ECHOES OF THE MEKONG

In 1967 a young American riverboat commander on the Mekong River rescued a wounded Vietnamese child, and thereafter both lives were quietly woven together. The book that results alternates his story with hers. Beginning in terror and heartache, like most stories of Vietnam, it ends, finally, in triumph, resulting in a refreshingly human yet candid assessment of American involvement there. Lloyd James starts to read Huchthausen's narrative with the crisp, assured voice of an American naval officer, but suspense takes over as the two lives intersect. Marguerite Gavin, by contrast, is intimate and quiet as she reads Nguyen and the various other voices of Vietnam. Both voices, like Vietnam itself, linger in our memory long after. P.E.F. © AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/NOV 99]