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.

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.

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

since i wrote it, i suppose i'm a bit bias. Lol...

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.

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.

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.

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.

Brilliant author

I enjoyed it. Some part were repetitive, and I felt a little uncomfortable because the overlying narrative seemed to be very diametric, sacrificing Vietnam for America. Nonetheless, the author does have a lot of experience, and I particularly enjoyed his stories about other people, like his grandmother or the refugees in the Whitehead Detention Center. The chapter about the stateless refugees especially, I felt the rage and suffocating emotions quite clearly.

My mother suffered many of the same experiences as the author, though she came from the Ukraine after WWII. Still, I wasn't as overwhelmed as some reviewers. The stories are often heart rending, but too much of the same thing. The Whitehead chapter was good.

I was adopted from Vietnam when I was just a baby, so I don't have a real connection with my birth country. Yes, I want to return to see where I was born, but my Vietnamese experiences are different from those of the author's and of the people he interviews in a number of his stories. That doesn't mean that I found the book irrelevant to my life. Rather the book allowed me an insight into the experiences of Vietnamese people both from that complicated country and those born here of parents who had to flee the Communists.

In beautifully written language, Andrew Lam describes the life he led in Vietnam as a young boy and his other life as a kid growing up in the Bay Area of California. Each story is connected but separate, but the reader gets a full picture of life for many Vietnamese refugees both here and abroad. I was completely heartbroken while reading his story of refugees trapped in holding camps and their desire to be granted asylum. While this story was written quite a number of years ago, it really mirrors what is happening in this country right now.

I really loved reading this short book. It let me see a world I'm from but I'm not from. I would love to sit down with Andrew Lam and just talk about his experiences and gain more insight into this book.