I was fortunate enough to come across this wonderful book purely by chance last year.Miss le ly Hayslip gives a truely heart rending account of her life as a little peasant girl living in war torn vietnam.This book really puts you through an emotional meat grinder at times tearing apart your insides with Le ly's terrifying accounts of her own terrible suffering and that of her family and indeed all those around her leaving you with an awful empty feeling of total sadness and total lack of faith for the human race.Amazingly Despite all her own horrific experience of human ignorance and cruelty she bears no ill will or malice towards her fellow man and through her own incredible courage and strength of spirit,she inevitably leaves us all with a strong sense of hope and her message of compassion and peace. Sadly this terrific book seems to have been largly overlooked which is a great shame as it is a real eye opener and has so much more to say than just your average account of the horrors of war.Its a deeply moving account of one very brave little womans triumph of spirit in the face of total adversity.Anyone with the tiniest shred of compassion will be moved to tears.It Really puts our own little problems and gripes into perspective. One of the most profound and touching books i have ever read.I cannot recommend it enough,please get your hands on it and read it NOW.

Literarily, both books are extremely well written. Not quite Hemingway or Shakespeare, but much better than any of those written by the vets (I've read ten of those).

H & E gives the experiences of a victim of the war, atrocities from both sides, but also shows the family love (and spats)that Le Ly lived.

Re the war experiences: I consider this book so important because it demonstrates how extremely evil, in effect if not intent, that a government can be, when it fixates on an ideology, at pursues it at all cost. If communism is evil, so is extreme anti-communism. Young people need to learn the reality behind all the flag-waving and "USA" chanting.

Above all, H & E and the sequel show how one person (sometimes it seems like only one person) was able to overcome the barbarities that the U.S. inflicted upon S.E. Asia. Only one of the vets memoirs, Kontum Diary, gives any glimpse of any growth of humanity.

Personally, I think that Le Ly and ! EMWF deserve the Noble Peace Prize - but they don't accept nominations.

I found this book engrossing and hard to put down! It is so beautifully written. Le Ly has a poetic way of expressing her deep feelings and emotions. How a cruel tortureous childhood could have produced a woman with such an overflowing capacity to forgive and inspire others is simply inexplicable! In her small village of Ky La, Le Ly is recruited as a child spy and sabotour for the Viet Cong. Because of this tragic situation, Le Ly had suffered imprisonment, torture, rape, and the death of many cherished family members all before the tender age of 16! This devastating fact of war, became the reality of many young women living in Ky La. Possibly the most astounding fact of all, is Le Ly's undying faith in humanity. Even after all the hurt and anguish the war had caused her, Le Ly freely forgave her persecutors and even appreciates them for "without them i could not have discovered myself or the mission of my life". As well as telling the unforgettable story of her harsh childhood, Le Ly also writes of her reunion with her beloved family.

As a 14 year old young lady, i found this book remarkably touching. It gave me a truer understanding of what life during the vietnam war was really like. Hayslip shows how forgivness has delivered her from an excruciatingly brutal past! She actually honors and appeciates her persecutors,as well as others whom she came across during her years in vietnam, for they have shaped her road to self-discovery. This rare attitude has inspired her as well as many others, including me. During her stirring testimony, Hayslip becomes a 12 year old recruited spy and saboteur for the Viet Cong. Because of her position, before the age of 16, Hayslip suffers imprisonment, torture, and rape. Her family gradually slips away and, at times, leaves her to fend for herself in the filthy streets of Siagon.Hayslip has poetically recounted her journey to self-discovery and forgivness. I would recommend this book to anyone who doesn't truely grasp how bad and degrading a war can be for a young woman and to those who have had difficult childhoods. Hayslip illustrates how it is possible to overcome and benefit from past experiences!This is definitly a must-read!

Karl Burns(normanstansfield@yahoo.com) from Glasgow,Scotland , May 22, 1999 A MUST READ FOR EVERY WALK OF LIFE I was fortunate enough to come across this wonderful book purely by chance last year.Miss le ly Hayslip gives a truely heart rending account of her life as a little peasant girl living in war torn vietnam.This book really puts you through an emotional meat grinder at times tearing apart your insides with Le ly's terrifying accounts of her own terrible suffering and that of her family and indeed all those around her leaving you with an awful empty feeling of total sadness and total lack of faith for the human race.Amazingly Despite all her own horrific experience of human ignorance and cruelty she bears no ill will or malice towards her fellow man and through her own incredible courage and strength of spirit,she inevitably leaves us all with a strong sense of hope and her message of compassion and peace. Sadly this terrific book seems to have been largly overlooked which is a great shame as it is a real eye opener and has so much more to say than just your average account of the horrors of war.Its a deeply moving account of one very brave little womans triumph of spirit in the face of total adversity.Anyone with the tiniest shred of compassion will be moved to tears.It Really puts our own little problems and gripes into perspective. One of the most profound and touching books i have ever read.I cannot recommend it enough,please get your hands on it and read it NOW

I read this book because it was assigned for an English class. Half way through the book, I hated it because it was too brutal and unsettling for somebody who knew nothing about the Vietnam War. It's hard to believe how anyone could have experienced, and yet endured all that Le Ly went through. I didn't appreciate reading about the gory and cruel details that she experienced, but after reading half way through the book, I couldn't put it down either. In the end, I really learned something about the war that most of the younger generations today never learned.. and even if we did, it was probably from the grotesquely portrayed account by Hollywood films.

This is a good book, and I have learned something truly valuable. I will never think of Vietnam war or Veterans day the same way I did before I read this book.

"Le Ly Hayslip had always been in-between south and north, east and west, peace and war, Vietnam and America. It has been her life and fate to be in-between Heaven and Earth." When Heaven and Earth Changed Places is a story of a woman from a small village in Vietnam called Ky La. The author, Le Ly Hayslip, is just another victim of the Vietnam War. The brutality of the war created separation in her family, destruction of an individual, and distrust among formerly warm-hearted neighbors. She was born the youngest of six children in a close-knit Buddhist family. Throughout her childhood, the peace breaks into pieces due to the war. Le Ly, as a little girl, serves the Viet Cong fighters, and she is honored for courageously surviving tortures in prison when captured by the government. The book focuses on the individual¡¯s emotional and physical outcomes caused by the war. If one wants to know the reality of what the effects of the war are, this book is definitely recommended. As an Asian, I was attracted to the story of the life of this Vietnamese woman. As I read, I found there was something very extraordinary about her life that stirred my emotions. To the public, this story is well known through the movie, "Heaven and Earth." As the movie was enjoyed by numerous moviegoers, the book will be appreciated by people of all ages, especially those who are interested in the Vietnam War.

Le Ly Hayslip's novel gave a new insight into the Vietnam War that many Americans are reluctant to look at. Because the war was fought on the soil of her homeland, it not only took away her brothers and father, but unthread the basic foundation of her life. Le Ly was forced into the war because of her residence not political affiliations. Le Ly is a strong woman forced into a difficult situation and survives with a message for the world. It is definately worth hearing.