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Reseña de Publisher's Weekly
Ben Cai Lam, a Vietnamese, served as an interpreter with the 101st Airborne Divison 1965-71, then as an infantry officer in the South Vietnamese army, ARVN, until the Communist takeover in '75. After five years in reeducation camps, he escaped and existed ``like a wild dog'' while seeking ways to flee the country with his family. As a former ARVN officer who had served with the Americans, he was worth a high bounty. Repeatedly double-crossed by escape organizers, he eventually made his way to Malaysia and freedom in an epic 1984 sea voyage. With the help of a retired general who had been his battalion commander in the 101st Airborne, Cai came to ``the destination of dreams'' and settled in Montana. This is the outline of a breathtaking personal account of combat, family tragedy and extraordinary adventure. In awkward but eloquent English, Cai's narrative is rich in cultural detail and sheds light on the subtle changes in Vietnamese attitudes from 1965 to the present. Taylor ( Born of War ), who provides a running commentary, is a former Airborne officer who knew Cai in Vietnam. His own memories of the war provide an illuminating counterpoint to Cai's story. Photos. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Well-intentioned but disappointing account of South Vietnamese Ben Cai Lam's involvement in the Vietnamese War and his struggle to escape the country after the Communist takeover. The narrative is told in two voices: that of credited author Taylor, who served as an officer in the US Army during the conflict, and that of Cai, who acted as an ARVN interpreter for Taylor's Second Battalion of 502d Parachute Infantry. The sections in which Taylor--son of US Ambassador Maxwell Taylor--recounts his own exploits are by far the more involving. Cai's sections, owing partly to his limited facility with English, tend to become repetitious and more than a little flat. After serving with the US forces, Cai continued his military career with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam once the Americans began pulling out. Eventually captured, he was placed in a Communist Reeducation Camp. His description of life in the camp is frequently heartrending; his evidence of corruption among his Communist captors, revealing. Through it all, he dreamt of escaping and, after repeated attempts, succeeded in reaching Malaysia, then the Philippines, and finally America. Thanks to a series of ingenious ploys, he was able to rescue his parents and his wife, who had been left behind. Cai's faith in his American colleagues is touching and his repeated attempts to flee his homeland are courageous, but there hangs over his story a disconcerting sense of opportunism and a feeling that perhaps the whole story has not been told. When Taylor turns his attention away from the life of Ben Cai Lam, however, and focuses on his own experiences and on the larger issue of what went wrong in Vietnam, he is invariably engrossing. It's a shame he did not puruse these matters more thoroughly throughout the book. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Ben Cai Lam was born in China, but his family fled to Vietnam in 1949. He fought against the Communists as a South Vietnamese soldier, including six years attached to the 101st Infantry Division, in which the author (son of Maxwell Taylor, World War II 101st commander and former ambassador to Vietnam) also served. The book is at its best when Taylor lets Lam tell the story: his military service; the end of the war; nine years as a prisoner and fugitive; rampant corruption; the many escape attempts; and his eventual arrival in the United States. The tale is marred by Taylor's tirades against the antiwar movement, and against civilian and military leaders who failed to achieve a military victory. For comprehensive Vietnam collections.-- Kenneth W. Berger, Duke Univ. Lib., Durham, N.C. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.