SIDELIGHTS: Kien Nguyen's first book, The Unwanted: A Memoir, grew out of recurring nightmares associated with the fall of Saigon in 1975 and its effect on him and on his family. Nguyen and his younger brother were the sheltered children of a wealthy banker living in Nhatrang, South Vietnam, whose livelihood was taken from her by the communist. The Unwanted: A Memoir Kien Nguyen, Author Little Brown and Company $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-316-28664-0. More By and About This Author. THE TAPESTRIES; LE COLONIAL. Kien Nguyen is born in 1967 to a Vietnamese mother and an American father. The father goes back to America when Kien is 3 months old but the mother is doing well. She is part owner of a bank, she has another younger Amerasian child, she lives in a mansion with servants, she is pregnant with her Vietnamese boyfriend's baby. Stark, brutal, bleak, hopelessness. These are all adjectives I would use to describe Kien Nguyen's life nearly from inception. I had a difficult time with the theme of man's inhumanity to others. The Unwanted by Nguyen, Kien., Kien Nguyen, 2008, Little, Brown and Company edition, Electronic resource in English.
Book Summary
The biography of an Amerasian child in Vietnam after the fall of Saigon. A wonderful book - highly recommended. 'He writes with a voice of innocence that takes us into the heart and spirit of one person's undeserved and tragic childhood.' USA Today.
Saigon fell to the Viet Cong on April 30, 1975. Kien Nguyen watched the last U.S. Army helicopter leave without him, without his brother, without his mother, without his grandparents. Kien was more at risk than most because of his odd blond hair and his light eyes—because he as Amerasian. He was the most unwanted.
Told with stark and poetic brilliance, this is a story of survival and ultimately a story of hope. It is a moving and personal record of a family's journey to America and of a tumultuous and important piece of history.
Told with the author's unique perspective—Kien Nguyen was born in Nhatrang, South Vietnam, in 1967, to a Vietnamese mother and an American G.I. father—this memoir continues the legacy of unforgettable Vietnam stories such as Full Metal Jacket and Platoon.
April 9, 20182003-06-14T10:32:59-04:00https://images.c-span.org/defaults/BookTV_default-image.jpgKien Nguyen: Why he wrote The Unwanted
Kien Nguyen: Why he wrote The Unwanted
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*This transcript was compiled from uncorrected Closed Captioning.
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The Unwanted Book Kien Nguyen
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