Saigon to San Diego

the long version

"Set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War's aftermath, this memoir tells the story of Trinh Do, a boy fighting for survival in newly unified communist Vietnam. Trinh Do was born in Saigon in 1964. His father, a soldier in the South Vietnam Army, was taken to a re-education camp after the communist victory in 1975.Though a star student, Do faced constant prejudice from the communist school administration and was expelled for refusing to betray his classmates in 1978. Soon after, his mother arranged for him to escape Vietnam in a fishing boat. His parents attempted a similar escape four years later and were lost to the South China Sea." "This memoir reveals the cruelty inflicted upon the populace by the Vietnamese communists for the purpose of "internal security". An intimate portrait of daily life under communist rule and an examination of the political and military situation, Do's memoir describes the propaganda and repression through the eyes of a schoolboy."--BOOK JACKET.