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Original Title:	The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood
ISBN:	0316284610 (ISBN13: 9780316284615)
Edition Language:	English
Setting:	Vietnam

The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood

Kien Nguyen

Paperback | Pages: 343 pages

Rating: 4.27 | 2051 Users | 234 Reviews

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Title	:	The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood
Author	:	Kien Nguyen
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Deluxe Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 343 pages
Published	:	April 8th 2002 by Back Bay Books (first published January 1st 2002)
Categories	:	Nonfiction. Autobiography. Memoir. Biography. Cultural. Asia

Description To Books The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood

As a student of memoir, I generally prefer examples that include a fair amount of introspection and reevaluation of past events. But analysis is more appropriate for some material than others. A small child living through apocalyptic times is unlikely to display introspection, and the adult author looking back on those times will be intrusive if he does more than simply provide the facts of his experience. Here, I was the one doing the pondering. It's sobering to try and comprehend the multitudes of innocent people who have been caught up in and destroyed by events such as those described here. Everyone (of my generation, at least) remembers the iconic photo of people on the roof of the embassy in Saigon, grabbing the last helicopter out in 1975. If you want some human context for that event -- specifically, concerning those who could not evacuate -- this is the book to read. I also think it's instructive to experience situations like these vicariously, since one never really knows what the future holds. It's also a pointed reminder that good intentions are no guarantee of anything. The outcome described here is obscene in the context of the lofty principles the young people are taught to recite, and doubly so in view of the enormous sacrifices previously made there by Americans and others. The prose betrays no indication that the author is not a native speaker of English, and indeed it includes judicious use of literary devices (the thunder growls like an empty stomach, veins stand out in someone’s throat like fat worms, etc.). It's an easy read -- aside from the fact that the circumstances described go from bad to appalling to hellish, and then to ever deeper levels of hell, proving Dante right. It also reinforces a history lesson that the world ought to have absorbed by now (at the time this was going on, my wife was enduring China's brand of Communism a few hundred miles to the north). It provides a study of what happens to human relationships when the very structure of civilization is turned on its head, and a warning to those of us in the West that we must not take our inherited way of life for granted. I'm left feeling concern for the author, because despite his escape at the end, nobody could live through these experiences without being severely messed up psychologically. I hope writing about it has helped him.

Rating Regarding Books The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood

Ratings: 4.27 From 2051 Users | 234 Reviews

Appraise Regarding Books The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood

This book is not for the faint of heart. However, I think everyone should read this. As he placed dates with nightmarish events in his life, I recalled how old I was, the house I lived in and child hood memories. A cultural experience of postwar Vietnam and a lesson of why our freedoms are so precious. A story you will not forget. The only memoir written by an Amerasain who lived through the fall of Saigon, at a young age, enduring life there for 13 years and who now lives in America.

Certainly this man had a horrific childhood. However, I cannot know what of the specific events are accurate. It is improbable at best that a 5 year old can recall full conversations and the dinner menu for a specific night. He has interpreted some events later as an adult but he would not have understood what was happening when they occurred. It isn't a very well written story and would have worked better as a novel rather than a liberally embellished "memoir".



The second half of the book held my attention more than the first half. The story was tragic and got more tragic with every page. However, I feel like Nguyen's story is similar to many people who have written memoirs about their impoverished childhoods in war torn countries. Nothing in his story is surprising, but sad nonetheless. I was hoping to learn more about Vietnam from this book, and the author did give some insight into the fall of Saigon and the beginning of the Communist regime in the

An amazing and extremely powerful story about a young man and his family's struggles to survive in Vietnam after the fall of Saigon and his escape to America. From the start of the story I knew he and his family settled in America, but throughout the book I would find myself forgetting this and I would worry about his fate after every attempt to escape failed. I would love to see this book be required reading for high school seniors.

This story was so tragically moving. It is a memoir and beautifuly written. I cried and was impressed with the ability of the human spirit to survive at all costs. I also learned about how difficult it was during the fall of Saigon after Communism came and why refugees would risk everything to come to America for freedom. I would read future stories by Nguyen.

True story of an illegitimate boy born to a Vietnamese woman and her American boyfriend. How this kid survived racism, starvation, rape and torture after the fall of Saigon in 1975 and escaping in 1985 is an amazing story. Not maudlin at all but told in a matter-of-fact manner.