Message from Nam [Paperback]

Danielle Steel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1991

How do you tell someone what it's like to kill a man hand to hand, run a bayonet through his guts, or shoot a sniper in the face who turns out to be a woman? How do you explain the nine-year-old boy who throws a grenade and kills your best friend? How do you tell them what it's like? Or about the sunsets on the mountains or the green of Viet Nam, or the sounds and the smells, and the people, and the girl who can't even say your name, but you know you love her. There was nothing any of them could say. So most of them rode home in silence. For seven years Paxton Andrews would write an acclaimed newspaper column for Americans from the front, before finally returning to the States and then attending the Paris peace talks. But for her, and for the men who fought in Viet Nam, life would never be the same again.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An audacious--and ill-conceived--departure from her usual glitzy settings, Steel's ( Daddy ; Star ) 25th novel focuses on the Vietnam War, though it merely skims the surface of that turbulent era. In an attempt at seriousness, Steel awkwardly shoehorns in a veritable almanac of historical facts and such painful milestones as the assassinations of JFK and Martin Luther King Jr. Her heroine, feisty Savannah native Paxton Andrews, disdains the role of a Southern belle and flees to UC Berkeley, where she pursues a journalism major and instantly falls in love with law student Peter Wilson, son of a newspaper tycoon. When Peter is killed in Vietnam, grief-stricken Paxton wangles a ticket to the front as a journalist, where, with an initial boost from a tough, fatherly AP correspondent, she knocks out an acclaimed column for seven years. Steel's undemanding style is too often marred by gushing, breathless prose that trivializes serious events. While the mega-selling author isn't at the top of her form, her fans will enjoy the emotional firestorm as Paxton reels from a series of tragic blows, some concerning her hotheaded lover, Sergeant Tony Campobello, a POW. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selections.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

As a journalist, Paxton Andrews would experience Vietnam firsthand. We follow her from high school in Savannah to college in Berkeley and then to work in Saigon.

For the soldiers she knew and met there, Viet Nam would change their lives in ways they could never have imagined. For the men in her life, Viet Nam would change their lives in ways hey could not escape or deny. Peter Wilson, fresh from law school, was a new recruit who would confont his fate in Da Nang. Ralph Johnson, a seasoned AP correspondent, had been in Saigon since the beginning. He knew Vietnam and the war inside out. Bill Quinn, captain of the Cu Chi tunnel rats, was on his fourth tour of duty and it seemed nothing could touch him. Sergeant Tony Campobello had come to Vietnam from the streets of New York to vent a rage that had followed him all the way to Saigon.

For seven years Paxton Andrews would write an acclaimed newspaper column from the front before finally returning to the States and then attending the Paris peace talks. But for her and the men who fought in Viet Nam, life would never be the same again. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Corgi (January 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0552135240
• ISBN-13: 978-0552135245
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1.2 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,756,990 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Danielle Steel has been hailed as one of the world's most popular authors, with over 590 million copies of her novels sold. Her many international bestsellers include 44 Charles Street, Legacy, Family Ties, Big Girl, Southern Lights, Matters of the Heart, One Day at a Time, and other highly acclaimed novels. She is also the author of His Bright Light, the story of her son Nick Traina's life and death.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars VERY MOVING...ONE OF DANIELLE STEEL'S BEST, September 5, 1999

By 

Kerri ([e-mail]) (Valparaiso, Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Message from Nam (Hardcover)

This book was absolutely awesome. I loved it! I have read about 20 of Danielle Steel's books, but I have just read this one. I have never cried so much reading a book before! I recommend this book to anyone who is a true romantic or a Danielle Steel fan. Once again, I am blown away by her work.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An AMAZING story you will not be able to put down!!!, August 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Message from Nam (Mass Market Paperback)

I finally finished my horrible summer reading (boring!), so I thought I'd pick up a novel by my favorite author Danielle Steel for fun. I had seen the tv movie for this book, so I was skeptical about actually reading it, but the movie was so good, I thought I'd give the book a shot. And, let me tell you, it was SO wonderful. Sure, some of it is over-the-top, but, for me, that's what Danielle Steel is about. You can read about other people's struggles to get away from your own for a while. I've read a lot of her books, but this one was the best by far. The story was touching, the characters were great. There was nothing about this book that I didn't like. I ordered the movie, and I cannot wait for it to get here, so I can watch it on the big screen! This is a definite must read for anyone who likes anything Romance related!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My all time favorite Danielle Steel book!!!, May 13, 2002

By 

Jody L. Schoth (Katy, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Message from Nam (Mass Market Paperback)

This is my all time favorite Danielle Steel book... I even loved the movie, but it did not do it enough justice. Of all her books, this is the only one I could read more than once (I don't even like to watch movies more than once), so that says a lot to me. Paxton is a very strong and amazing character, that continuously goes through one tragedy after another. I cried and cried and cried during this book... don't read it in public, read it alone with ten to twelve boxes of kleenex!!! If you are one of those people that like to believe there is only one true love for everyone... Danielle Steel is not your author... she understand that there is a lot of good in different people, and you can fall in love with many of them... and each one will give you a different direction of your life... not necessarily better or worse.