In a memoir where heroism meets humor, NBC News anchor and correspondent Vicky Nguyen tells the story of her family's daring escape from communist Vietnam and her unlikely journey from refugee to reporter with laughter and fierce love.
Starting in 1975, Vietnam's "boat people"-desperate families seeking freedom-fled the Communist government and violence in their country any way they could, usually by boat across the South China Sea. Vicky Nguyen and her family were among them. Attacked at sea by pirates before reaching a refugee camp in Malaysia, Vicky's family survived on rations and waited months until they were sponsored to go to America.
But deciding to leave and start a new life in a new country is half the story…figuring out how to be American is the other. Boat Baby is Vicky's memoir of growing up in America with unconventional Vietnamese parents who didn't always know how to bridge the cultural gaps. It's a childhood filled with misadventures and misunderstandings, from almost stabbing the neighborhood racist with a butter knife to getting caught stealing Cosmo in the hope of learning Do You Really Think You Know Everything About Sex?
Vicky's parents approached life with the attitude, "Why not us?" In the face of prejudice, they taught her to be gritty and resilient, skills Vicky used as she combatted stereotyping throughout her career, fending off the question "Aren't you Connie Chung?" to become a leading Asian American journalist on television. She delivers a uniquely transparent account of her life, revealing how she negotiated her salary in a competitive industry, the challenges of starting a family, and the struggle to be a dutiful daughter.
Funny, nostalgic, and poignant, Boat Baby is a testament to the messy glue that bonds a family. In the tradition of We Are Dreamers by Simu Liu, Vicky Nguyen offers an optimistic story full of heart that illuminates the promise of what America can be. Vicky is an NBC News Chief Consumer Investigative correspondent and anchor of NBC News Daily. She reports for the Today show, Nightly News with Lester Holt and NBC News Now. She graduated as valedictorian from the University of San Francisco. Vicky lives in New York with her husband and three daughters. Her parents are always nearby. "Award-winning NBC News Anchor and Chief Consumer Investigative Correspondent Vicky Nguyen delivers her memoir with the same passion and rapid-fire delivery that she brings to her television work. This audiobook offers great insight into the talented journalist. Born in Saigon, Nguyen fled to a Malaysian refugee camp with her family, finally immigrating to the U.S., where she continues to experience the pain of racism. Her ambitious quest for each TV job is carefully balanced with her concern for how her family will be affected as she climbs the career ladder. Nguyen expresses palpable admiration for her father's work ethic and her mother's dedication to family, along with her husband Brian's love, all of which shaped her into the independent career woman, daughter, wife, and mother she is today."
