The healing journey of Sergeant Paul Reed is an inspiration to those challenged by adversity and most especially to those seeking relief from the invisible wounds of war.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Twenty years after he fought in Vietnam, ex-Army paratrooper Reed had not come to grips with his experiences there. Then his mother unearthed a box Reed had shipped home from Kontum Province in March 1968. It held a North Vietnamese soldier's backpack, snatched by Reed from a battlefield, that contained the poetry-filled diary of the soldier, Second Lieut. Nguyen van Nghia. When Reed learned that Nghia was still alive, he went to Vietnam to return the diary. Impossible as it may seem to spoil the telling of such a tale, Reed and Schwarz (To Love a Child, 1995, etc.) have done it. Most damaging is the narrative's detached, wooden voice, which renders dull even those episodes that should be most exciting, such as Reed's long-anticipated meeting with Nghia. More disturbing is the simplistic portrait of Reed, who's depicted as a damaged soul, perhaps "brainwashed" by the U.S. government to hate the Vietnamese, until, in Hanoi, he begins to see not "gooks" but fellow human beings. Even Nghia's poetry disappoints ("Spring is coming, see the beautiful landscape"). The book includes all of Nghia's diary (only partly seen by PW), translated by Rich Murphy and Nguyen Dinh. Photos not seen by PW. (June) ~ FYI: Reed's return to Vietnam was filmed as a documentary, Kontum Diary, to be shown on PBS.
Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
For Those of Us Who Might Have Gone,
By Kent West (Dallas, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Kontum Diary: Captured Writings Bring Peace to a Vietnam Veteran (Hardcover)
Remembering the first, or the reinstatement of that first Lottery Draft was one of the most difficult times of my teenage years. We all had heard of a war and knew of even a few of our friends that had gone to serve and some that had died. Civics class was full of discussions and debate that paralleled those raging in our own Congress. It seemed so strange to be fighting a war when there was this huge debate on whether we should be involved or not. I met or knew few people that wanted to die somewhere in Southeast Asia that many had never even heard of or could even spell.Paul Reed gives an honest and straightforward story of the events that led to his enlistment, training, and volunteering to go and fight in Vietnam. It's hard to imagine the reality of a life in the jungle for an entire year. If the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan's gutwrenching, muscle steeling attack on one awaiting there own demise is the only experience you can call on to imagine what war is about, then this first hand description is available. It's not Homer or Shakespeare, but a straightforward accounting by a well trained boy and his observations as a soldier. I did not want to go to Vietnam. I did not want to fight somewhere or die somewhere that could not be agreed on by a government that rules us all. We should have gone to win or not gone. Those that went, either by draft or by conviction, are to be commended not only for their bravery, but for their sense of duty and the fact that they merely obeyed the call of their country. Their heroism was displayed when they put the uniform on and put themselves in harms way. Not that they showed some action in duties "above and beyond", but that they were there, they were ready, while those of us, myself included, holding lottery number 311 did not have to go at all. I was merely lucky. I cannot imagine the carnage of war or the ability to remove those sights and sounds from my mind. I do not think it can be done. Veterans must be much stronger than those of us who stayed behind, to be able to cope with their lives after such a war and to go on as if it did not happen. Paul Reed's account describes the process by which he chose to open his eyes and see the humanity of his enemy through a captured diary and to allow the forgiveness of our Creator to come into his life and that of Nguyen van Nghia and extend the gift of freedom to those of us who did not go and fight those terrible battles in that terrible war. The poetry of the diary is not complex, but it has been translated. What may rhyme in English or structurally be wonderful is sometimes lost when translated into other tongues. In this case, what was written in Vietnamese may lose something in its translation into English, but the message comes through beautifully.Nguyen van Nghia's words speak for themselves: Love bears no grudge ... Do not rush love in order to enjoy it... Handle love with care... Calm yourself, listen to the world speak... Show the way for the younger generation... For this person that stayed behind, Kontum Diary showed me for the first time that a mistake had been made in entering that war. Those that died did not die in vain, for they answered their country's call. For those us of who did not or did not have to, I am, and we should all be eternally grateful. Read this with book with an open mind and see if you too find it a bit easier to exclude the prejudice, hatred, and the stupidity from our lives that make it so difficult to grow and become what it is that we desire to be.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Kontum Lessons,
By "jlyndon7" (Houston, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Kontum Diary: Captured Writings Bring Peace to a Vietnam Veteran (Hardcover)
As a fellow Vietnam veteran, I found Paul Reed's diary memorable and moving. All of us should be thankful his mother saved his keepsakes which motivated Paul Reed to follow his heart and reconcile not only with the man who wrote the diary but also with himself. The book is well written and reflects the author's courage in facing an incendiary time in his life and the life of the nation. His book contributes to the healing process.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Kontum Diary,
By Diane Burns (California, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Kontum Diary: Captured Writings Bring Peace to a Vietnam Veteran (Hardcover)
The Kontum Diary was the beginning of a journey for me. Reading about Paul's experience in Viet Nam and the years that followed touched a deep chord inside. My first husband died young after his own tour of duty there in the sixties. He was exposed to agent orange which exaserbated the heart attack which eventually killed him. He also suffered from post traumatic stress syndrom, although it didn't have a name then. The Kontum Diary inspired me to write a song which, for me, was a catharsis, a way that I could personalize what I had read in Paul's book and understand what my husband had struggled with. I could, like Paul, let go of the pain and become healed. This is a book that goes far beyond the documentary of two men's lives and the way they came to bury their swords. It is an inspirational story of hope and sends a very strong message about letting go of prejudice and fear and embracing a path of love and friendship.
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