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Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora

andrew lam richard rodríguez

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Cultural Writing. Asian American Studies. In his long-overdue first collection of essays, noted journalist and NPR commentator Andrew Lam explores his life-long struggle for identity as a Viet Kieu, or a Vietnamese national living abroad. At age eleven, Lam, the son of a South Vietnamese general, came to California on the eve of the fall of Saigon to communist forces. He traded his Vietnamese name for a more American one and immersed himself in the allure of the American Dream: something not clearly defined for him or his family. Reflecting on the meanings of the Vietnam War to the Vietnamese people themselves--particularly to those in exile--Lam picks with searing honesty at the roots of his doubleness and his parents' longing for a homeland that no longer exists.

160 pages, Paperback

First published October 1,2005
Literary awards
pen open book award, 

This edition

Format
160 pages, Paperback
Published
July 1, 2012 by Heyday
ISBN
9781597140201
ASIN
1597140201
Language
English

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About the author

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andrew lam

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Andrew Lamis a writer and an editor with the Pacific News Service, a short story writer, and, for 8 years, a commentator on National Public Radio's “All Things Considered.” He co-founded New America Media, an association of over 2000 ethnic media organizations in America.

Lam's first short story collection, “Birds of Paradise Lost” was published March 01, 2013 and won a Gold Medal from UC Irvine for contributions to the humanities as well as a Pen/Josephine Miles Literary Award.

His book of essays, "East Eats West: Writing in Two Hemispheres" was published in September 2010 and was listed as top 10 Indies of 2010 by Shelf Unbound Magazine. He's working on a novel.


His book, "Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora" has recently won the Pen American “Beyond the Margins” Award in 2006, and short-listed for “Asian American Literature Award.”



His essays have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the New York Times, The LA Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Baltimore Sun, The Atlanta Journal, and the Chicago Tribune. He has also written essays for magazines like Mother Jones, The Nation, San Francisco Focus, Proult Journal, In Context, Utne Magazine, California Magazine and many others.

His short stories are also anthologized widely and taught in many Universities and colleges. His short stories appeared in many literary journals, including Manoa Journal, Crab Orchard Review, Nimrod International, Michigan Quarterly West, Zyzzyva, Transfer Magazine, Alsop Review, Terrain, and others.

Lam's awards include the Society of Professional Journalist “Outstanding Young Journalist Award” (1993) and “Best Commentator” in 2004, The Media Alliance Meritorious awards (1994), The World Affairs Council's Excellence in International Journalism Award (1992), the Rockefeller Fellowship in UCLA (1992), and the Asian American Journalist Association National Award (1993; 1995). He was honored and profiled on KQED television in May 1996 during Asian American heritage month.

Lam was a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University during the academic year 2001-02, studying journalism. He lectured widely at many universities and institutions, including Harvard, Yale, Brown, UCLA, USF, UC Berkeley, University of Hawaii, William and Mary, Hong Kong, and Loyola university, and so on.

Lam, who was born in Vietnam and came to the US in 1975 when he was 11 years old, has a Master in Fine Arts from San Francisco State University in creative writing, and a BA degree in biochemistry from UC Berkeley.

A member of Academy of Arts and Science, Lam was featured in the documentary “My Journey Home,” which aired on PBS nationwide on April 7, 2004, where a film crew followed him back to his homeland Vietnam.

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Community Reviews

Rating(4.1 / 5.0, 38 votes)
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38 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Nisshokusan
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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A collection of essays relating to the Vietnamese-American experience, this book is well-written but I found the structure (or lack of) not very conducive for creating a big picture. A little fractured, maybe that was the intent though.
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BootlegED_69
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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n  The more mature response to one's tragedy is not hatred nor resentment but spiritual resilience with which one can, again and again, struggle to transcend one's own biographical limitations. History is trapped in me, indeed, but history is also mine to work out, to disseminate, to discern and appropriate, and to finally transform into aesthetic self-expression.n

Really loved this set of essays on the Vietnamese diaspora. Andrew Lam writes with a deep understanding of himself and the journey he is taking to get there, touching on legacies of war, older generation Vietnamese refugees trapped in history, memories easily erased within capitalist America, and the dual lives of Vietnamese American children.
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CommanderSheep
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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Of course, this subject interests me very much. The Vietnamese diaspora...........love that word! Somewhat similar to Andrew Lam's, Catfish and Mandala, as a bittersweet remembrance of the early years in So. Vietnam and the flight to the confusing world of America. Worth a look for sure
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anilogXoXo
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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I'm afraid this is one of those books I read to make myself look intelligent. It's fascinating, heartbreaking, lovely, fierce, lonely. New eyes on what it means to be an American. A difficult read, emotionally and intellectually.
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chaeronea
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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This book of essays is an incredible reminder of a time most Americans might like to erase from our history. Perhaps some Americans have erased America’s war in Vietnam and its repercussions from their minds. The images of helicopters rising above Saigon with fleeing Vietnamese frantically hanging from the landing skids have faded from our collective memory. That was then, nearly 40 years ago. But the refugees are with us still. For the most part, Vietnamese refugees seemed to make the difficult transition to American citizenship seamlessly. Their progeny has blended into the American fabric, most excelling academically and professionally. But at what price to the hearts and souls of the new citizens?

Lam’s family arrived in America in the first wave of refugees. He and his brother were young enough to transition and adapt. The changes were more complex and difficult for his middle-aged parents. The next wave of refugees, the boat people, had an even more difficult entry into a country that was feeling compassion fatigue. For some the price of entry to the Promised Land could come down to a bag of carefully washed American bones carried in a canvas bag. Lam’s essays provide a tender glimpse into the complex compromises and adaptations required to leave behind the mother country and adopt a new country. His introspection is sometimes harsh and always difficult. How does the once honored general of the defeated army square his new impoverished and under-appreciated existence with his old identity? How do refugees cope with survivor’s guilt and mixed loyalties? How do grandparents navigate the perplexing American fixation on birth dates with the Vietnamese cultural reverence for death? And how does it feel to have one foot in America and one foot in Vietnam? To be neither wholly this or wholly that?

This is not a new release, but it remains an important reminder of a stain on American history that is perhaps as egregious as the stain of slavery. It is a stark reminder of how remaining South Vietnamese were brutalized after we left them to the communist regime. One essay illuminates the deplorable involuntary repatriation of live refugees and “voluntary” repatriation of dead bodies after western countries had their fill of boat people. Most important, the book is a reminder of all that it takes to leave everything behind and start a new life in a strange new culture.
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AreYan
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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This book is excellent. Andrew Lam makes you feel simultaneously soaring above the glittering streaks of the ocean and shuffling through the dirt of a refugee camp -- it's the before and after of becoming an immigrant. He bottled the diasporic essence and spilled it across these pages.
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JOHNCH3
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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Thank you for the insider look on being Vietnamese American and leaving Vietnam. I think I have a better, more compassionate understanding of the complexities, if not the language. I think I need to brush up on the historical context. Maybe read Takaki's chapter on refugees from SE Asia. In all seriousness, I ate a lot of Buckeye Pho and watched a lot of Vietnamese music videos while finishing this book.
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