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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	:	Anniversary 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

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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.

Identify Books During The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood

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

Rating Regarding Books The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood

Ratings: 4.27 From 2051 Users | 234 Reviews

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Couldn't put this down. Heartbreaking at times, but a truly amazing read.

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".

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.

This book will break your heart so many times. The author is Amer-Asian, a product of the Vietnam war, who was hated in his home country by everyone for only that reason. He wrote the book as a catharsis to help him put his past behind him and end his horrible nightmares and we are the benefactors. His struggle to escape Communist Vietnam is riveting. I highly recommend this book.

This book is both easy to read and difficult to swallow, all at the same time. I tried to explain it to my children, who are always interestedin the stories I read. As I tried to describe the war and the politics and the culture and the atrocities, I could not help but think that these things happened to this young boy while I was here, in America, well-fed, abundantly-loved, and spoiled rotten. I really did not want it to end. I wanted to read more about his life after Vietnam. I wanted to

One of the reasons I like memoir writing is that the person doesn't have to be a polished writer and it's okay. It is all about the story and the need to get it out there. This is one of those stories that needs to be told. Kien Nguyen is the son of a Vietnamese woman and an American business man. His parents were never married and he never knew his Dad. His family was not able to make it out of Saigon before the Americans pulled out at the end of the Vietnam war. This story details the

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