Child of War, Woman of Peace

I loved the movie Heaven and Earth which is why i wanted to read these books. I found that once i started reading it was hard to put it down.

I enjoyed this book, "Child of War, Woman of Peace", as it mirrored some of my experiences in the 1970s as the Australian wife of a US Army Officer. The sequel to "When Heaven and Earth Changed Places" describes the difficulties Le Ly Hayslip experienced in adjusting to a different culture and language. Although I spoke the same language as Americans, my culture and word usage was sufficiently different to cause me difficulties in adjusting to life in the USA. Through many trials and errors, Le Ly found ways to blend in and contribute to both her mother country and her adopted land.

The sequel to When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, this book chronicles the journey of Le Ly Hayslip from Vietnam to the United States, as conditions in her county become more militaristic and she has been alienated, raped, and exiled by members of the Viet Cong. Although she has been taught to fear Americans, she also believed that the United States was a place of great prosperity, and expected to find in it an escape from her troubles. She finds that life in America is more confusing than she imagined, from using all the mechanical contraptions to getting along with her in-laws. Quote: "This book is the story of my life in the land of "the enemy"- a Vietnamese woman struggling to survive among the "cat-eyed" Westerners whom I had been taught since birth to fear and hate." I liked this book, although I had rather hoped (because I'm a sentimental gal) that Hayslip's life once she got to the states would be a nice fairy tale ending with rainbows and butterflies and all that good stuff. Well, life is not always quite that simple, and instead of the endless joys we have the ups and downs of acclimating to a new culture, a new family, and various other situations. It was a very interesting book- I especially liked the sections about the publication of Hayslip's first book and her charitable foundation.

I was fortunate enough to come across this wonderful book purely by chance last year.Miss le ly Hayslip gives a truely heart rending account of her life as a little peasant girl living in war torn vietnam.This book really puts you through an emotional meat grinder at times tearing apart your insides with Le ly's terrifying accounts of her own terrible suffering and that of her family and indeed all those around her leaving you with an awful empty feeling of total sadness and total lack of faith for the human race.Amazingly Despite all her own horrific experience of human ignorance and cruelty she bears no ill will or malice towards her fellow man and through her own incredible courage and strength of spirit,she inevitably leaves us all with a strong sense of hope and her message of compassion and peace. Sadly this terrific book seems to have been largly overlooked which is a great shame as it is a real eye opener and has so much more to say than just your average account of the horrors of war.Its a deeply moving account of one very brave little womans triumph of spirit in the face of total adversity.Anyone with the tiniest shred of compassion will be moved to tears.It Really puts our own little problems and gripes into perspective. One of the most profound and touching books i have ever read.I cannot recommend it enough,please get your hands on it and read it NOW.

Literarily, both books are extremely well written. Not quite Hemingway or Shakespeare, but much better than any of those written by the vets (I've read ten of those). H & E gives the experiences of a victim of the war, atrocities from both sides, but also shows the family love (and spats)that Le Ly lived. Re the war experiences: I consider this book so important because it demonstrates how extremely evil, in effect if not intent, that a government can be, when it fixates on an ideology, at pursues it at all cost. If communism is evil, so is extreme anti-communism. Young people need to learn the reality behind all the flag-waving and "USA" chanting. Above all, H & E and the sequel show how one person (sometimes it seems like only one person) was able to overcome the barbarities that the U.S. inflicted upon S.E. Asia. Only one of the vets memoirs, Kontum Diary, gives any glimpse of any growth of humanity.Personally, I think that Le Ly and ! EMWF deserve the Noble Peace Prize - but they don't accept nominations.