Fallen Angels (Mass Market Paperback)

by Walter Dean Myers (Author) "Somebody must have told them suckers I was coming..." (more)
Key Phrases: pickup zone, wood line, spider hole, Captain Stewart, Charlie Company, Chu Lai (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
A coming of age tale for young adults set in the trenches of the Vietnam War in the late 1960s, Fallen Angels is the story of Perry, a Harlem teenager who volunteers for the service when his dream of attending college falls through. Sent to the front lines, Perry and his platoon come face-to-face with the Vietcong and the real horror of warfare. But violence and death aren't the only hardships. As Perry struggles to find virtue in himself and his comrades, he questions why black troops are given the most dangerous assignments, and why the U.S. is there at all. Fallen Angels won the 1989 Coretta Scott King Award.

Review
. . . as thought provoking as it is entertaining, touching and, on occasion, humorous. -- The New York Times Book Review

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 309 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks (1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590409433
• ISBN-13: 978-0590409438
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (292 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #116,968 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #22 in	Books > Teens > Authors, A-Z > ( M ) > Myers, Walter Dean
  #79 in	Books > Children's Books > History & Historical Fiction > Fiction > Military & Wars

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fallen Angles Review, May 18, 2000

By A Customer

I am a sophomore at Clark Magnet High School and I just finished reading Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers. As a high school student I have to tell you that this is the best book that I read this year. This is also one of the best books that I have enjoyed in a very long time. I got the book from our school library and I did not think that it was going to be this good. I just checked it out and told myself that it is just a book and its going to be just like the other 90% of the books that I have read and that it is going to be boring. Little did I know that I enjoyed this book. This book is written so close to the heart. Fallen Angels if about the Vietnam War and how it was actually going on and the real truth behind the way the war was going on. This is also a story about friendship between soldiers and other personnel from the army. This book was written in so much detail that you think that you are there in the battle fighting with the enemy. This story is about the main character whose name is Richard Perry and he enlists in the army. There he meets a friend who later becomes his closest friend and his name is Peewee. At the army Peewee and Perry become close friends and they meet some other friends who are Lobel, Johnson, Brummer and their tight friendship. They get into many battles with the Vietnamese and end up losing their friends. This book shows how much of an effect the Vietnam War had on the soldiers and how they try to stick together through all the hardships. I would recommend this book to war-story fans and war-story lovers that are mature. Even though I am a little young to be reading this book it was still interesting to me. Fallen Angels contains some very graphic language that I do not think will be appropriate to teenagers under the age of seventeen. So if you like war-stories this will be a great story to start reading.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fallen Angels Review, May 6, 2001

By	Pouya (CA USA) - See all my reviews

Fallen Angels is a tale of five soldiers coming from different parts of the States to serve their country in the Vietnam War which is taking place in the 1960's.The book's main focus lays on a soldier by the name of Richie Perry a young kid out of the poor streets of Harlem (New York). Perry didn't have any intention to go to the army, he preferred college, but after not getting in he was left with no other choice. While in Nam the soldiers face racial conflicts between themselves that distracts them from the war. While having to fight off constant conflict barriers Sergeant Simpson, Lieutenant Carroll, and others are making an effort to come up with various tactics to defeat the Congs, as Peewee says. The characters must also deal with the physical abuse they go through while still having to participate in combat. The book in general deals with issues concerning violence and racism. Although the story wonders off into long spans of dialogue, it still keeps the reader entertained with its action-oriented themes. It contains inappropriate language for younger audiences, which is spread throughout the book.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book for everyone, August 2, 2001

By	T. Fleming "piggydiva" (Western Kansas, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I read this book because it is an optional novel for me to teach to my sophomores. I wasn't expecting much. I had it labelled in my mind as a "Vietnam War" book, a "boy's" book, and a "Black experience" book. What I found was a gripping novel about war and compassion, humanity and the humane. It was so great I read the whole book in one five hour sitting. Meyers uses humor at the exact moments it is needed, deftly manipulating the reader's emotions, and the character portrayals are so vivid I had the entire book cast with popular actors within a few pages! This is one of the best books I've read all year, and I'm definitely going to use it in the classroom!