"When Heaven and Earth Changed Places" could weigh you down for days, casting a lull shadow over everything you see. The narration is set during the infamous Vietnam war, waged between the communist North Vietnam backed by Soviet and the non communist South Vietnam backed by the US. A cold war which grew too cold for an excruciating two decades and claimed more than 3 million human lives.

Le Ly Hayslip, a Vietnam war survivor, takes a harrowing journey as peasant girl from her village in the Danang, through the war stricken country and escapes to US. She visits her country 20 years later in search of her family and not only sees how her country fares under the new government but also what the war has done to its citizens and culture. Hayslip's recount of war atrocities will jolt you out of the complacency and stability that this modern world offers. It also reminds you that, probably the same things or worse are happening in Syria and Palestine.

Her journey is nothing but a tale of immense courage and bravery. At the tender age of twelve when little girls everywhere have carefree lives, Le Ly, youngest of a Buddhist family of 6 children was abused, tortured, raped and cheated. But her grit and resolve to survive kept her going.

Though read is relatively is easy, certain parts of the book gets slightly bogged with metaphors and emotions. All said, it is a must read.

I wanted to read this book, as I saw the movie Heaven and Earth by Oliver Stone years ago. This memoir was a view into the Viet Nam war from Viet Namese peasant/farming families. Le Ly is the youngest child in a family whose quiet village life is upturned by the Republicans from the south and the VC from the north. Alternatively invading their village, looking for alliances, punishing traitors their peaceful life is shattered. There were some difficult portions of the book of violence and torture, but it is what happened and is germane to the story. Important insight and accounting from someone who experienced the war first hand.

When Heaven & Earth Changed Places, by Le Ly Hayslip with Jay Wurts was my last book selection for my April in Vietnam reading theme and it did not disappoint. This book is written by a woman who was born during the war between the French and Vietnamese. She was 12 years old when the American’s arrived in Vietnam. As a teenager she worked for the Viet Cong and suffered the cruelty of war in a way only women do. She was raped, tortured and held prisoner. But her story doesn’t end in Vietnam. In 1970 Le Ly leaves Vietnam with the American soldier who will be her husband and the father of her two youngest sons. This book was written after of her return to Vietnam in the 1980s. It is the story of a woman raised in war times who somehow holds on to her belief in the goodness of humanity even after living through the horror of life long war. At times this book was hard to read, it was so painful and raw and sad, but it is filled with interesting little snippets of Vietnamese culture and family life that I found fascinating. This book is about the grief of war and the hope of new life beyond. It is a must read.

A beautiful, yet heartbreaking story.

A beautiful, heartbreaking, and enlightening story. I loved understanding this piece of history from a Vietnamese youth's perspective. This story is a reminder that not everything is as it seems, and it's crucial that we always attempt to see things thru others' eyes, and not just our own. The lessons in this story reach far beyond the Vietnam war.

This book is the closest I have ever come to understanding the horror of war. You are in the story and with her the whole time.

This autobiography recounts LeLy’s early life in central Viet Nam during the 1960s as the 6th child of a peasant Buddhist family and then, her return to her village in 1986 as an American citizen. This powerful personal story recounts the horrors of war and its impact on her a poor, struggling community and family. Her family is torn apart by the Viet Nam civil war resulting in one older brother joining the northern Communist party while other family members try to survive under the pressure exerted by the southern Republican party. The impact of the French and then the United States invasion only adds to a life of instability and fear.

The events in her life are a compelling read. She faces beatings, starvation, raping, imprisonment, and family conflict. While the book depicts this challenge it ultimately evolves into a story of a need to break the cycle of revenge.

I've not read another book quite so engaging, yet so uncomfortable at times. I have one small criticism -- the last part of the book is not as strong as the first part.

A fascinating memoir that feels somewhat invented at times--not in what actually happened to the writer, but her account of it can feel majestic and, for lack of a better word, romanticized, like reading a movie. This struck me particularly when reading dialogue. Other than that small critique, I enjoyed this book very much--certainly a must-read to gain perspective on what it takes for a civilian to survive a war.

For my research paper on Vietnam I chose to read the book "When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman's Journey from War to Peace". Though at times the book was extremely graphic, I enjoyed it thoroughly.

The narrator, Le Ly, is the youngest of six children born to peasant farmers in Ka Ly, a town on the central coast of Vietnam. Since she is the sixth child, her name actually means "sixth child" so her parents would know who she is. She has a close relationship with her parents, who teach her valuable lessons she carries through her life. From her father, Trong, she learns important Buddhist philosophies that help her make sense of the war; from her mother, Huyen, she learns the love and bonds of family.

Villagers of Ka Ly fight for both sides of the war. Le Ly’s own brothers are split between North and South, creating permanent divisions within her family. By day, the village is under the rule of the Republicans, and at night, under that of the Viet Cong. At first, the Viet Cong’s motives for war correspond more closely to the villagers own beliefs and values then those of the South, and consequently, the villagers, including Le Ly, help the Viet Cong. If the villagers do not help the Viet Cong, they are almost always tortured and held at a prison. Le Ly soon learns the severity of the Viet Cong when she is raped and exiled from the village. Her mother joins her, and they leave to find work in Saigon, while her father remains there to tend to the land of their ancestors.

The bustling city of Saigon is overwhelming and intimidating to Le Ly and her mother. They eventually find employment from a wealthy businessman, Anh, and his family. Le Ly is a governess to his children and a personal maid to his sickly wife; Huyen is a second housekeeper. Le Ly falls in love with Anh and soon becomes pregnant with his child. When she discovers her pregnancy, Le Ly and her mother are thrown out of the house. She returns to Danang, homeless, unemployed, and pregnant. When he hears about his daughter’s unwed pregnancy, Le Ly's father disowns her., but after her son Huang’s birth, Trong forgives his beloved daughter. After the birth of her son, Le Ly supports her family by selling souvenirs on the black market. During this time period, the black market was extremely dangerous, and was a risk to be part of it. She also secretly visits and cares for her father, who remains in the village. In spite of Le Ly’s diligent care, Trong becomes inconsolably disillusioned with the war. He also grows depressed because he is separated from his family. He eventually commits suicide by drinking acid.

Ed Monroe, an elderly civilian contractor. Ed, lonely for companionship, asks Le Ly to marry him. Taken with his kindness and the opportunity to leave Vietnam for the United States, Le Ly accepts. Through her positive dealings with Americans—her relationship with her first husband, Ed, and her subsequent boyfriends—and negative experience with the Viet Cong, Le Ly’s opinion of “the enemy” changes. After her father’s death, Le Ly is no longer confused about where her loyalty should lie. She decides that she will leave Vietnam as soon as possible. After months of preparation and the birth of her second son, Le Ly leaves her homeland, unsure if she will ever return. Though Le Ly is excited about leaving and having more freedom and opportunities as a human being, she is also distraught and despaired as she has to leave her family, and her home behind. Le Ly so desperately wants to help her family and let them have the same opportunities as her, but she knows they would never leave Vietnam.

In the 1980s, the Communist Party of Vietnam starts to allow Viet Ku—Vietnamese expatriates—to return to the country. When she arrives in Saigon, Anh greets her warmly. Together they travel to Danang for the reunion with her family. Le Ly realizes that she has returned to a country controlled by fear, more so than when she left. She also realizes that she may be putting her family in danger by returning. The communist party was not exactly welcome to returning Vietnamese.

The first couple of days were extremely difficult for Le Ly, and her oldest brother and mother do not exactly welcome her either. Le Ly's brother suspects she is a spy, and will not accept her at first. Once Le Ly convinces them she is there to see them and spend time with them, they give in and eventually accept her American gifts. During this time, Le Ly realizes her return could be potentially dangerous to her family.

Le Ly speaks to her brother about setting up a medical center and improving the relationship between the government and the Viet Ku and the rest of the world. She doesn't want other Viet Ku to have to go through what she did: rejection. Though her family accepted her after some time, they didn't treat her with kindness or love, as family should. This interaction disappointed Le Ly heavily, and was always heavy on her heart. She exposes her family to the important lessons that she learned. From her teaching, Huyen mends the strained relationship with her daughter and reunites the whole family. After a tearful goodbye to her mother and sisters, Le Ly leaves Danang with a renewed desire to help her country. On the flight back to Saigon, she catches a glimmer of Ka Ly out the window.

I thought this book was wonderful, and it also opened my eyes to the troubles of Vietnam. "When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman's Journey from War to Peace" was a really great and informative book. It taught me so much on Vietnam's background, and how people were treated and how they lived back then. I was extremely happy I picked this book for my research paper because it incorporated so much of the Vietnamese culture in it, including Vietnamese language and extremely detailed encounters Le Ly had with the Viet Cong and Republicans. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a great read, or even a book about the Vietnam War. This book changed my outlook on Vietnam and the war.

Hard not to give it five stars. I know (knew...know) almost nothing about Vietnam, the country or the war it suffered. I hope I am not attacked for this review, either. A stunning book, very hard to read, and beautiful. I guess, the only problem I had was I struggle to BELIEVE it, in its entirety. Could Le Ly have suffered all that she describes? It read, to me, like a checklist of all the bad things that can happen. A beautiful book, well-written, and the depictions of the idyllic country life were gorgeous, seasoned with the beauty of the Buddhist philosophy, a philosophy I wish I could live, because I am less strong and more petty. I had started with a different book about Vietnam, which was not what I wanted. This one was.

Read this review and others on my blog, Final Frontier Books!

So, why should you read this book?
Experiences of the Vietnam War are misunderstood, I think. Certainly, I had never read about the experience of a Vietnamese peasant during the war up until this point, and I'm glad I did because not only has it given me insight into a difficult conflict, but also on subjects like forgiveness and kindness.

My opinion
Le Ly Hayslip was a teenage Vietnamese peasant girl at the time of the Vietnam War, and so she speaks from a perspective that I, as a privileged Westerner, have never come even close to experiencing. Despite all the horrors Le Ly lived through, which at times left me devastated, I would highly recommend this book to anyone for the learning experience it provides.

One of the things that struck me most about Le Ly's experience-- told in a voice that felt wholly genuine-- was how contradictory it seemed: her family, living in a place torn by the North and South, initially supported the Viet Cong, but as the conflict continued they accrued Republican family members, became intimate with American soldiers, and eventually didn't seem to have a side. This was through the realisation that war was war, no matter who was fighting it. The attitude of tolerance and forgiveness in which Le Ly emerged from the conflict, and which she nursed throughout all her years in America (eventually establishing the East Meets West Foundation), is truly admirable and inspiring, especially considering its violent beginnings.

I found her reunion with her family, and their kindness and generosity, incredibly touching and found it beautiful how, despite all their years apart and the conflicting ideologies present within their respective countries, their family bonds remained strong. Nobody deserved to live through that conflict (nobody deserves to live through any conflict), but I'm glad that at least there are those willing to learn from their experiences in such terrible times and share their knowledge with others so that, possibly, we could learn from them.

Very good autobiography. It did drag at the start for the first 50/80 pages it so big then was very good, engaging and simply a great story

A much-needed counternarrative to what we in the west know and think about the Vietnam war. The female perspective is unmissable because, as with wars in the west, it was the women who bore the brunt of war-related damage, be it through failed crops, dying children, rape or forced prostitution. Le Ly writes with such honesty and clarity and she's such a strong person, though by no means a saint. I loved this and will definitely read the sequel.