Catching Shrimp with Bare Hands: A Boy from the Mekong Delta
- ISBN-10
- 0990917789
- ISBN-13
- 9780990917786
- Category
- Biography & Autobiography
- Pages
- 500
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2015-01-30
- Publisher
- ViewPort Publishing
- Author
- Michelle Robin La
Description
Catching Shrimp with Bare Hands is the true story of Luong La, a boy growing up in the Mekong Delta in the midst of the Vietnam War. When the 1968 Tet Offensive forces Luong's family to flee the countryside, they continue to travel back and forth to their island farm despite threats from the Viet Cong and nearby firefights. Out on their farm in the middle of the Mekong River, Luong wants to catch fish and slingshot birds, but Viet Cong, called mysterious misters by the villagers, stop by his family's hut and stay. "The frog dies because of its big mouth," his mother warns. The mysterious misters behead a neighbor, and Luong's aunt goes missing. Luong plans to join the Army as soon as he's old enough to fight, but the war ends before he has a chance. Communism descends, pulling him back in time to a land without electricity or fuel where his family has to hide the books that haven't already been burned. Propaganda that "kneads their skulls," neighbors spying on each other, and the threat of starvation drive Luong to escalating acts of defiance. About to get caught by the authorities, he drops out of school to help his family build a boat to escape.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2015-01-31
- 500 pages
- Paperback
- ViewPort Publishing
Similar books
-
The Lost Founding Father: John Quincy Adams and the Transformation of American Politics
By William J. CooperA middle-aged widower, Eaton had recently married Margaret O'Neale Timberlake, the daughter of a Washington tavern keeper. Her first marriage had been to a ...
-
Jesse James was His Name: Or, Fact and Fiction Concerning the Careers of the Notorious James Brothers of Missouri
By William A. Settle10 When the funeral party reached Kearney she cried out to Sheriff Timberlake , " Oh , Mr. Timberlake , my son has gone to God , but his friends still live ...
-
The Age of Jackson and the Art of American Power, 1815-1848
By William R. NesterLt. John Timberlake was smitten, talked her into marrying him, and then was forced to leave his bride for an extended naval voyage.
-
Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography
By Lawrence J. Quirk, William SchoellThe supporting cast, including Lionel Barrymore as Jackson, Tone as Eaton, Robert Taylor as Timberlake, and James Stewart as another persistent suitor, ...
-
Conversations with William Faulkner
By M. Thomas IngeStudent assistant Corrie E. Ward and faculty secretaries Nina Wells and Susan G. Timberlake provided invaluable assistance .
-
Memoirs and Selected Letters: Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, Selected Letters 1839-1865
By Ulysses S. GrantKroper Priate WAZ e Hale curie Tarner Zur National Forces . ... N. MICHLER , nie22 Ernest 2 Maj . of Engineers , M.Guna Timberlake Wins Zone For HRJohnson ...
-
Inventing Loreta Velasquez: Confederate Soldier Impersonator, Media Celebrity, and Con Artist
By William C. DavisAccording to Robert E. L. Krick of Richmond in an e-mail message, the only likely candidates ... the prison adjutant, and a clerk known only as Timberlake.
-
William Shakespeare: A Textual Companion
By Stanley Wells, Gary Taylor, William MontgomeryEdward A. Bloom ( 1964 ) ; revised in Muir , Shakespeare the Professional ( 1973 ) ... A. W. Pollard ( 1923 ) , 57-112 Timberlake , Philip W. , The Feminine ...
-
The Age of Jackson and the Art of American Power, 1815-1848
By William NesterRichard Timberlake, 7746 Origins of Central Banking in the United States ... 1820, in Thomas Jefferson, 7726 Selected I/Vritings of 7740mas]e erson, ed.
-
Escape: A Memoir
By Carolyn Jessop, Laura PalmerWe'd picked the green tomatoes just before the frost and let them ripen in buckets. Every day we'd sort through them looking for some that were ripe enough ...