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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	:	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.

Rating About Books The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood

Ratings: 4.27 From 2051 Users | 234 Reviews

Rate About Books The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood

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

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.

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

There is no question in my mind concerning how many stars to give this book. Actually 5 is too little. This is my all time favorite book. Many have it on their "to-read" lists. Put it at the top. Make it the next book you read.The suspense at the end made my heart race. I had to stop to get air. I was racing over the words to find out what would happen even though I knew he would end up on the plane. You KNOW that he ended up in the States, he wrote the book there. I had to know exactly how it

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.

A fast read, and the first book I've actually read in the last two months. Would rate it a 3 and 1/2. What a time in our recent history. Makes me wonder about children who have been fathered by US military men in the last decade. Hope the lives of these children aren't as desperate.

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