Customer Reviews

Voices of Vietnamese Boat People: Nineteen Narratives of Escape and Survival

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

From 1975 to 1996, more than one million people have made the trip from Vietnamese shores to other Southeastern Asian countries braving weather, hunger, dehydration, storms, and pirates. About 500,000 others have drown or died at seas. In spite of these ordeals, these people keep rushing to the seas to flee communism. Had they had the means, the majority would have left their country.

These are the stories of 19 people who left their homeland on rickety boats, their ordeals at seas, their lives in refugee camps, and their relocation in western countries. They risked their lives to look somewhere else for FREEDOM they could not find in their country.

There are many waves of refugees throughout the years. People from the first wave were mostly professionals and went almost immediately to the U.S. or other western countries. Refugees from subsequent waves traveled in rickety boats, were less well schooled and spent a longer time in the Asian refugee camps.

The authors are to be congratulated for bringing this topic to the forefront.

This book is the most moving book I have ever read.

It presents the life a Vietnamese people after 1975 through the stories of 19 vietnamese boat people who immigrated to the US after sometimes several attempts. The stories are told in simple and humble terms. They describe the life under communist ruling and the fear and courage to escape it. The book shows the life in the refugee camps around South East Asia. It is also a book about hope of a better life and about the adjustement to the American language and the American way of life. It also shows how these admirable people integrated in the US society.

The author should be congratulated for telling this untold stories that everybody who heard of Vietnam should know. All my respect and admiration to the Vietnamese people who suffered so much for so long.