Red Blood, Yellow Skin

A heart-warmingly honest book as told by Linda Loan Thi Baer herself. Born and growing up through the Vietnam conflict, Loan stays strong and true to her family and the responsibilities imposed by them. Truly memorable, Loan's struggle is mirrored daily around the world, in different cultures and countries. Highly recommended reading.

This was an excellent book. I was born at the end of the 60's and in school we learned very little about the Vietnam War, since it takes awhile for the current textbooks being used in school to catch up with current history. This was the autobiography/memoir of a then young girl/woman told in her own words of what she lived before and during the war. Most books give the cold hard facts of the war, but this gave the human element of what they lived with on a daily basis. All she had to endure is remarkable and I am excited to read in the epilogue that there will be a sequel; telling of her life in America, I found the book very readable and I hated to have to put the book down. I definitely recommend Red Blood, Yellow Skin by Linda L. T. Blair to anyone who wants to know about the Vietnam War, but not have to read all the historical facts and/or those who enjoy autobiographies/memoirs.

I received this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was given a copy of this book from Netgalley, for an honest review.
I have not read a memoir with such perseverance, power and resilience since I read “The Road of Lost Innocence” by Somaly Mam. That story has stuck with me since its release, and Linda LT Baer’s story will stick with me just the same.
It is amazing to read these stories from woman that survived wore torn countries. Linda was born in the war torn country of North Vietnam in 1947, only to have her village viciously attacked when she was only 4 years old. Her father was killed during this attack, and her depiction is quite riveting. Your heart will bleed.
She takes us from her birth, to her Mother remarrying an awful man, to their move to South Vietnam, and finally to her move to the United States in 1971. There is so much travesty and pain throughout these pages; I was rendered speechless quite often.
Through all of her hardships, she carries such grace and she would never give up her chance at happiness.
I was so taken by this story because her writing is not only brilliant, but so honest and heartfelt. This is another story that had to be told, and it was an honor to read “Red Blood, Yellow Skin”.
If you like Memoirs or Non-Fiction….Please take the time to read about a woman you will admire.

What an amazing memoir. Told from the perspective of a young girl as she grows up in Vietnam before and during the Vietnam War. The reader is able to experience the human and civilian experience of the damage war causes. The battles themselves weren't the focus, rather how her country was being destroyed around her, sometimes, even in front of her eyes. Moving multiple times, from South to North Vietnam to eventually Saigon, Baer exposes the effects of war on the poor and those who are too busy living day by day to even care who is ruling the country. The book ends as she is meeting the man who will be her husband, but there is a sequel in progress to explore the transition from Vietnam to the states. Baer's writing style is the only thing truly preventing this from being a five-star book. It is more telling than showing, and certain phrases are used often. Despite that, all in all, it's a heart-breaking expose of life during war.

Ms Baer has written a story of the Vietnam War from a unique view, through the eyes of a young girl raised in the north of Vetnam , during the French occupation, and before the takeover of the Viet Mihn. Although the later parts are familar as she makes her way to the south, it provides a look at vietnamese family life through the eyes of a vietnamese. It also shows the horror of war as experienced by someone who is what would be considered collateral danmage, giving a human face to innocent victims of a political war.