Book Review of
Boat Baby

Lynn's Review

Boat Baby by Vicki Nguyen is a memoir that was published in 2025.

Boat Baby is Vicki Nguyen’s story of her family escaping communist Vietnam in the 1970s. 

Vicky Nguyen is a reporter for NBC, but I knew nothing about Vicki Nguyen when I saw this book. I thought this book would be a great read, though, because journalists are often skilled writers. And it was a great read. It was actually great to listen to, since I did the audio version of the book. 

Vicky shares her story, along with her parents, of escaping Vietnam, coming to America, and the struggles of adapting to a new culture. 

She did a great job sharing their story. 

Through hard work and determination, her parents left their lives in Vietnam in hopes of finding a better life in America. But life in America wasn’t always easy for them. 

I really enjoyed hearing about the people, food, and culture of Vietnam. I also appreciated what Vicki shared about growing up in America with Vietnamese parents. Like most families, it was complicated, but in a different way. 

Since Vicki is a reporter, she did a great job narrating the book. 

I enjoyed the first three-fourths of the book better than the last quarter of the book. The last part of the book was about Vicki’s family’s move to NYC for her job at NBC. It was right before COVID, so her first year in New York was nothing like she planned. That part wasn’t bad, it just didn’t seem to fit the rest of the book. 

If you like memoirs written by people from different cultures, you might enjoy this one.