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Rating: 
Summary: Denise Chong does a fantastic job
Review: I have read hundreds of books on Vietnam. This is one of the best. It really gets across the point of view of those poor peasants in the rural areas caught between the communists on one side and the government on the other side. That the girl survived was a miracle. All the pain and suffering that resulted after the communists took over is well documented. This young lady because of the photo was helped from time to time by those on both sides. She became a personal friend of Pham Van Dong the Communist leader of Vietnam. Yet this did not stop her or her family from suffering under the communists.
Rating: 
Summary: Living with courage and faith
Review: I think that the Kim's story is fantastic. She truly is living with faith, not only in Christ but in people. She has allowed herself to move forward and use her position in life to help better other's lives as well. I was only a toddler when she was photographed, however, I remember seeing the photo all of my life. I can truly respect her and her struggle to become the woman she is today. I now have someone else to look up to. Thank you to D.Chong for allowing a strong woman's story to be heard.
Rating:
Summary: Living with courage and faith
Review: I think that the Kim's story is fantastic. She truly is living with faith, not only in Christ but in people. She has allowed herself to move forward and use her position in life to help better other's lives as well. I was only a toddler when she was photographed, however, I remember seeing the photo all of my life. I can truly respect her and her struggle to become the woman she is today. I now have someone else to look up to. Thank you to D.Chong for allowing a strong woman's story to be heard.
Rating: 
Summary: not enough insight into Kim Phuc
Review: I was disappointed in this book about the life a girl caught in crossfire. Kim Phuc was burn due to an accidental bombing of South Vietnamese position in Trang Bang. She survives but several other civilians and South Vietnamese soldiers were killed during this accident (the author did not reveal this). I bought this book because I wanted to know more about Kim Phuc, about how she felt being used by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam as a living monument to the Yankee imperialist crimes. Instead, I got only a superficial view of Kim Phuc and her family. Also, the author ignorant of Vietnamese history was much in evident such as the claimed she made that the picture of Kim Phuc stop the American involment in Vietnam, in reality, the Americans have already onthe way out of Vietnam at that time. Also, I do not know of any Vietnamese refugees who blamed Kim Phuc for making the S. Viets lose the war as the author claimed. Most of the author general view of the Vietnam War was wrong and I wish that she would forget such attempt to be a historian and instead focus on being a storyteller about a courageous woman.
Rating:
Summary: not enough insight into Kim Phuc
Review: I was disappointed in this book about the life a girl caught in crossfire. Kim Phuc was burn due to an accidental bombing of South Vietnamese position in Trang Bang. She survives but several other civilians and South Vietnamese soldiers were killed during this accident (the author did not reveal this). I bought this book because I wanted to know more about Kim Phuc, about how she felt being used by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam as a living monument to the Yankee imperialist crimes. Instead, I got only a superficial view of Kim Phuc and her family. Also, the author ignorant of Vietnamese history was much in evident such as the claimed she made that the picture of Kim Phuc stop the American involment in Vietnam, in reality, the Americans have already onthe way out of Vietnam at that time. Also, I do not know of any Vietnamese refugees who blamed Kim Phuc for making the S. Viets lose the war as the author claimed. Most of the author general view of the Vietnam War was wrong and I wish that she would forget such attempt to be a historian and instead focus on being a storyteller about a courageous woman.
Rating:
Summary: A remarkable book that looks behind the myths.
Review: The photo of Kim Phuc running in terror from a napalm attack is one of the best-known images of the Vietnam War. This book looks behind the photo to tell the story of an ordinary peasant thrust into the spotlight and how her life was forever changed by the click of a camera. It reveals how Kim Phuc was used as a propoganda tool by the Vietnamese and how she escaped to a new life in Canada. And it offers fascinating insights into how journalists covered the war how that one photo also changed the life of the photographer who took it. A previous review suggests it is more fiction than fact, yet it's unclear how the reviewer could come to that conclusion about a book that hasn't yet been released. Disclosure: I know Denise Chong and have actually read an early copy. She tears down some of the myths the reviewer suggests are being perpetrated. Chong makes it clear the attack was not done by Americans and was a mistake. And she also raises questions about the role of the American soldier who claimed responsibility for the attack. This book offers fascinating insights into ordinary life in Vietnam during the war and Kim Phuc's later odyssey through Cuba and Moscow to Canada. During her research trips to Vietnam, Chong's eye for detail, which came across so clearly in "The Concubine's Children," again brings a story to life. The account of the napalm attack itself and Kim's recovery from such horrible burns is a heart-wrenching drama that will bring many readers to tears. This is one of the must-read books of the year.
Rating:
Summary: Heartrending
Review: You don't really enjoy a book like this. It's a story of almost unremitting suffering. I found the story riveting, well written and troubling. Of course, I knew the picture and I'd seen the documentary when I was in England several years ago, but the details in the book and the evident research provide a much deeper understanding. It is a very human story, the suffering of one girl in particular, but also her family, and she is one of many. The book gives a concise account of the historical background to the bombing. It will serve as a good introduction to those that do not know about these events, and will be useful for visitors to Vietnam. The author also narrates the stories of members of Kim Phuc's family and their struggle for existence during those hard times. I've been to Vietnam, including Saigon, not far from where the awful atrocity took place, so I feel a closeness to the place. I saw the famous photograph in the American War Crimes Museum (now renamed) in Saigon. My life in Bali cannot compare to Kim Phuc's, but I understand a little some of her family's difficulties - the paranoid fear of Communism in the 1960s (there was an alleged Communist coup in Indonesia in 1965), the hard work involved in running a small restaurant (I started mine from scratch in 1974 just like Kim's mother did) and the hassles of dealing with officials (the author describes these well). It is doubly distressing that Kim Phuc was so cruelly used and cheated by others for their own purposes. Governments, officials, journalists. One can only have contempt for them and wish Kim Phuc a better life in Canada. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone. It has 370 pages and there are several pages of photographs.
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