It’s a Living: Work & Life in Vietnam Today
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Through 67 interviews and 59 colour photographs, It’s a Living reveals the energy and struggle of the world of work in Vietnam today. A goldfish peddler installing aquariums, a business school graduate selling shoes on the sidewalk, a college student running an extensive multi-level sales network, and a promotion girl intent on moving into management are just a few of the people profiled.
Based on frank and freewheeling interviews conducted by students, the book engages a broad range of Vietnamese, both living in Vietnam and abroad, on their feelings about work, life and getting ahead. By providing a ground-level view of the texture of daily working life in the midst of rapid and unsettling change, the book reveals Vietnam today as a place where ordinary people are leveraging whatever assets they have, not just to survive, but to make a better life for themselves.
A one-of-a-kind e-book, optimised for iPad presentation.
“The best non-fiction work on Vietnam I’ve seen in a decade.” — Andrew X. Pham, author of Catfish and Mandala: a two-wheeled voyage through the landscape and memory of Vietnam
Customer Reviews
Enjoyable and fascinating.
"It's a Living" was recommended as a way to understand current Vietnamese culture. But, what I have discovered is that it's an even better book about life.
If you've read the book, "Working" by Studs Turkel, the genre should be familiar. However, the voice of this book is more conversational. The editing is masterfully done to create a sense of continuity...but the individual stories do not seem compromised.
Each "story" is short. As an avid iPad reader, I appreciated this aspect as I am often reading while working out, sitting in a lobby or trying to maximize a few moments before sleep...
However, the thing that struck me most is how much I need the reminder that people are the same everywhere but what makes us interesting is always unique.
This book is a quick, enjoyable read and the reader will grow from it.
It's a Living
I have a hard copy of the book a friend purchased for me in Singapore, and I’m glad to see that “It’s a Living” is now on iBooks. The idea of the originator and editor of this collection is to describe contemporary life in Vietnam through those who know it best – its people – a broad, interesting selection of its people. Perhaps because they are being interviewed by university students from the US, many of whom are of Vietnamese origins, those featured are open and anxious to describe their lives and aspirations. This is a great introduction to Vietnam. Even after 20 years of traveling throughout Vietnam, I found there is much to learn from “It’s a Living.”