The Land I Lost: Adventures of a Boy in Vietnam

The author was born and grew up in a village in the central highlands of Vietnam. This memoir describes the small village and its inhabitants, and the many dangers that they faced on a daily basis.

There were crocodiles in the river so that anyone poling a boat upriver was in danger of being knocked overboard by a crocodile's tail and eaten. There were tigers and wild hogs that would attack without provocation from the jungle. And there was the terrifying horse snake in the rice fields. The dangers were such that the villagers' bamboo huts were accessible only by a small “bridge” (bamboo pole) over a moat during the day; the “bridge” was pulled in at night for safety.

            By age six, the author was expected to watch the family's buffalo herd all day or catch fish from the river to feed the family. Much of the rambling memoir centers around the family's water buffalo, Tank, and his efforts to protect the family, their herd, and in fact, the herd of the whole village, from danger. Tank is the offspring of a gentle lowland mother, and a fierce highland father, so he is the perfect combination of gentleness with his “people” and fierceness in protecting his herd. As the author shares memories of his childhood spent with Tank, we come to love this gentle giant.

First of all, we have to understand that there is some folklore, some Vietnamese “tall tales” included in the content.

There is no “horse snake” as described in this book - a gigantic snake with a venomous bite that also constricts its prey. Also, there is no snake that kills with a “poisonous breath,” as the two-step snake is described. Even Vietnam war veterans came back talking about a snake that, if it breathed on you, you wouldn't go farther than another “two steps.” This may be almost true of a bite from a highly venomous species, but there is no species that can do this with its breath.

            Secondly, I wanted a memoir of childhood in a foreign culture to be informative and engaging, but my modern sensibilities got in the way of this one a bit. I'm not a particularly sensitive individual but I had a hard time reading about a man who, when training a captured troop of monkeys to retrieve crops, slices off the stubborn lead monkey's head with a knife so that the other monkeys will be submissive and obedient. I was reading this with my two young sons and you can bet I edited “on the fly.”

            I also had a hard time reading about children who hatch a two-step snake egg, keep the snake in a tank, feeding it for weeks, and then their father bundles faggots around the tank and sets fire to it because it is showing too much “aggression.”

 I realize this was a different time and a different place.

Sometimes the rule was “kill or be killed,” but some of the killing seemed gratuitous to me. Even if it wasn't, it just doesn't make for enjoyable reading, in my opinion. Even though I'm from the country myself, and well used to a subsistence lifestyle, I wanted to yell “Uncle!” My 11-year-old son, though, did not share my feelings and we went on to read the author's additional memoir about Tank specifically, at his request. That review can be found here.

            The author states that this memoir is a love letter to his community and his childhood. When he left for college in the city, he always intended to return to his village and live out his days there between the jungle and the mountains, but a war interrupted his plans. Although I know a lot more about rural Vietnam in the sixties after reading this book, I can't say that I loved it.

Content Considerations:

Multiple descriptions of death and violence;

A hog attacks a farmer and leaves his body “mangled” in the rice field, then the hog is hunted down by a pack of dogs and they gouge and tear each other, fighting to the death.

A horse's body is found squeezed to death in a field. The whole village attacks a horse snake in the field with knives and kills it.

The author's elderly grandmother dies peacefully in her sleep.

A cattle thief's leg is gashed open by Tank. Tank is eventually killed by a stray bullet; the Vietnam War had arrived.

 A story is told of a bride going down to the river to bathe, and being snatched by a crocodile on her wedding night. Another story is told of a groom dying on his wedding night from the “venomous breath” of a two-step snake living in his bed post. The bride is almost executed for his murder.

A story is told of a butcher and his wife who left their toddler at home sound asleep and their pet monkey got loose and butchered the child with a knife in their absence.

A thief poisons a dog to gain access to a house and is, in turn, bitten by a two-step snake and found dead in the morning.

Animals are hunted and abused in various ways, including birds, otters, squirrels, monkeys, and snakes. Monkeys and birds are purposefully fed opium to cause an addiction.

Spiritual elements:

Altars are erected to deceased people, including ancestors, offerings are made, incense is burned, worship and prayers are given. Sacrifices of fowl are offered to a two-step snake that “guards” a house.