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Beyond the Rice Paddies

 
 
Beyond the Rice Paddies
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Beyond the Rice Paddies

This collection of vignettes portrays the heartache of the most innocent victims of war: children. Set in mid-1960s Vietnam, Beyond the Rice Paddies by Linda West, whose birth name is Tran Thi Bach Yen Oanh, begins with a short scene of a happier time in the author's childhood. Memories of a pretty yellow dress set the tone of a simple existence in her village of Bien Hoa, yet foreshadow an ominous presence. As the war explodes on the landscapes of Vietnam's peaceful hamlets, the author is forever changed, becoming eternally grateful to the American soldiers. This little girl's story provides a moving historical pageant of what life is like for children growing up in a country torn by war.

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Product Details:
Author: Linda West
Paperback: 126 pages
Publisher: BookSurge Publishing
Publication Date: December 11, 2007
Language: English
ISBN: 1419675559
Package Length: 8.0 inches
Package Width: 5.4 inches
Package Height: 0.5 inches
Package Weight: 0.25 pounds
Average Customer Rating: based on 8 reviews
 
 

Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Review:5.0
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5Beyond the Rice Paddies  May 24, 2009
Dear Amazon.com: As a Vietnam Veteran, I found this book to be very heartwarming and poignant at times. For life was difficult for the Vietnamese who had suffered much hardship and dispair from the Communist rule of North Vietnam...Rule # 1, in war,it is the innocent children who seem to suffer the most....in the end, love is universal and many of us who served learned this reality...Ms. West did an excellent job in conveying her story in real terms....Sincerely...John Ritter U.S.M.C. Vietnam Veteran 1965 - 1966

5Beyond the Rice Paddies  May 21, 2009
This is an innocent perspective of war and the horrors it can bring to civilian lives at the crossroads. Through the eyes of a 10 year old village girl, we get a tiny glimpse of people attempting to normalize and survive an untenable situation on a day to day basis. Written simply and clearly, as she actually saw and interpreted what was occurring is the power of this work. A must read for us all to slow down a bit so we can count the cost of war.

4An interesting view of Nam from the eyes of a child at the time  Apr 30, 2009
I read a short review of this book and bought it for my Nam collection. It is a book written by a young Vietnamese woman who left Nam and the war behind at ten years old and now as a grown woman in the states recalls those days in snipets as chapters.

Its not a really well written book but it is worth the read. She lays out the heart of a child in memories that still come up from a childhood living with her beloved grandmother, while her Mom, a bar girl, something she didnt understand, worked in Saigon.

An interesting perspective to help us all understand both sides of war ... and that war is about leaders who dont get along, rarely to the people in the street feel the same drive for destruction.

Good read.

3 of 4 found the following review helpful:

5Nostalgic and Sweet Book  Aug 10, 2008
This is a wonderfully sweet and charming book about the Vietnam war, seen from a child's viewpoint. The author was a small child when us big old Americans were trudging through her village. I always wondered what the people felt as they were watching us. Then, especially after I had been in Vietnam a few months and realized the futility of what we were doing, I hated it and felt bad about our actions upon the common people especially (wonder how the Iraqi vets will feel in a few years). In Nam, the villagers were just trying to survive and had done nothing to deserve this.

In reading the book, I was so moved as a Vietnam vet and hope all my fellow vets will get on board and get this book. I immediately ordered a couple of copies. Thanks so much to the author for writing it and please forgive us our tansgressions.

2 of 3 found the following review helpful:

4BEYOND THE RICE PADDIES  Aug 02, 2008
BROUGHT BACK LOTS OF MEMORIES. THE GOOD ONES. THE PEOPLE AND THERE WAY OF LIFE.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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