Boat Baby: A Memoir

ISBN: 1668025574

Author: Nguyen, Vicky

Condition: New

In a memoir where heroism meets humor, NBC News anchor and correspondent Vicky Nguyen tells the story of her familys daring escape from communist Vietnam and her unlikely journey from refugee to reporter with laughter and fierce love.Starting in 1975, Vietnams boat people-desperate families seeking freedom-fled the Communist government and violence in their country any way they could, usually by boat across the South China Sea. Vicky Nguyen and her family were among them. Attacked at sea by pirates before reaching a refugee camp in Malaysia, Vickys family survived on rations and waited months until they were sponsored to go to America.But deciding to leave and start a new life in a new country is half the storyfiguring out how to be American is the other. Boat Baby is Vickys memoir of growing up in America with unconventional Vietnamese parents who didnt always know how to bridge the cultural gaps. Its a childhood filled with misadventures and misunderstandings, from almost stabbing the neighborhood racist with a butter knife to getting caught stealing Cosmo in the hope of learning Do You Really Think You Know Everything About Sex?Vickys parents approached life with the attitude, Why not us? In the face of prejudice, they taught her to be gritty and resilient, skills Vicky used as she combatted stereotyping throughout her career, fending off the question Arent you Connie Chung? to become a leading Asian American journalist on television. She delivers a uniquely transparent account of her life, revealing how she negotiated her salary in a competitive industry, the challenges of starting a family, and the struggle to be a dutiful daughter.Funny, nostalgic, and poignant, Boat Baby is a testament to the messy glue that bonds a family. In the tradition of We Are Dreamers by Simu Liu and Dear Girls by Ali Wong, Vicky Nguyen offers an optimistic story full of heart that illuminates the promise of what America can be.