Share <Embed>

Buy New

$13.39

List Price: $18.00
Save: $4.61 (26%)

FREE Shipping on orders over $25—or get FREE Two-Day Shipping with Amazon Prime

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Ship to:

Select a shipping address:

Buy Used

$7.27

FREE Shipping on orders over $25.

Used: Good | Details

Sold by Clean Earth Books

Fulfilled by Amazon

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Other Sellers on Amazon

Add to Cart

$13.87
+ Free Shipping

Sold by: Books'r us

Add to Cart

$9.89
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: AZ-Fast SHIP

Add to Cart

$11.67
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: SuperBookDeals---

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 3 images

When Heaven and Earth Changed Places (Tie-In Edition) Paperback – November 1, 1993

by Le Ly Hayslip (Author), Jay Wurts (Author)

145 customer reviews

See all 18 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$4.99

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

—

$50.01

$5.15

Paperback

"Please retry"

$11.55

$11.05

$7.77

Paperback, November 1, 1993

$13.39

$9.89

$1.99

Audible, Abridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Audio, Cassette

"Please retry"

—

$4.75

$1.12

It is said that in war heaven and earth change places not once, but many times. When Heaven and Earth Changed Places is the haunting memoir of a girl on the verge of womanhood in a world turned upside down. The youngest of six children in a close-knit Buddhist family, Le Ly Hayslip was twelve years old when U.S. helicopters langed in Ky La, her tiny village in central Vietnam. As the government and Viet Cong troops fought in and around Ky La, both sides recruited children as spies and saboteurs. Le Ly was one of those children.

Before the age of sixteen, Le Ly had suffered near-starvation, imprisonment, torture, rape, and the deaths of beloved family members—but miraculously held fast to her faith in humanity. And almost twenty years after her escape to Ameica, she was drawn inexorably back to the devastated country and family she left behind. Scenes of this joyous reunion are interwoven with the brutal war years, offering a poignant picture of vietnam, then and now, and of a courageous woman who experienced the true horror of the Vietnam War—and survived to tell her unforgettable story.

When Heaven and Earth Changed Places (Tie-In Edition)

$13.39
FREE Shipping on orders over $25—or get FREE Two-Day Shipping with Amazon Prime In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Frequently bought together

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Christian G. Appy

68

Paperback
$12.23
Bao Ninh

130

Paperback
$10.32
Tim O'Brien

2,485

Paperback
$12.04
Truong Nhu Tang

69

Paperback
$11.21
Duong Thu Huong

42

Paperback
$9.87
Christian G. Appy

66

Paperback
$12.74

Special offers and product promotions

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Hayslip, who grew up in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, here recounts her heart-rending experiences. A pawn of both sides in the conflict, she endures rape, torture, and imprisonment before fleeing to the United States. Told in a series of flashbacks during a return trip to her homeland in 1986, the account jumps abruptly from present to past and back again with little or no transitional bridges. Nancy Kwan provides an excellent reading, but despite her best efforts, the story line remains difficult to follow. Oliver Stone's recent film version of this story, starring Tommy Lee Jones as Hayslip's U.S. Marine husband ( Between Heaven and Earth ), may stir patron demand. Suitable for history and biography collections and wherever patron demand warrants.
- Miriam Kahn, Columbus, Ohio
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A wonderful, wondrous book by a remarkable woman."
—Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club

"Touching and illuminating . . . lucid, lyrical . . . a searing and human account."
—New York Times Book Review

"Should not be missed by anyone . . . No one who reads it will ever be able to think about the Vietnam War in quite the same way again."
—Washington Post

"Riveting and historic . . . engrossing and beautifully told . . . impossible to put down."
—San Francisco Chronicle

See all Editorial Reviews

Product details

Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Plume; Reprint edition (November 1, 1993)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0452271681
ISBN-13: 978-0452271685
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.9 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 145 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #28,530 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #7 in Books > Travel > Asia > Vietnam
- #35 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Military > Vietnam War
- #36 in Books > History > Asia > Southeast Asia

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?
If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?

NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Start reading When Heaven and Earth Changed Places on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Customer reviews

145

4.6 out of 5 stars

5 star		73%
4 star		19%
3 star		6%
2 star		0%
1 star		2%

Write a customer review

See all verified purchase reviews

Rated by customers interested in

What's this?

Asian History

5.0 out of 5 stars

Reference Books

4.6 out of 5 stars

Historical Memoirs

5.0 out of 5 stars

Is this feature helpful?

Thank you for your feedback.

Top customer reviews

North and South

ByRogeron September 17, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

The book is well written, introspective and gentle in its characterization of Yankees, village people, family members and soldiers, despite their bad behavior. Le Ly Hayslip lived in the South, near DaNang, but her family included brothers who fought for both the North and the South. Her village was divided in its loyalties and there was inevitable spying and reporting on each other.

Le Ly portrays her village social harmony before the war and how it disappeared during the conflict. She describes her parents' behavior and reaction to the extreme danger and turmoil of the times. She describes her village in loving terms without being overly sentimental. There are many scenes of high adventure as she tries to navigate safely within a powder-keg environment. There are other scenes with parents, siblings, friends that seek to make sense out of the senseless, choices when no good ones are available.

She discusses the behavior of American GIs, including her involvement with them. The reader can begin to understand the predicament of young Vietnamese women and their social entrapment. The case studies of several American soldiers is not flattering, but their behavior is portrayed in a straight-forward manner and it is allowed to speak for itself.

When Heaven and Earth Changed Places explains a very complicated situation and underlying reasons that American soldiers couldn't recognize the enemy and their methods couldn't match the commitment of the North Vietnamese. It shows how technological advantage and superior gun powder can't overcome one's love of home and the need to defend it.

Le Ly fled to the States and then returned to reunite with her family twenty years later. Her mother is still alive and her siblings rise to the occasion in unpredictable ways. But there's a kind of completion, a unity of spirit, despite the loss of tradition, ancestors, the father and the mutuality of village life. This book neither resolves nor concludes, but it gives hope we can survive, and even thrive, when we proceed with our best intentions.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

A radically different view of Vietnamese culture

Bytspiaon July 24, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Amazing. For the first 3/4 of the book, I was given the opportunity to understand a culture from the inside, clearly and via honoring the specific perspective of the Vietnamese villagers vs global politics and what I had read in newspapers and magazines over the past 50 years. The last section did veer into politics / explanation and felt as if there were an agenda. Not disqualifying to the majority of the book, but of less impact for me.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

At last I understand the Vietnamese villager

ByWilliam Wehrellon July 22, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I was there as a US govt covert agent - the whole time, and had no idea of the mentality, spirituality, and ancestoral and family ties of the poor Vietnamese villagers, who while only trying to till the soil and eek out a living, were mercilessly killed and kidnapped by the Vietnamese soldiers in the daytime, and the Viet Cong at night. The horrifying impact of the war on 90% of the Vietnamese population was never adequately understood by any of us.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

A beautiful, yet heartbreaking story.

ByBlaiseon July 3, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

A beautiful, heartbreaking, and enlightening story. I loved understanding this piece of history from a Vietnamese youth's perspective. This story is a reminder that not everything is as it seems, and it's crucial that we always attempt to see things thru others' eyes, and not just our own. The lessons in this story reach far beyond the Vietnam war.

0Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Not To Be Missed

Bybigbopparon March 28, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Wow! What an impactful, emotional, searing, insightful, raw, and well written story of this Vietnamese girl/lady. What an incredible view into a time and place. This book is compelling. It is a driving force. It is so well done.

0Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Recommend read

ByJo Ann Simpsonon October 2, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Haven't finished but was recommended by a local while visiting Vietnam and it is an interesting perspective.

0Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Recommend for Veterans

ByDoug Dollaron August 28, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

As a Vietnam infantry veteran, this book has been of great value to me by helping me to better understand the nature of that war and the people of Vietnam. I now have a better understanding of our enemy at the time. I would highly recommend it to any veteran of that unfortunate conflict.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

Vietnam war era novels such as this should be mandatory ...

ByPVA-LKAon August 17, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Vietnam war era novels such as this should be mandatory reading for high school and college students. Our millennials need to understand war is not all black and white. Hayslip effectively conveyed wars' gray zone.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

Customer images

See all customer images

Most recent customer reviews

Forty years after the Vietnam War ended, this is ...

Forty years after the Vietnam War ended, this is still, current, fresh and vibrant. It makes it clear why wars of occupation are futile endeavors.

Published 16 days ago by Harry Shapiro

Good read

An amazing book. I visited Vietnam a few years ago and it was very interesting to read a book written by someone that lived there in the war. Very touching.

Published 26 days ago by Mary Brown

Five Stars

This book should be mandatory reading for Junior high school students here in the states.

Published 1 month ago by virgil

Outstanding writing and perspective of the Vietnam War for one who lived this as a Vietnamese

Outstanding!!

Published 1 month ago by William W. Shugarts III

War by a Victim

As a Vietnam veteran, this was a must read book for me. To see that war through different eyes reached out to me.

Published 1 month ago by Rosey

I highly recommend this book to you

This book changed my understanding of what real people went through in the villages of South Vietnam. A real page turner for me. I highly recommend this book to you.

Published 2 months ago by Timothy A. Mckeown

Interesting and thoughtful read.

Great read that gave this Vietnam vet a good idea what the natives were dealing with before, during and after our involvement in the war.Read more

Published 3 months ago by John A.

Five Stars

A very vivid and detailed account of one Vietnamese peasant woman who survived the Vietnam/American war.

Published 3 months ago by Joan

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway

This item: When Heaven and Earth Changed Places (Tie-In Edition)

Set up a giveaway