General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: What happened after the US ran from Vietnam? n/t [View all]pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)I've spoken to high school and college classes where it was required reading for the course.
His earlier book, 'Going after Cacciato,' didn't grab me until, late in the book, we saw the narrator in a tower on the beach in Vietnam and it suddenly became clear that the entire chase after Cacciato was a fantasy he invented as an escape from the horror of the war. That scene was a delicious moment.
I mentioned upthread that I also sing in Vietnamese. The one song my ARVN roommate taught me. It was about an ARVN soldier and his love for his country and his sweetheart. When I got to Vietnam and ran into Vietnamese woodcutters out in the jungle a couple of times, I sang them that song. Viet Cong would not have a good reaction to that song, so when the woodcutters had a positive reaction, I left them alone and took my platoon on our way.
The proprietors of the Vietnamese restaurant in Vancouver did not like that song at all.
At Vietnamese nightclubs in Portland, Oregon, my Vietnamese friends would always force me onto the stage to sing the song with the band.
They got a big kick our of hearing an American vet singing it.
And I didn't even know for many years that the song is a twist.