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Such a Lovely Little War #2
Saigon Calling: London 1963-75
A sequel to the acclaimed Such a Lovely Little War: growing up Vietnamese in swinging London as the Vietnam war intensifies.
Marcelino Truong's first book about the early years of the Vietnam war, the graphic memoir Such a Lovely Little War (2016), received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews and was named "one the season's best graphic novels" by the New York Times. In this sequel, young Marco and his family move from Saigon to London in order to escape the war following the assassination of South Vietnamese President Diem, for whom Marcelino's diplomat father was a personal interpreter.
In London, his father struggles to build a new life for his children and his wife, whose bipolar spells are becoming increasingly violent. But for Marco and his siblings, swinging London is an exciting place to be: a new world of hedonists and hippies. At the same time, the news from their grandparents in Vietnam grows ever grimmer as the war intensifies and American involvement becomes increasingly muddied. Young Marco finds himself conflicted between embracing the peace-loving anti-war demonstrators and the strong, nostalgic bond he feels toward a wounded Vietnam, whose conflict is not as simple as the demonstrators make it out to be.
With its audacious imagery and heart-rending text, Saigon Calling is a bold graphic memoir that strikes a remarkable balance between the intimate chronicle of a family undone by mental illness and the large-scale tragedy of a country undone by war.
Marcelino Truong's first book about the early years of the Vietnam war, the graphic memoir Such a Lovely Little War (2016), received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews and was named "one the season's best graphic novels" by the New York Times. In this sequel, young Marco and his family move from Saigon to London in order to escape the war following the assassination of South Vietnamese President Diem, for whom Marcelino's diplomat father was a personal interpreter.
In London, his father struggles to build a new life for his children and his wife, whose bipolar spells are becoming increasingly violent. But for Marco and his siblings, swinging London is an exciting place to be: a new world of hedonists and hippies. At the same time, the news from their grandparents in Vietnam grows ever grimmer as the war intensifies and American involvement becomes increasingly muddied. Young Marco finds himself conflicted between embracing the peace-loving anti-war demonstrators and the strong, nostalgic bond he feels toward a wounded Vietnam, whose conflict is not as simple as the demonstrators make it out to be.
With its audacious imagery and heart-rending text, Saigon Calling is a bold graphic memoir that strikes a remarkable balance between the intimate chronicle of a family undone by mental illness and the large-scale tragedy of a country undone by war.
280 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2015
About the author
Marcelino Truong
103 books22 followersMarcelino Truong is an illustrator, painter, and author. Born the son of a Vietnamese diplomat in 1957 in the Philippines, he and his family moved to America (where his father worked for the embassy) and then to Vietnam at the outset of the war. He attended the French Lycee in London, then moved to Paris where he earned degrees in law at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, and English literature at the Sorbonne.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
January 22, 2018
This graphic novel is the continuation to Marceline Truong's experience during the Vietnam War. The author and his parents were really fortunate that they lived in London while Vietnam was still at war.
Despite that they were away from their homeland, they were still affected by the news that they received not only from the media, but from their relatives and friends they left in Vietnam.
This second volume of Truong's graphic novel cited a comprehensive details about the latter years of the war. I remember watching a local documentary about the Vietnamese boat people who were helped by our country, and the government chose to settled them in the Palawan Island during that time. There were some Vietnamese who chose to remained here even after the war; while others migrated to other countries such as Canada, Europe and in U.S.
After the so-called liberation, there were reeducation or concentration camps in Vietnam that were hidden from the West, or from the big and influential countries such as the U.S, and from the media. I never knew about this before, but because of this graphic novel, I learnt that Vietnam was still not fully liberated then and that it took several more years before it happened.
Despite that they were away from their homeland, they were still affected by the news that they received not only from the media, but from their relatives and friends they left in Vietnam.
This second volume of Truong's graphic novel cited a comprehensive details about the latter years of the war. I remember watching a local documentary about the Vietnamese boat people who were helped by our country, and the government chose to settled them in the Palawan Island during that time. There were some Vietnamese who chose to remained here even after the war; while others migrated to other countries such as Canada, Europe and in U.S.
After the so-called liberation, there were reeducation or concentration camps in Vietnam that were hidden from the West, or from the big and influential countries such as the U.S, and from the media. I never knew about this before, but because of this graphic novel, I learnt that Vietnam was still not fully liberated then and that it took several more years before it happened.
February 3, 2018
A sequel to the story of Truong's family's experience of the early years of the Viet Nam War. Truong, the son of a (South)-Vietnamese diplomat and a French--decidedly anti-war, and somewhat unstable--mother, escapes Vietnam to London with his family, including his siblings,where they experience the war--like most others in the world--from afar, on the tv and in the papers. A 280-page book, Saigon Calling basically compresses Truong's experience of events from 1963-1975, as the war ramped up, Viet Nam was largely destroyed, anti-war efforts led to the U. S. evacuation, the fall of Saigon and years of repression and "red-education camps" enforced by the Communist north on the south.
The first book, Such a Lovely War, balances family and politics, but in this book the politics sort of overwhelm the family issues. I could almost feel Truong's dilemma, wanting to tell about his mother's emotional struggles, the dispersion of his family around the world, with his grandparents left in Viet Nam, but deciding finally to mainly tell from his perspective much of what had gone on in the war, seen from afar. His is a--by now familiar to me--castigation of some leftists's embrace of the Viet Cong (Cue pictures of Hanoi Jane Fonda), sorrow over both the devastation of his country by the Chinese-backed VC Hanoi and the American-backed Saigon (both north and south as he sees it were puppet governments during the war) and sorry, too, about the ultimate desertion of Viet Nam by the U. S. His perspective is still a unique one, though; a French-Vietnamese emigre living in Paris by way of London, with a diplomat father.
The end of Saigon Calling feels rushed, with too-brief coda-like snippets about some of his siblings whose stories had gotten lost in the focus on the war narrative. Overall, it is denser than the first volume, too much to tell in one volume (should have been a trilogy), but it is still interesting, especially to someone like me that lived through that period. It's a story with which I identify, of the western pull to the left, of counter-cultural turmoil rocked by war on the one hand and a drive for democracy and freedom (and drugs and music and art) on the other hand. For those who lived through that time it will bring back memories; for those that want to know more about the period, it is a valuable first-hand account. I would rate this volume 3.5, rounded up because he and I are about the same age, so I felt like he was talking to me through some shared experience.
The first book, Such a Lovely War, balances family and politics, but in this book the politics sort of overwhelm the family issues. I could almost feel Truong's dilemma, wanting to tell about his mother's emotional struggles, the dispersion of his family around the world, with his grandparents left in Viet Nam, but deciding finally to mainly tell from his perspective much of what had gone on in the war, seen from afar. His is a--by now familiar to me--castigation of some leftists's embrace of the Viet Cong (Cue pictures of Hanoi Jane Fonda), sorrow over both the devastation of his country by the Chinese-backed VC Hanoi and the American-backed Saigon (both north and south as he sees it were puppet governments during the war) and sorry, too, about the ultimate desertion of Viet Nam by the U. S. His perspective is still a unique one, though; a French-Vietnamese emigre living in Paris by way of London, with a diplomat father.
The end of Saigon Calling feels rushed, with too-brief coda-like snippets about some of his siblings whose stories had gotten lost in the focus on the war narrative. Overall, it is denser than the first volume, too much to tell in one volume (should have been a trilogy), but it is still interesting, especially to someone like me that lived through that period. It's a story with which I identify, of the western pull to the left, of counter-cultural turmoil rocked by war on the one hand and a drive for democracy and freedom (and drugs and music and art) on the other hand. For those who lived through that time it will bring back memories; for those that want to know more about the period, it is a valuable first-hand account. I would rate this volume 3.5, rounded up because he and I are about the same age, so I felt like he was talking to me through some shared experience.
October 23, 2017
Marcelino Truong's followup to Such A Lovely Little War. We get a compressed version of the Vietnam war, interspersed with Truong's life in London during the same time period. His family managed to get out of Vietnam before the war really ramped up (see previous volume for details). Between letters from relatives back home and news reports, his family kept abreast of what was happening. It's a uniquely personal account that comes alive much more vividly than the average history book. We get some nice contrasts between swinging London and war-torn Vietnam. The coda on the last few pages seems a bit abrupt. Yes, I think the story needed more of a finish than just the fall of Saigon, but it feels a bit rushed. Still, this is a lovely book, well worth your time.
September 25, 2022
Beautifully drawn, but ultimately - and probably unavoidably - less satisfying than Truong's original Such a Lovely Little War: Saigon 1961-63. While the first book gave us the early days of the Vietnam war as seen through the eyes of a child, this book gives us London in the '60s-'70s through the eyes of a teen, with the war only playing in the background. As such, this is much more biography than history - although still an interesting story, with nice shout-outs to the same popular culture I grew up with - Man from U.N.C.L.E., Batman, the Beatles,* and Danger Man (or "Secret Agent" here in the U.S., where the Johhny Rivers intro was the first guitar riff I ever learned).
* While never much of a Beatles fan, I did enjoy the "Abbey Road" reference on the cover :)
* While never much of a Beatles fan, I did enjoy the "Abbey Road" reference on the cover :)
August 20, 2020
This book continues the author's combination of personal memoir and history of the Vietnam war. It begins in 1963 after his family moved from Saigon to London, and ends in 1975 with the end of that war.
The author grew up around the rise of the Beatles and hippiedom - interesting times. I have a hard time focusing on writings about history/war/politics, so having it interspersed with scenes of his family's life actually got me to pay more attention to those parts of the book. His family was multicultural (Vietnamese and French, living in England), and their experiences and evolution were both different because of that and typical of the times. His mother had mental illness - or do we still call it that when a woman is unhappy staying home and doing all the housework for a family of six? He was hippie-ish, but knew enough about Vietnam to disagree with those who thought North Vietnam's communism would be good for South Vietnam. It was a situation for which there was no good solution.
The author grew up around the rise of the Beatles and hippiedom - interesting times. I have a hard time focusing on writings about history/war/politics, so having it interspersed with scenes of his family's life actually got me to pay more attention to those parts of the book. His family was multicultural (Vietnamese and French, living in England), and their experiences and evolution were both different because of that and typical of the times. His mother had mental illness - or do we still call it that when a woman is unhappy staying home and doing all the housework for a family of six? He was hippie-ish, but knew enough about Vietnam to disagree with those who thought North Vietnam's communism would be good for South Vietnam. It was a situation for which there was no good solution.
December 31, 2021
2e volet. Quelle couverture de livre effective! Sur l’ensemble, un trait qui rappelle certains graphic novels américains indé, je serais curieuse de connaître ses influences (on aperçoit Freak brothers, merci pour cette découverte) Peut-être une rigidité dans les personnages mais de belles et effectives compositions de pages. Un accompagnement culturel et contextuel dans l’Histoire avec les chansons annotées, je lançais de temps en temps youtube avant de reprendre la lecture. Les typos des rues, les phrases en vietnamien, petites flèches et petits textes apportant des informations secondaires mais qui vous immergent dans ce témoignage instructif, dense et critique du point de vue d’un Marcelino adolescent.
November 8, 2017
Since the family had left Vietnam, I was wondering if this volume was going to feel as immediate as the first, but Truong ties in the continuing saga of the war well with his day-to-day life in London (and then in France). Not only is it an excellent companion to the first, but after you read it, suddenly the first volume feels incomplete without it.
June 17, 2021
Gorgeous Saint Malo!? The book, ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE, by Anthony Doerr, mentioned this as well, in setting. Anna Veltfort’s GOODBYE, MY HAVANA, and the two books combined, all three, make great memoirs in art and in words. Loved reading and learning about the conflicting and confusing and scary Vietnam conflict and his family’s life, with Truong. Fabulous read!
January 23, 2020
Interesting memoir about a Vietnamese family who fled Vietnam at the start of the war and went to London. The artwork is good and I like the way the author tries to explain the complicated nature of the Vietnam War from both the perspective of a Vietnamese family, but also a teenager living in the West during the hippie age. I had trouble with the typeface used in this graphic novel, though, and sometimes the flow of the story felt broken.
December 14, 2017
More history heavy than Such A Lovely Little War but clearly explained and Truong sticks with the timelines nicely and how he was learning of what was happening in Veitnam while they lived abroad. Very interesting to see the contrast between Truong and his family's reaction to the anti-war movement and general pro-VC/KR attitudes.
May 2, 2018
This graphic novel is about the Marcelino Truong and his family’s life in London in the 60s and 70s. The author is half Vietnamese and half French. His father worked as an ambassador in Vietnam, but they moved from Vietnam to London In 1963 when the author was a boy. I like how the story is a mix of global history and family history. While I am learning about the Vietnam war from the South Vietnamese perspective, I also learn about Marco’s mothers struggle with bipolar disorder, his brother’s rebellions, and his own emergence into adulthood. This is all set with 1960s London as the backdrop. Of course with a graphic novel, just as important as the story are the graphics. I really liked Truong’s illustrations and enjoyed how he sometimes mixed photographs and paintings in as well. I am eager to read the first installment of this series.
August 9, 2018
I remember feeling like this one was moderately redundant, and trying to get through a wide swath of time in a relatively short book (the first seemed like it was paced more to the amount of time and emotions of childhood)....anyway, fine stuff, but not super moving or thought-provoking.
May 15, 2020
Saigon Calling: London 1963-75 is a graphic novel written and illustrated by Marcelino Truong and translated by David Homel and the continuation to his previous graphic novel: Such a Lovely Little War: Saigon 1961-63. It is an autobiographical graphic novel of the latter years of the Vietnam War through the eyes of a child, as rendered by the graphic artist he became.
Marcelino Truong is an illustrator, painter, and author. He earned degrees in law at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, and English literature at the Sorbonne.
This vividly drawn graphic memoir examines how Westerners feverishly debating the Vietnam War neglected the perspective of the Vietnamese people. It finds the Truongs in England, trying to escape the violence and build a stable life.
Marco's father, at first, defends the American presence in South Vietnam, but as the body count rises, he becomes disillusioned. Meanwhile, Marco's mentally frail French mother grows increasingly erratic. As anti-Vietnam protests become a central part of Swinging London culture, the kids start to ask questions no adult can answer. The story cuts between the family’s life in the London suburbs, peppered with school adventures and holidays, and the brutal quagmire on the other side of the world.
Saigon Calling: London 1963-75 is written and constructed rather well. Truong's lightly colored watercolor illustrations, filled with homey details of 1960s London, contrast with sober, sepia-toned depictions of Vietnam.
All in all, Saigon Calling: London 1963-75 is a first-rate work of graphic memoir and wonderful continuation, which deals with a pivotal and contentious period in modern American history.
Marcelino Truong is an illustrator, painter, and author. He earned degrees in law at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, and English literature at the Sorbonne.
This vividly drawn graphic memoir examines how Westerners feverishly debating the Vietnam War neglected the perspective of the Vietnamese people. It finds the Truongs in England, trying to escape the violence and build a stable life.
Marco's father, at first, defends the American presence in South Vietnam, but as the body count rises, he becomes disillusioned. Meanwhile, Marco's mentally frail French mother grows increasingly erratic. As anti-Vietnam protests become a central part of Swinging London culture, the kids start to ask questions no adult can answer. The story cuts between the family’s life in the London suburbs, peppered with school adventures and holidays, and the brutal quagmire on the other side of the world.
Saigon Calling: London 1963-75 is written and constructed rather well. Truong's lightly colored watercolor illustrations, filled with homey details of 1960s London, contrast with sober, sepia-toned depictions of Vietnam.
All in all, Saigon Calling: London 1963-75 is a first-rate work of graphic memoir and wonderful continuation, which deals with a pivotal and contentious period in modern American history.
July 3, 2018
3.5 Stars!
“This hedonism of the Swinging Sixties didn’t make our parents’ job any easier. Our education was the result of both of their two cultures, Vietnamese and French.”
Truong's memoir concerns the childhood of a transplanted Vietnamese family who have relocated to 60s/70s London. He makes a jarring and powerful contrast with the horror of war torn Vietnam (where many of his relatives lived) and his coming of age in England and in 70s France. The doomed Indochina conflict rages on amidst a background of protests and activists from students, famous musicians and other concerned westerners.
This book is sprinkled with paintings, letters, drawings, photographs (some controversial, like the picture of General Loan aiming a gun, about to execute Nguyen Van Lem, a VC prisoner in the street), that really help add a three-dimensional feel to the recollections, giving a more intimate and deeper connection to the people and the places mentioned.
"Saigon Calling" is an interesting autobiography; Truong really grasps the time and place effectively, faithfully preserving the music, fashion and political instability of the time. This is filled with the horror of war and the uncertainties that conflict and revolutions create, and yet it is nicely balanced with some touching nostalgia and inspiring hope. This was a really likeable coming of age memoir.
October 27, 2018
Truong follows up the stellar Such a Lovely Little War with an even more wide-ranging examination of the aftermath of the Vietnam War and his family's move to London in Saigon Calling. Regarding the history lesson, I can safely say that I knew nothing about life in Vietnam after the Americans pulled out. So that portion of the book was fascinating and well worth the price of admission.
Regarding Truong's life story, we've entered a time period in which he's an actual key player, not just a small child around whom events whiz and bang, out of his control. This is both better and worse for the story. Better in that we see more robust characterizations of Truong and his siblings, who were essentially ciphers in the previous book. We really get to know and care about them. Worse in that Truong is even more inclined to delve into the minutiae of his life since these are minor events he can actually remember.
Saigon Calling is never less than engaging, though. The history nicely breaks up the memories, although, as with the previous book, it can be hard to follow either plotline at times. Truong's art is better than ever. I'm hopeful for a third volume even though the Vietnam War is now firmly over and Saigon Calling appears to have a definitive conclusion. Maybe a prequel then?
Regarding Truong's life story, we've entered a time period in which he's an actual key player, not just a small child around whom events whiz and bang, out of his control. This is both better and worse for the story. Better in that we see more robust characterizations of Truong and his siblings, who were essentially ciphers in the previous book. We really get to know and care about them. Worse in that Truong is even more inclined to delve into the minutiae of his life since these are minor events he can actually remember.
Saigon Calling is never less than engaging, though. The history nicely breaks up the memories, although, as with the previous book, it can be hard to follow either plotline at times. Truong's art is better than ever. I'm hopeful for a third volume even though the Vietnam War is now firmly over and Saigon Calling appears to have a definitive conclusion. Maybe a prequel then?
August 7, 2019
Volume 1 of Truong’s childhood memoir and Vietnam War retrospective was great, but overstuffed with info and insight and family drama. I feel it’s even harder to keep up with this sequel.
Truong has some very strong and interesting ideas about the war. Most important to him: the South Vietnamese government was more than just a US puppet regime. And the progressives of the 60s and 70s had some very misguided idealistic views of the North Vietnamese.
That’s great to know, even though Truong has some obvious bias at play. The main problem is that Truong works too hard to be convincing. The big ideas get repetitive, and the details are a jumble.
The jumble is made even messier with the inclusion of Truong’s family history. It’s morbidly fascinating to hear how angry Truong’s brother and sisters are with their mom’s bipolar disorder, if it can be called that. The children go through a lot of their own hell. The various individual perspectives bounce in and out again, and it’s tough to maintain a clear sense of the intended story.
I guess there’s nothing clear about dysfunction, or war for that matter. Truong deserves his share of congratulations for simply surviving, and for sharing so much of the process.
Truong has some very strong and interesting ideas about the war. Most important to him: the South Vietnamese government was more than just a US puppet regime. And the progressives of the 60s and 70s had some very misguided idealistic views of the North Vietnamese.
That’s great to know, even though Truong has some obvious bias at play. The main problem is that Truong works too hard to be convincing. The big ideas get repetitive, and the details are a jumble.
The jumble is made even messier with the inclusion of Truong’s family history. It’s morbidly fascinating to hear how angry Truong’s brother and sisters are with their mom’s bipolar disorder, if it can be called that. The children go through a lot of their own hell. The various individual perspectives bounce in and out again, and it’s tough to maintain a clear sense of the intended story.
I guess there’s nothing clear about dysfunction, or war for that matter. Truong deserves his share of congratulations for simply surviving, and for sharing so much of the process.
February 20, 2018
I love what Marcelino Truong is doing in his graphic memoirs. I'm seeing the hazy confusion of the Vietnam War through his eyes as a Vietnamese kid in London and the toll it takes on different members of his family. And he is human and honest of what it was like as a teenager in the 60s and 70s and how protesting the war in the West took on a limited scope from the Vietnamese people experiencing the devastation. It is really interesting that there is a wave of memoirs (I know more of the graphic ones) coming out recently that are dealing with experiences of the Vietnam war. It is like there needs to be a generation with enough distance to examine the pain, because right after there was only survival. I can't help thinking about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and Syria and Yemen and on and on. We hear some of the stories, but the real processing the grief may be still to come. I also can't believe the US is still at war in Afghanistan. How can that be still going on so quietly, with no end in sight?
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December 20, 2024I recall adoring the first volume (Such a Lovely Little War: Saigon 1961-63) so I was surprised to find this one much less interesting to me. I'm always especially reluctant to rate memoirs, but this would probably be a 3 star endeavor to me - too much packed in, both in terms of time scale and the mix of specific family issues and a whole complex geopolitical situations. I thought the author's attempt to tell his mother's story, given her background from WWII, had interesting potential but was stunted, and then everyone else in his family also seemed to have really abbreviated renditions of their own journey. I hate to say it, but the author's story might be the one... least interesting for the reader (although maybe for people who grew up at that time or share more other features with the author, perhaps most relatable).
February 7, 2018
The follow-up to Truong's first memoir about growing up Vietnamese during the Vietnam war. Truong's family fled to Europe after violence erupts in Saigon, so Truong and his older siblings come of age in swinging London, enchanted by hippie music and culture, which their staid parents cannot understand. Meanwhile, Truong's mother's bipolar swings grow worse as his father struggles to support the family. I found Truong's take on the war a refreshing departure from the standard Western view, and his description of encounters with anti-war, pro-Viet Cong white "radicals" puncture standard assumptions about the war and its impact on Vietnamese citizens. This memoir is not as skillfully written or as deeply affecting as The Best We Could Do, but like that memoir it provides a much-needed perspective on how the war was experienced by actual Vietnamese people, and its lingering effects on children and families who were forced to flee their homeland.
August 19, 2019
This book tells a more complicated story than the volume that precedes it: the family has moved to Europe and the author and his siblings are growing up in the middle of 1960's protest movements with an absentee father and depressed mother. It was interesting to see how the family did and did not "fit in" in different neighborhoods in England and the way education afforded them an outlet from living in a home plagued by sadness and anger as expatriates of Vietnam. The book also helped me understand a bit about modern-day baby boomer fear of "socialism" which in some cases I guess might connect to something real (I usually scoff at): mostly ignorant leftist support for communist regimes in Asia, which the author is able to depict even-handedly alongside critiques of the US involvement in regime change there.
January 29, 2022
3.5 stars. Emotional and confident illustration drew me to the cover when I saw this in the library. I felt like some things were lost in execution - the don't text was not my favorite - just a personal preference - and sometimes it was difficult to follow dialogue or the panels. In assembling the book it's like it was created as a large sheet of paper without taking into consideration the binding, which meant I lost the trail often enough to be frustrating. I learned a lot about the devastating Vietnam War and appreciated his perspective; I can't imagine how painful it must have felt to have family in Vietnam during this time and yet still have to continue living an everyday life and he captures how everyone deals with that pain well.
June 11, 2018
This is the second volume in Marcelino Truong's graphic novel autobiography. The first volume "Such A Lovely Little War" chronicled his family's time in recently divided Vietnam.
This volume deals with his family's expatriate period in the United Kingdom and France. The anxiety of remotely learning about Vietnam's war is palpable on the pages. This is juxtaposed with the turbulent cultural revolution in the Western World resulting from the permutation of televised coverage of the Vietnam War.
This is a powerful personal story of this time. I highly recommend this graphic novel.
This volume deals with his family's expatriate period in the United Kingdom and France. The anxiety of remotely learning about Vietnam's war is palpable on the pages. This is juxtaposed with the turbulent cultural revolution in the Western World resulting from the permutation of televised coverage of the Vietnam War.
This is a powerful personal story of this time. I highly recommend this graphic novel.
January 29, 2023
Truong's two part memoir in English translation are masterfully rendered. His insights from childhood and adolescent experiences are enhanced by excerpts from letters that his French mother Yvette wrote to her parents in St. Malo France. His Vietnamese father was a civilian working with the South Vietnamese government and served as a diplomat in the USA and later he moved his family to suburban London. Truong's knowledge of the events in Vietnam contrast with the naive views of many westerners who believed the propaganda exported by the communist forces.
September 16, 2017
A little text heavy at the end, and sometimes the story got bogged down with historical sections, but the illustrations are beautiful and I really enjoyed the story of Truong's adolescence.
This is the companion to a previous work, which tells more of their life in Vietnam. I didn't read the previous graphic novel prior to reading this, and I don't think you have to. However, I am definitely interested in reading it sometime!
This is the companion to a previous work, which tells more of their life in Vietnam. I didn't read the previous graphic novel prior to reading this, and I don't think you have to. However, I am definitely interested in reading it sometime!
October 20, 2021
Saigon Calling: London 1963-75 is the second graphic memoir in the trilogy continues the journey of the Truong family moving from Saigon to London. This well researched memoir illustrates and analyzes the evolution and contradictions of the war in Vietnam along with the changes in his own family. I learned many interesting details to include a reference to the US Army enlistment of Jim’s Hendrix. I look forward to the published English translation of the last book of this trilogy.
February 5, 2018
I first read Truong’s Such a Lovely Little War, and this book continues that story, of his family and of the Vietnam War. Truong’s book is deeply moving as he relates his mother’s emotional illness and his elder brother’s misguided path, both profoundly painful. But it’s also the story of his own education, resilience, history, and an understanding of culture and family.
October 9, 2019
Realizing that this is a sequel to another of Truong's graphic memoirs, I am now interested in going back to read the prior book "Such a Lovely Little War." Reading this also alerted me to my lack of knowledge about the Vietnamese War from the numerous sides and perspectives that characterized this story. I would like to continue to learn more about the historical context of this war.
January 16, 2022
I loved this coming of age graphic novel with its great illustrations and its depictions of Vietnamese-French kids growing up with a mad mother and a pro-war, anti-communist diplomat father in provincial France then in groovy London against the every-impinging backdrop of the Vietnam War in the late 1960's and early '70s.
January 8, 2024
I thought this would be a more personal account of his life and the impact growing up as french/Vietnamese child in the war years had on him from the distance of London. There was some of that but that vast majority of it was an brief illustrated history of the war. Is it bad? No. But I was disappointed.
March 9, 2025
A thoughtful memoir that balances fact with emotion and personal experience. The illustration style really suits the story, and Marcelino Truong gives a very valuable, vulnerable glimpse into what the Vietnam War meant for him and his family.
(As a side note, I was not expecting an appearance from Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh - how worlds collide.)
(As a side note, I was not expecting an appearance from Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh - how worlds collide.)
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