The Land I Lost: Adventures of a Boy in Vietnam (Harper Trophy Book)

Book Description

The land I love was lost to me forever.
These stories are my memories....

Huynh Quang Nhuong grew up in the highlands if Vietnam, next to the jungle teeming with wildlife. Encounters with tigers, wild hogs, and deadly snakes were as much a part of his life as tending the rice fields while on the back of his pet water buffalo, Tank. Here are fifteen tale that will transport you into a world of lush beauty and terrible danger -- and a way of life that is gone forever.

Customer Reviews:

Best childrens book.......2007-03-15

I have bought at least 10 copies of this book thru the years. I give one to all my friends with children 8+ years. The stories are truly amazing and great for adults as well.

Great read-aloud!.......2006-07-14

We loved this book! My kids begged me NOT to finish our read-aloud time! We were glued to this book and ended up reading it a lot quicker than expected. It is graphic and true to life...read to young ones with caution!

Realistic to an extreme........2006-01-04

I am the daughter of a Vietnam veteran and my entire life I have grown up hearing stories of how dreadful it was to be there and how scary it was to be in a foreign land. Quang Huynh gave me a new perspective on this foreign land and made me see it as a very unique place with his relationships with his animals, family, and insight into his culture. This book was terribly sad, and at times it is a bit too real for one to handle. It is very well written and the stories are captivating. I reccomend everyone read it for a rare insight on Vietnam before the war.

The land I lost , written by Huynh Quang Nhuong( Author).......2004-01-16

This Adventure story is full of dangerous fun and sorrow. Huynh Quang Nhuong lives in a small hamlet (village)in the central high lands of vietnam. The hamlet he lives in has a jungle on one side in which they must watch for jungle cats, lone hogs and the most dangerous the horse snake. And on the other is a river which Crocodiles live in. Many of the crocodiles are man eaters like mister short. In the begin of the story you meet Tank the Water bufflo. Tank isn't your regular water bufflo. He is bred between a lowland female because it would be patient and A moutainous bull so it would have the fierce fighting able.

The reason I choose this book was because love the outdoors. when I six years old I live in a village in Alaska and I hunted and fished all the time.

the land i lost........2003-12-18

The book I read is about the author's life. The author tells us about his experience with animals he met. The setting is a village where the author has lived. Anyway there is very important animal called Tank. Tank is a friend of the author but it's not human it's a cow.

Amazon.com

"A few years ago," Stewart O'Nan, editor of The Vietnam Reader, writes in his introduction, "when I began teaching the American literature of the Vietnam War, I tried to find an anthology my students could use.... But as I searched through libraries and catalogues, new- and used-book shops, I discovered there wasn't one." So O'Nan set out to create one himself. What began as course material has grown into a remarkable collection of writing that will appeal to a broad audience of readers interested in the Vietnam experience. O'Nan includes a little bit of everything--fiction and nonfiction from acclaimed writers such as Tim O'Brien, Louise Erdrich, Michael Herr, and David Halberstam; poetry and drama by Michael Casey and David Rabe; even songs such as Barry Sadler's "The Ballad of the Green Berets" and Credence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son." There are also essays on the major Vietnam films, from The Deer Hunter to Full Metal Jacket, and a smattering of famous photographs from the war.

What makes this collection extraordinary is not just the quality of the writing it contains but also the breadth of attitudes O'Nan represents. For instance, he juxtaposes an excerpt from Ron Kovic's antiwar memoir, Born of the Fourth of July with James Webb's gung-ho paean to fighting the good fight in Fields of Fire. Chapters of Tim O'Brien's hallucinatory fiction Going After Cacciato resonate with excerpts from his earlier memoir If I D ie in a Combat Zone as well the journalism of Michael Herr (Dispatches) and Philip Caputo (A Rumor of War). Creating sections such as "Early Work," "The Oral History Boom," "Memoirs," "Homecoming," and more, O'Nan seeks to convey as much of the war experience from as many different perspectives as possible. Anyone interested in history and in fine writing will find The Vietnam Reader worthy reading. --Alix Wilber

Book Description

The Vietnam Reader is a selection of the finest and best-known art from the American war in Vietnam, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, film, still photos, and popular song lyrics. All the strongest work is here, from mainstream bestsellers to radical poetry, from Tim O'Brien to Marvin Gaye. Also included are incisive reader's questions--useful for educators and book clubs--in a volume that makes an essential contribution to a wider understanding of the Vietnam War.

This authoritative and accessible volume is sure to become a classic reference, as well as indispensable and provocative reading for anyone who wants to know more about the war that changed the face of late-twentieth-century America.

Customer Reviews:

Good starting point.......2006-10-16

I read this when it came out, and it pointed me toward buying and reading several works I probably wouldn't have otherwise. Of course, this work contains fiction and nonfiction, plus movie reviews, and song lyrics. I'm kind of confused why some earlier reviewers are upset. If there are some mistaken captions, so be it. The direction the book steers readers is ultimately what matters. It is a noble effort indeed to try and waken the consciousness of some readers who would otherwise be ignorant of the important works herein, and/or the Vietnam war era. If O'Nan's book helps the reading public to pick up other books on Vietnam, then he has succeeded admirably. The movie reviews are his own with supplementary comments by others. If readers have a problem with the content, direct that ire toward the individual authors, and not the compilator.
Buy the book, it's great!

some people need to re-evaluate.......2003-08-29

The title says it all: FICTION and NON FICTION and if you read the intro to this book it says that O'Nan is a teacher of Vietnam LITERATURE not history. The selections in the book are examples of popular vietnam some are fiction. The picture of the little girl and the napalm bombing is one of the most famous pictures concerning the war.
I think this book is a great overview of vietnam era literature and reccommend it to anyone interested in vietnam lit. It also contains photos, poetry, song lyrics ( remember country joe and the fish?), and commentary on several movies. it is also seperated into categories like the first major wave of work that came towards the end of the war and the second major wave of work which can about a decade after the war which gives a nice chronological view.

Excellent review of Vietnam literature.......2003-02-22

... O'Nan has put together some of the best literature written by Americans about the Vietnam War since the late '60s. A quick look at the table of contents should put anyone's doubts to rest--especially since O'Nan has included a generous amount of space to Tim O'Brien, certainly the finest American writer about the Vietnam War. I had two problems with this book, besides the fact that this should be available in hardback. 1) O'Nan has failed to include anything from Thom Jones's book "The Pugilist at Rest"--an excellent writer, close on O'Brien's tail in terms of sheer storytelling. 2) This book includes nothing by Vietnamese writers--which I find a huge oversight...
This book does not pretend to be history...

A Sorry Fiction Masquerading As "History".......2000-10-29

This book is an unadulterated piece of CR--!! The author made no attempt to cross-check the material he put into it, and re-printed a large number of Vietnam War Myths, - the girl in the napalm strike, the 19 year old casualty, and many others, - as facts. If he is really teaching our youth the "history" of the Vietnam War using this tripe he should be called up before an academic review board and disciplined for sloppy research and distortion of the Nation's real effort in Southeast Asia.

Do yourself a favor and read a "real" book about the Vietnam War, one such as Geunter Lewy's "America in Vietnam", or Andrew Krepinevich's "The Army and Vietnam", if you are stuck with this one, read Burkett and Whitley's "Stolen Valor" in order to sort out the real from the fanciful.

Sloppy journalism perpetuating the same tired myths as fact........1999-05-22

I knew as soon as I got to page 2 of the intro that this would be a re-hash compilation of old B.S. war stories and half-baked myths masquerading as "Vietnam war history". And O'Nan is apparently still teaching this nonsense to unsuspecting college students! Take the oft-disproved LIES like "the average age of the combat soldier in Vietnam was 19". This doesn't square with the reality that the average age of those whose names are listed on The Wall and whose MOS is 11B (combat infantry) is 22.6 years of age. The average age of all Vietnam war fatalities was 23.1 years. Where does he come up with 19? Later we see those two famous (infamous) Vietnam photos with their DECEPTIVE captions. On page 439 "A South Vietnamese girl flees a U.S. napalm strike by Highway 1." Had O'Nan bothered to check his facts he'd discover that NO AMERICAN had any role whatsoever in this incident. South Vietnamese pilots flying South Vietnamese jets under the orders of South Vietnamese air controllers dropped the napalm on North Vietnamese Army positions in the village of Trang Bang when this picture was taken, June 8, 1972. Phan Thi Kim Phuc's injuries WERE NOT caused by any U.S. soldier. Later on page 691, we learn that "As Saigon falls, helicopters evacuate the U.S. embassy." More crap. The rooftop evacuation in the photo is from THE PITTMAN APARTMENTS in Saigon. Many of the works and authors cited in The Vietnam Reader were also critiqued in the book STOLEN VALOR. In Stolen Valor you will learn that many of the "Vets" writing these exciting stories of combat derring-do WEREN'T EVEN IN VIETNAM (if they were indeed in the service at all!) Do yourself a favor. If you want an honest, authoritative, objective, and well-documented expose' of thirty years of Vietnam war mis-information, read Stolen Valor instead.

Closing Arguments (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

Average customer rating:

Strange but good.
Not As Billed!
Battles, Battles Everywhere
The real action is not in the courtroom
Disturbing.

Closing Arguments (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
Frederick Busch
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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A Memory of War: A Novel

ASIN: 0449907503
Release Date: 1993-02-10

Book Description

Marcus Brennan is a successful small-town lawyer on the verge of a breakdown. His wife, Schelle, thinks it’s post-traumatic stress disorder from his years as a POW in Vietnam. Planning the dedication of a memorial for Vietnam soldiers, she asks Marcus to say a few words at the ceremony, hoping the experience will help to exorcise his demons. But after agreeing to defend Estella Pritchett, a social worker accused of murdering her lover, Marcus begins a downward spiral into the murky depths of his own past–where sex is violent, where love means betrayal, and where his own memories have the power to destroy him. . . .

Customer Reviews:

Strange but good. .......2006-01-30

I read this book based upon a recommendation in "Book Lust" (compendium of recommended reads) and it sounded interesting. It WAS interesting, although the style left me a little jumpy for the first half of the book. I also could not figure out how or why the protagonist got involved with his defendant, but I won't say more. It must have been good since it had me thinking for a long while, but I have read much better stories. It was disturbing, and not entirely unforgettable.

Not As Billed!.......2002-09-11

I bought this book on the basis of the title Closing Arguments and the hype "a superb piece of courtroom drama.." This book is neither. It has little, if anything to do with action in the courtroom and the "closing arguments" leave more questions than answers.

That being said, this book is an amazing look into the pysche of one rather disturbed dysfunctional male, who happens to be an attorney. However, that is the only thing about his life that is real--nothing else is. ... In fact, his own past is somehow mired in the dark side of abuse, betrayal, and destruction.

While his wife, Schelle, tries to help him deal with a past she neither knows nor understands(by dedicating a Vietnam Memorial in their hometown), Marcus chooses another remedy. He decides to exorcise his demons with the help of his current client, herself a sexually dysfunctional mess. His plan is to leave his family the "Closing Arguments" and his bloody corpse. It is the only way that he can see to extricate himself from the lifetime of lies that he has foisted upon his family, himself, and the community.

I must say, I was put off by all the sexual exploitation that occurred between Marcus and his client. It was only after I had completed the book and rethought the plot, that I realized it is indeed a finely crafted novel. I don't think I'd want too many more of these in a row though, its very dark and disturbing. But, in the final anaylis, it's worth the read. I will try anothr Busch novel before I make any final decisions on whether his writing style is something I want to spend a lot of time on.

Battles, Battles Everywhere.......2001-12-28

This was a totally engrossing book. The chapters were short but the effect was long-lasting. Nowhere have I read a more brutal/brilliant account of the American male psyche. This book will leave you thinking about bigger issues long after you've put the book down. (Can you tell that I kind of liked this books?)

The real action is not in the courtroom.......2000-12-06

This is a powerfully written book, centered around a murder trial, but also driven by the personal disintegration of a defense lawyer, Mark Brennan. A former Vietnam Vet, he flashes back continuously to war experiences. A married father of two deeply troubled children, Mark's wife Rochelle tries to pull their crumbling twenty year marriage together by building a Vietnam War Memorial in their town. The whole family has so much difficulty comunicating to eachother, that their encounters seem almost mute. Mark, in a desperate attempt to define himself, takes on the case of a woman charged with murder during "rough sex". Perhaps inevitably, he becomes involved with this woman sexually. In an effort to understand the nature of the murder, exploring the consequences when people play with limits, he becomes emeshed with her story, blending in his own childhood abuse. The story finally becomes a lonely man's explanation to his wife of his tattered emotional life. This book is not easy to read, but the protagonist flays himself before the reader, making no apologies, expecting no forgiveness.

Disturbing........1998-12-13

I have just recently become a fan of Frederick Busch. This book was very disturbing and not easily forgotten. It hung on with me for several days. Mr. Busch is not a writer to take lightly.

He has a unique understanding of human behavior. His writing style is clean, like the cut of a knife.

Book Description

Full-color & black-and-white photos. "The dream of Jan Scruggs, the man behind the movement to build the wall, and the fulfillment of that dream, is detailed up to the opening of the memorial. Designed for proficient independent readers, this book is honest and accurate. It is a sensitive statement about the price of war and the hope for peace, and will impart to young people the facts of this turbulent period in our history."--School Library Journal.

Average customer rating:

Vietnam: A Reader
David T. Zabecki
Manufacturer: ibooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0739426117

The Things We Do to Make It Home: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

Average customer rating:

Needed to to be said...
Needed to to be said...
Misleading Marketing Ploy
NOTHING OUT THERE LIKE IT
Very disappointing!

The Things We Do to Make It Home: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
Beverly Gologorsky
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0345428021
Release Date: 2000-01-04

Amazon.com

In the decades since the end of the Vietnam War, American writers of all stripes have staked out that cataclysmic conflict as a subject for literature. Tim O'Brien, Michael Herr, Ron Kovic, David Rabe--the list of authors who have rendered men and war is long and impressive; the fact that there's nary a woman among them is perhaps not surprising, as combat is, for the most part, a male activity. But men weren't the only ones affected by Vietnam--for every soldier in a rice paddy, there was a mother, a sister, a lover back home; when their men came back changed by the experience of war, life changed for the women, as well. In her impressive debut novel, Beverly Gologorsky skillfully depicts the lives of three returned veterans and the women who love them. The story begins in 1973, shortly after Rooster, Frankie, Nick, Sean, Rod, and Jason return home from Vietnam, and it's obvious something's not quite right.

Waiting for his girlfriend, Millie, to dress for a party, Rooster can't sit still.

He counts twenty-two steps from the bedroom door to the end of the living room.... She doesn't like him barging in while she's dressing. She says that he's got to give her some privacy. Soon there'll be thunder, lightning. He begins snapping his fingers. Twenty-two steps. He turns, fixes his eyes on the door. Twenty-two steps. Hey, baby, anchors need to be close to their boats.

All of the men in Gologorsky's book are damaged goods and all the women do their best to patch them up, with mostly disappointing results. What elevates this novel above your run-of-the-mill tale of dysfunction and heartache is Gologorsky's unsentimental yet compassionate rendering of all her characters, both male and female. Though the plot is occasionally thin, the pain and passion carry you through.

Book Description

In this poignant and unforgettable novel, the fierce repercussions of the Vietnam War are captured from an altogether original and touching angle. This story belongs to the women: the lovers, wives, and daughters who saw their men returned safely to them--but as unfamiliar, haunted souls who would forever be out of their reach.

Remember the American Dream. Beautiful House. Children. The Suburbs. He's in one piece. Safe at home. Ignore the reality. His fear of sleep. The imaginary person he talks to. The pills. The booze. The car parked miles away from the driveway. . . .

An emotionally charged story of passionate love, unfulfilled desire, and an American dream gone terribly awry, The Things We Do to Make It Home is a powerful portrayal of six women struggling to salvage their homes and their families while discovering the limits of devotion to help those they love. Though inviting comparisons to the work of Tim O'Brien and Bobbie Ann Mason, The Things We Do to Make It Home illuminates--in its own unique and unadorned style--the destructive effects of war on those who served and those who waited behind.

Customer Reviews:

Needed to to be said..........2000-05-03

For so long war has been described from a male point of view. In this warm, loving novel, we hear about Vietnam through the eyes of the women who live with Vietnam vets. These women are unforgettable and the stories they relate are both sad and uplifting. This is a book worth reading more than once.

Needed to to be said..........2000-05-03

Misleading Marketing Ploy.......2000-02-01

To call this book a novel does a disservice to the book and the author. This is a collection of linked stories, and the publisher's attempt to market it as a novel is misleading and infuriating. While a novel can be many things, several elements characterize it as such: pacing, narrative arc, character development, plot development, resolution. Beverly Gologorsky is a talented writer with a lean, taut prose style that pierces the heart of an image or mood. But in this book, she has not made the leap from story-writer to novelist. In fact, she may not even want to: story-writing is as equally challenging and compelling a craft as novel-writing. But simply calling this book a novel to increase sales, prestige or market share doesn't make it one. I was very excited to purchase this book, and walked away very disappointed.

NOTHING OUT THERE LIKE IT.......2000-01-12

A novel about the women who live with Vietnam vets. However, this is not a book about war. It is a book about what it means to live with men who in one way or another are not able to return love in ways that women need. Very poignant. Kept me reading until the last page. Don't miss it.

Very disappointing!.......1999-09-05

I found this book lacking substance of any sort. The author was unable to develop characters which are believable or explainable. The Vietnam veterans presented run the gambit of total disability to mild. Never are these disabilities explained or presented correctly which is obvious to the reader with even minimal knowledge of/experience with PTSD. This is a terrible offense to anyone who has or has had to suffer with PTSD. In addition the veterans portrayed give the reader the incorrect notion all Vietnam veterans have been unable to come to grips with their experience and move on in life. I bought the book because it was written by a woman and hoped it would shed light on women who have loved men suffering from PTSD. Instead the women in this book are portrayed in a scattered fashion. Never are their reasons for caring, loving, and tolerating these men explained. They appear to be a group of terribly weak codependent females. Very sad since PTSD victims depend heavily on strong family/friend/spouse/ significant other support in order to achieve recovery. Vietnam left a mark on all of us and will forever effect this nation along with the generation of men/women who were most closely aligned with the events of the time. This book does nothing to help today or tomorrow's reader understand anything about these fictional characters or their era. The story presented here is as lost and purposeless as the characters the author failed to fully develop. VERY disappointing to say the least.

Leaving Vietnam: The Journey Of Tuan Ngo (Ready-to-Read, Level 3)

Average customer rating:

Refugee story.
leaving vietnam

Leaving Vietnam: The Journey Of Tuan Ngo (Ready-to-Read, Level 3)
Sarah S. Kilborne
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0689807988

Book Description

In the middle of the night, Tuan Ngo and his father fled their home in war-torn Vietnam. But slipping away on a tiny boat was only the beginning of this young boy's long journey to freedom. Leaving Vietnam is the true story of Tuan's escape, a first-person telling of his experience as a boat boy and refugee.

Customer Reviews:

Refugee story........2001-12-28

I am excited to read this to my Vietnamese students and my other refugee students. I hope that they can form a common bond. Many of my Vietnamese students have entered the United States in less dangerous times as immigrants. Parents and relatives experienced the terror of Communist Vietnam and of the war. Several of my other students experienced terrible times in their countries. We can use the book as a discussion tool.

leaving vietnam.......2000-06-05

this book remind me of how i left my country.it is a sad book and remind me of many things.how i got here in the usa nad y i am here today. i am here beacuse of the freedom usa have and the places like the grand canyon and entertanment places.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Heinemann First Library)

Average customer rating:

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Heinemann First Library)
Ted Schaefer , and Lola M. Schaefer
Manufacturer: Heinemann Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 1403466599

Average customer rating:

Vietnam Reader, A: Sources and Essays
George Donelson Moss
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
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ASIN: 0139466258

Book Description

M->CREATED

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The land I love was lost to me forever. These stories are my memories....

The land I love was lost to me forever.
These stories are my memories....