Blood ... Terror ...and Intensity is 3 words you can use to explain Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers. It goes back to the Vietnam War through the eyes of Richard Perry, an African-American soldier. Perry goes through a lot of changes and sees some of his good friends die in fighting.
The book starts off talking about the experiences of Perry while he is serving in Vietnam. I think that Perry is a vary nice guy. He is always caring for other people. When Peewee argues with other people Perry is always trying to break it up. He and Peewee become instant friends with each other when they meet in the barracks. Peewee also helps Perry by standing up for him during several disputes.
Perry changes in the story from the beginning to the end. In the beginning he cares about the people that he kills. He always has second thought about shooting his gun at the enemy. At the end he just wants to get out of there. So he shoots any one he sees. Peewee and Perry wake up the next morning and find out that they have to go on patrol to search and destroy any Viet Cong soldiers that they find. The patrol lasts for a few hours. Peewee and Perry are just about to camp, when a friend of Peewee and Perry drops out of formation for a second and steps on a land mine, killing him instantly. Perry is so upset by this and needs Peewee to help him talk about his feelings. Peewee and Perry have a few days to rest, because they have a weekend pass and it grants them 48 hours of freedom. They go to Saigon and have a few drinks and have some fun, before they have to go back to their unit. This is when Perry realizes that he cant care so much about people. He knows now that the people that he gets to know can be gone just like that.
The primary conflict is that they are in Vietnam and they need to get out alive.
A few days later, Peewee, Perry, and a few other soldiers are sent out in a patrol to check out Viet Cong positions on a hill that overlooks the American camp. The patrol that is sent out is so badly organized that when it finds a Viet Cong patrol, the entire unit falls apart and Peewee and Perry find themselves on the hill. Peewee and Perry hear something and hide in a small cave, hoping not to be capture. A Viet Cong soldier stands above looking around for the American servicemen. Peewee and Perry grab the soldier, and kill him. Peewee and Perry then try to get back to camp, but Perry is wounded as a Viet Cong soldier finds them. A few hours later, Peewee and Perry make it back to camp and Perry is treated for his wounds at the medic station. But then he is sent home. That is how he gets out of Vietnam.
I think of this book as a window not a door. I have never been in a war. I have never killed anybody or seen anybody killed. I have a lot of respect for Perry to go and do that kind of stuff. I really enjoyed this book. It kept me interested the whole time. If you like a lot of action this is the book for you. I recommend this book for people that like to be on the end of there seat.
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