Fallen Angels
Richard Perry enlists for the Vietnamese War. Half of his unit, including him is black. Racism between the men is common but surprisingly for 1967 that isn’t where most of the racism in this novel is generated. This unit has the job of keeping South Vietnamese civilians safe from the northern fighters. This turns out to be a very difficult task. They find unexpected suicide bombers, enemies hiding in the dark, and a village torn apart by the North Vietnamese. The men can soon feel death all around them. They turn this fear into brotherhood towards each other and anger against all of the North Vietnamese soldiers. When the men see a live Vietnamese man, they want him dead, but when they see his dying body, his mutilated body, or his “fifteen year old features,” they can’t help but feel ashamed. This leaves them toying with moral dilemmas. They want the Vietnamese to stop the killing and for everyone to live. But at the same time, they want to kill them for their fallen brothers, for fallen civilians, and for the memories of writing letters to family members of the men they had just seen killed and maybe could have even saved.
Walter Dean Myers takes an unbiased approach on the story, only stating things that might have been said or done, not evaluating them. He took stories from the Vietnam War, slang used at the time, beliefs shared by fighting men, and events that were happening in the war at that time and made a fiction story that hits the points as though it was true. The results of him including this reality really showed themselves in the multicultural perspective “offered by the novel”. It allowed the racism between the Americans and Vietnamese to be clear by stating how some of the soldiers thought all the Vietnamese were communists, suicide bombers, or tortuous murderers.
I thought it was a great book. I am one of those kids who is proud of his country and wants to join the military after high school. This book definitely made me stop and think. It shows just how much war can affect the minds of the men and women helping in its efforts. In the book I saw how much Richard had been through and wanted to get home.
All people should read this book, especially teens who have plans to join the military, it is a must read before making any big decisions. “It is a tale that is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining” - The New York Times. “Other authors have gotten the details right, but Myers reaches into the minds of the soldiers”- Publishers Weekly. These two well known reviewers point out Walter Dean Myers’ book is above all in that it not only tells an action story, but also a sad one.