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Undaunted
Undaunted is a harrowing story of unimaginable loss, abuse, and tragedy. For an orphaned Vietnamese girl living in a wartorn country, growing up is the hardest journey. She flees an army of demons--ghostly soldiers, false friends, conniving and dangerous relatives, callous bureaucrats, and a complex, endless war that has ensnared a nation. She struggles to endure a life of impossible circumstances and situations, until help comes through through a miraculous spiritual intervention.
Van B. Choat was born Nguyen Thi Hien in the village of Rach Gia, southwest of Saigon. Orphaned at age four in a bloody Viet Cong massacre, Van begins a heartbreaking odyssey. After surviving the Tet Offensive, a teenaged Van escapes to the United States on the eve of Saigon's fall in 1975. There, she faces more poverty, brutality, and discrimination in an alien land ...
Van writes, "Life makes orphans of us all. Some of us get a head start ... Ours is an old story begun afresh each day in war zones around the world. Orphans are one big family that seldom gets to meet. We know only those who hold our hands and we have only two of those. This book is about the two kinds of 'sisters' who held mine."
Van B. Choat was born Nguyen Thi Hien in the village of Rach Gia, southwest of Saigon. Orphaned at age four in a bloody Viet Cong massacre, Van begins a heartbreaking odyssey. After surviving the Tet Offensive, a teenaged Van escapes to the United States on the eve of Saigon's fall in 1975. There, she faces more poverty, brutality, and discrimination in an alien land ...
Van writes, "Life makes orphans of us all. Some of us get a head start ... Ours is an old story begun afresh each day in war zones around the world. Orphans are one big family that seldom gets to meet. We know only those who hold our hands and we have only two of those. This book is about the two kinds of 'sisters' who held mine."
246 pages, Paperback
Published March 25, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 27, 2017
I was mesmerized by this tale of a young girl's survival in a desperate, abusive atmosphere. Her intellect and her ingenious ways to earn money enabled her in various atmospheres to endure. Eventually, Van was able to find her happily ever after, although it might not be as she would have designed. I highly recommend this story of perseverance.
November 30, 2021
All I could say after reading this book is wow. Since the age of 4 back in South Vietnam Van's life was in constant disarray with chaos all around. Lots of ups and downs on an unknown road, constany changing lanes for better and for worse, rarely the driver but a passenger awaiting what the next would bring. Just unvelievable all that she went through and truly inspirational how she persevered. I cant imagine being through even a small portion of what she experienced.
The book is well written as I could easily visualize every event and location mentioned. When it was a coversation between kids it felt that way, with adults the same, in the way words were used and the stories told through each erspective. Like watching a tv show and easily understanding each character in their scenes. I like world history and this book covered a lot of that as well with someone who lived and experienced it first hand, life during the Vietnam War. A story of survival, adaptability, horrific nightmares, family bond, family treachery, love...literally everything, but overall - inspiration.
A favorite quote from the book, "One night at a time, one day after another. I will live. I will survive. The grave is not my goal".
The book is well written as I could easily visualize every event and location mentioned. When it was a coversation between kids it felt that way, with adults the same, in the way words were used and the stories told through each erspective. Like watching a tv show and easily understanding each character in their scenes. I like world history and this book covered a lot of that as well with someone who lived and experienced it first hand, life during the Vietnam War. A story of survival, adaptability, horrific nightmares, family bond, family treachery, love...literally everything, but overall - inspiration.
A favorite quote from the book, "One night at a time, one day after another. I will live. I will survive. The grave is not my goal".
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews