Module 15
May 3-9
Fallen Angels
By Walter Dean Myers
Myers, Walter Dean. Fallen Angels. Scholastic Inc. 1988. ISBN: 0545055768
*1989 Coretta Scott King Award
Synopsis:
Richard Perry just graduated from high school. His dreams of a basketball scholarship fell through when he hurt his knee, and he didn’t know what to do. So Perry signed up for the army. Immediately, a doctor in the army said that Perry’s knee was injured too badly for him to go to fight, but paperwork processes slowly. Perry received orders to go to Vietnam. Upon landing, Perry meets Gates aka Peewee, and they get deployed to the same unit. Perry then experiences four months in a war where the enemy is everyone and no one, where the food is terrible, and the only men you can trust are the ones who watch your back. After being wounded twice in firefights, Perry’s medical profile catches up with him, and he returns to the World. However, he returns a changed man without any understanding of the war that the USA is fighting.
My Version of the World:
This book is a realistic version of one soldier’s account of the Vietnam War. Perry’s fear in the face of death and struggle to survive make this a riveting account. There are several incidences that ring of reality, such as a child being mined to blow up a U.S. soldier. Perry’s view of the war changes throughout the book, and his fight against the prejudice that he occasionally encounters as an African-American in the army is saddening. Definitely a book for older high school students because it is a realistic portrayal of the men talked and thought.
Book Reviews:
A riveting account of the Vietnam War from the perspective of a young black soldier. Richie Perry, a 17 year old from Harlem, arrives in Vietnam in 1967. His first-person narrative provides an immediacy to the events and characters revealed. His experiences become readers' experiences, as do his fears and his insight about this war, any war. ``We spent another day lying around. It seemed to be what the war was about. Hours of boredom, seconds of terror.'' During one of those terrifying times, a large number of American soldiers are killed. Because they cannot be carried back, the decision is made to burn the bodies. ``I was afraid of the dead guys. I saw them, arms limp, faces sometimes twisted in anguish, mostly calm, and I was afraid of them. They were me. We wore the same uniform, were the same height, had the same face. They were me, and they were dead.'' In the end, when Richie is wounded, he returns home. This is a compelling, graphic, necessarily gruesome, and wholly plausible novel. It neither condemns nor glorifies the war but certainly causes readers to think about the events. Other difficult issues, such as race and the condition of the Vietnamese people, are sensitively and realistically incorporated into the novel. The soldiers' language is raw, but appropriate to the characters. This is a book which should be read by both young adults and adults. Maria B. Salvadore, June 1988, School Library Journal
. . . as thought provoking as it is entertaining, touching and, on occasion, humorous. -- The New York Times Book Review
In My World
I would use this as an introduction to a unit on Vietnam. This is a great novel to give historical perspective on the Vietnam War. It also could lead to an interesting conversation on the horrors of war and how the human psyche functions in war. This is a book for older readers due to its necessary crudeness and graphic violence.
