saigon and who is now living in America.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
Shoshana, April 13, 2007 (view all comments by Shoshana)
+ Viscerally disturbing and well-told

- A bit more interiority would be interesting, though perhaps neither culturally appropriate nor an accurate reflection of the author's experience

A wrenching narrative of an Amerasian boy's life in post-1975 Vietnam. Kien Nguyen's mother was a banker with two half-white children when Saigon fell to the Northern communists. The family suffered on several accounts: Generally, as South Vietnamese who were suspected of not supporting the North, and hence were presumed to be allied with the U.S.-backed puppet government; as obvious capitalists; as a mixed-ethnicity family; and because Kien's mother had not married her children's fathers.

The book is an almost unrelentingly depressing and horrifying account of poverty, oppression, and discrimination in post-war Vietnam. Though flat at times (like many war narratives by then-children), it was sufficiently disturbing that I had to take breaks while reading. Ultimately, after many beatings, a rape by his mother's ex-boyfriend, starvation, thwarted escapes, and prison, Kien has a chance to leave Vietnam, but first perpetuates the cycle of violence and oppression.

A good companion piece to Truong Nhu Tang's A Viet Cong Memoir: An Inside Account of the Vietnam War and Its Aftermath and Andrew X. Pham's Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780316284615
Author:
Nguyen, Kien
Publisher:
Back Bay Books
Location:
Boston
Subject:
Refugees
Subject:
Vietnamese conflict, 1961-1975
Subject:
Childhood Memoir
Subject:
Vietnamese Americans
Subject:
Vietnamese Conflict, 19
Subject:
Nha Trang
Subject:
Biography-Childhood Memoir
Subject:
Biography - General
Copyright:
2002
Edition Description:
1st Back Bay pbk. ed.
Series Volume:
2001-10
Publication Date:
20020431
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Language:
English
Pages:
368
Dimensions:
8.30x5.50x.97 in. .73 lbs.
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Related Subjects

Biography » General
History and Social Science » Ethnic Studies » Asian American
History and Social Science » World History » Southeast Asia
Languages » Foreign Languages » Spanish » Biography » General

The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood Sale Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$7.98 In Stock
Product details 368 pages Back Bay Books - English 9780316284615 Reviews:
"Synopsis" by , Told with a stark, poetic brilliance, Kien's account of his early years--from the fall of Saigon to his family's eventual escape--is a work of profound emotional resonance. A Reader's Pick Selection.
"Synopsis" by , A story of hope, a story of survival, and an incredible journey of escape, 'The Unwanted' is the only memoir by an Amerasian who stayed behind in Vietnam after the fall of Saigon and who is now living in America.
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