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War Child
Am I unlucky because of the terrible things that happened to me as a child, or am I lucky because of the life I lead now? I hardly know myself. All I can tell you is that no sane person would ever choose war over peace. War is inhuman madness. War is what people do to each other when they have completely forgotten the sacredness of life.
In 1978, Juliet Lac fled war-ravaged Vietnam in a fishing boat, desperately hoping to find freedom in America. Conditions on the small, overcrowded vessel were horrific, and eight days into the journey, disaster struck. As the craft came in sight of shore, it was hit by a ferocious storm. The boat sank with the loss of half of the 350 passengers on board, but miraculously Juliet escaped, eventually making her way to the USA to begin her new life.
Aged only eleven, Juliet had witnessed at first hand the barbarity of war, and after the death of her father and her younger sister, she and her mother were left to struggle on in poverty. But their flight to the West did not have a fairy-tale ending, and in the coming years they faced a struggle to integrate into American society.
This is a remarkable and inspirational story of a war child's fight first for survival in the devastated landscape of Vietnam and then for acceptance in the affluent West.
In 1978, Juliet Lac fled war-ravaged Vietnam in a fishing boat, desperately hoping to find freedom in America. Conditions on the small, overcrowded vessel were horrific, and eight days into the journey, disaster struck. As the craft came in sight of shore, it was hit by a ferocious storm. The boat sank with the loss of half of the 350 passengers on board, but miraculously Juliet escaped, eventually making her way to the USA to begin her new life.
Aged only eleven, Juliet had witnessed at first hand the barbarity of war, and after the death of her father and her younger sister, she and her mother were left to struggle on in poverty. But their flight to the West did not have a fairy-tale ending, and in the coming years they faced a struggle to integrate into American society.
This is a remarkable and inspirational story of a war child's fight first for survival in the devastated landscape of Vietnam and then for acceptance in the affluent West.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 3, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 29, 2011
Unlike a lot of these types of books, this one doesn't end with the main character arriving in a western country. Juliet Lac's story continues to tell how she coped with American society and where she ended up in the long run. An interesting read.
July 22, 2013
griping bio from her boat trip to living in the usa, a good book to read
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews