Escape from Communist Heaven

Gr 8 Up—Viet Nguyen is 14 years old in the spring of 1975 when Saigon falls to the communists and the last Americans scramble to safety. his father, a policeman, worked for the Americans as a spy and served in the South Vietnamese army. Now, he pretends to support the communists while planning his family's escape. The novel tells the story of the end of the Vietnam War and its aftermath from Viet's perspective. Often heavy-handed, and perhaps unreliable, the teen's story nevertheless gives young people an opportunity to experience the ongoing consequences of war, colonialism, corruption, and humanity's craving to subjugate others-even when the others are brothers. Through Viet's eyes, readers experience the "reeducation" imposed on the South Vietnamese by the victors and the various ways that Viet and others find to undermine authority and gain small victories of their own. Also shown are injustices of which Viet is unaware, such as the expectation that women and girls will not only suffer all of the hardships that the men and boys endure, but also cook and clean. "Based on a true story," Escape is not great literature, but it is a compelling read and should prompt some spirited discussions during units on the war.—Nina Sachs, Walker Memorial Library, Westbrook, ME