Birds of Paradise Lost

By: Andrew Lam

Narrated by: Niles Weston

The thirteen stories in Birds of Paradise Lost shimmer with humor and pathos as they chronicle the anguish and joy and bravery of America's newest Americans, the troubled lives of those who fled Vietnam and remade themselves in the San Francisco Bay Area. The past memories of war and its aftermath; of murder, arrest, re-education camps, and new economic zones; of escape and shipwreck and atrocity are ever present in these wise and compassionate stories.

It plays itself out in surprising ways in the lives of people who thought they had moved beyond the nightmares of war and exodus. It comes back on TV in the form of a confession from a cannibal; it enters the Vietnamese restaurant as a Vietnam Vet with a shameful secret; it articulates itself in the peculiar tics of a man with Tourette's Syndrome who struggles to deal with a profound tragedy. Birds of Paradise Lost is an emotional tour de force, intricately rendering the false starts and revelations in the struggle for integration, and in so doing, the human heart.

©2011 Red Hen Press (P)2018 Red Hen Press

They Couldn't Find a Narrator That Speaks Viet?

Great stories but every Vietnamese word was so badly butchered it was so cringey. Is it that hard to find English speakers that can also speak a few basic words in Vietnamese?

Disappointed Narrator

The stories were good but the narrator’s story telling and pronunciation of the Vietnamese words were horrible. This is probably best reading instead of listening.

Great narration, easy to listen to

Highly recommend. The narration is fabulous! The accents are spot on and make the stories easy to follow and provide tons of entertainment. I couldn't stop listening to this book!!