Audiobook10 hours
The Ignorance of Bliss: An American Kid in Saigon
Written by Sandy Hanna
Narrated by Sarah Mollo-Christensen
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
3/5
()
About this audiobook
The Ignorance of Bliss tells the true story of ten-year-old Sandy, who moves with her American military family to Saigon, Vietnam, where her father, the Colonel, serves as a military advisor to the South Vietnamese Army.
In 1960s Saigon, Sandy finds a world of crushing poverty and extraordinary beauty; a world of streets, villas, and brothels, where politics and intrigue reside between plot and counterplot. Blissfully living a life of French decadence, Sandy maneuvers between coups, spies, bombings, corruption, and scandal as she and her thirteen-year-old brother, Tom, run an illicit baby powder and Hershey bar business on the black market and live a life of school, scouts, dance parties, and movies at the underground theater.
When the Colonel's counterpart, Colonel Le Van Sam, delivers an expose on the current ruling Diem regime, Sandy finds that her constant spying on her father's activities has brought her face to face with the reality of Vietnam and the anti-American sentiment that pervades it. This coming-of age story takes place in a turbulent country striving for nationalism, giving the listener a stunning look into the life of military dependents living abroad and the underlying ignorance that surrounded a little understood time in history.
In 1960s Saigon, Sandy finds a world of crushing poverty and extraordinary beauty; a world of streets, villas, and brothels, where politics and intrigue reside between plot and counterplot. Blissfully living a life of French decadence, Sandy maneuvers between coups, spies, bombings, corruption, and scandal as she and her thirteen-year-old brother, Tom, run an illicit baby powder and Hershey bar business on the black market and live a life of school, scouts, dance parties, and movies at the underground theater.
When the Colonel's counterpart, Colonel Le Van Sam, delivers an expose on the current ruling Diem regime, Sandy finds that her constant spying on her father's activities has brought her face to face with the reality of Vietnam and the anti-American sentiment that pervades it. This coming-of age story takes place in a turbulent country striving for nationalism, giving the listener a stunning look into the life of military dependents living abroad and the underlying ignorance that surrounded a little understood time in history.
Related to The Ignorance of Bliss
Related audiobooks
War's End: An Eyewitness Account of America's Last Atomic Mission Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Butcher, the Embezzler, and the Fall Guy: A Family Memoir of Scandal and Greed in the Meat Industry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeyond War: Reimagining American Influence in a New Middle East Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5American: Beyond Our Grandest Notions Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Jimmy Carter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dean: The Best Seat in the House Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCrisis!: When Political Parties Lose the Consent to Rule Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeyond the Great Divide: How A Nation Became A Neighborhood Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlunkitt of Tammany Hall Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPersonality Wins: Who Will Take the White House and How We Know Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMichael Beschloss: Taking Charge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSports Byline: Apolo Ohno Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSports Byline: Bill Walton Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCollision 2012: Obama vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Let Some Girl Beat You?: The Story of Ann Meyers Drysdale Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hillary Rodham Clinton: First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe American Military: A Concise History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Stuart Stevens's The Conspiracy to End America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWarrior King: The Triumph and Betrayal of an American Commander in Iraq Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMar-a-Lago: Inside the Gates of Power at Donald Trump's Presidential Palace Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Age of Secrets: The Conspiracy that Toppled Richard Nixon and the Hidden Death of Howard Hughes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Revolution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistorical Perspectives: the Lost JFK Press Conferences, Volume 1: Washington 1961 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRumsfeld's War: The Untold Story of America's Anti-Terrorist Commander Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7: The Mickey Mantle Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeaf Blind Champion: A True Story of Hope, Inspiration, and Excellence in Sport and Life. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeadly Force: A Police Shooting and My Family's Search for the Truth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Noir Afloat: Tony Cornero and the Notorious Gambling Ships of Southern California Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Coffee Lover's Diet: Change Your Coffee...Change Your Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Personal Memoirs For You
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: My Year of Psychedelics: Lessons on Better Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Counting the Cost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Woman in Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Night: New translation by Marion Wiesel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Glass Castle: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Making It So: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wishful Drinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Me: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Mormon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5While Time Remains: A North Korean Girl's Search for Freedom in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pageboy: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Summer of Fall: Gravity is a bitch, but I'm still standing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: Built for This: The Quiet Strength of Powerlifting Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Out of the Wreckage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Writing into the Wound: Understanding trauma, truth, and language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love, Pamela: A Memoir of Prose, Poetry, and Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Ignorance of Bliss
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
3/5
2 ratings1 review
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This story takes place in the early sixties, during the time of the Vietnam war. The protagonist is the daughter of a military family; her father is a colonel in the army, an ordnance officer. He had been in WWII also, and had served general Patton. This is a true story.
The colonel and his family are sent to Saigon in 1960. They get to live in a French Villa, with servants, and high walls around their home, to keep out the poverty of Saigon. When the kids went out, the geeky blond white kids, were sticking out like sore thumbs.
"Women and children stuck their heads out of their tiny huts. They looked up from their boiling pots over open fires to view the curiosity that was passing. Blond Caucasian children, except for Bob, who had brown hair, in starched clothing and spotless Keds tennis shoes filed passed [sic] them seemingly without a care in the world. The small Vietnamese children with only shirts on their backs, standing naked from the waist down, pointed and giggled at the sight of us. Old ladies squatting in front of their Hut doorways sat grinning, showing off full sets of either red or black teeth, the result of years of chewing betel nut leaves."
"We children of military personnel are referred to as BRATs, a title we all wear with pride. The acronym BRAT was created a long time ago and stands for British Regiment Attached Transfer. It is the perfect way to describe our extended Gypsy family. We are the 'attached' dependents who go wherever the military transfers take the colonel.
'adaptive' would be the best word to describe us BRATS. In a way, we are a tribe unto ourselves. Making friends quickly, we depart our assigned posts without a goodbye or any chance of future encounters. We pick up languages and accents quickly. Material things just aren't important to us. We leave them behind us as we do our lives, our friends, our pets [