Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers tells the story of Richie Perry, an African American from Harlem who goes to fight in the Vietnam War. Richie decides to go fight in the war when he realizes there is nothing for him in the states. He does not have a job, and does not have any desire to go to college. Richie learns early on how much different the war is than how it is told in the news. When one Vietnamese soldier is killed, the head honchos record it as multiple soldiers killed. Richie never sees much fighting while in Vietnam, but does have one close brush with death. The whole time Richie is in Vietnam he always thinks is this really where he should be, or if he should write his little brother and tell him what the war is really like.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I remember starting to read it in 7th grade but for some reason I stopped. It was good to finally finish the book and see what became of Richie Perry. I feel the book can be a very eye opening experience to teenagers who are in Richie’s situation. They don’t want to go to college so they think their problems will be solved by fighting in a war. The novel illustrates what wars are really like and how no one wants to have to deal with that.

Even though most people may find it gruesome, I liked how much detail was in the novel. The details really help you picture what is going on in your head. Some details are a bit much, like a man’s face getting completely obliterated by a whole clip of a machine gun. Walter Dean Myers also does a good job at making the reader feel the same emotions that the characters do. When I was reading it I felt almost as scared and confused as Richie. You never know how long he’s going to live or what move is going to be his last. I finished the book in a day, which is really quite an accomplishment for me. Once someone else picks up this book, they’ll understand why I couldn’t put it down. The reader is always wanting to know what happens, who will live, who will die.

Fallen Angels also reveals to the reader just how bad war can be. Mothers and children are even enemies to the American soldiers. One Vietnamese boy is hiding a mine under a shirt, and when an American soldier picks him up, the boy is detonated. I can’t even imagine witnessing such terrible things as this. The novel shows just how much of a sensory overload war can be. Always watching and listening for the enemy, smelling the burning bodies of soldiers. The book really makes you understand how soldiers can come back from war very stressed and depressed.

The only question I had for the author of the book is how he gained so much information about the Vietnam War. Walter Dean Myers never fought in a war, but yet by the great detail of war that is found in the novel, one would guess that Myers had to have surely fought in a war.