The eight stories here all capture the ghosts of a country that they have either fled from, or of a people who have rebuild their lives, under a communist Vietnam. But both the peoples have ghosts of a previous time haunting them. In the first short story, there is a literally a ghost, and the scars guilt of the survivor , with their experiences while fleeing, with the horror detailed ("Black Eyed Woman"). It brought back the memories of the terrors enclosed in his masterpiece of a novel.
"The Other Man", takes another angle of those sponsored by a Rich American, with the words gay sugar daddy coming to mind. The beneficiary's gratefulness is a weight for him to carry, burdened with guilt.
"War Years" shows us that some of those who came over to the US, never stopped fighting the war against the Communists, and couldn't come to terms with their losses - instead living on day after day, in a self-made equation that makes their survival, tolerable and hopeful. The closing scene of how an usually close fisted mother allowing her son to buy anything he wants from a 7-Eleven store, shows the reader her then thoughts of cherishing those near her, while she can ( comparing with Mrs. Hoa of what she has endure day in day out). Its a masterful scene, bringing with it weight that pages couldn't add.
The author brings in an element of humour along with a glimpse of the kind of business opportunities that are available- dealing in counterfeit goods -to segments of certain immigrant communities. Here the main character is an American Mexican in Orange Country, CA, addicted to gambling and wasting his time away, and who's had a liver transplant from a Vietnamese. In his attempt to find the donor of the organ, this short story titled "The Transplant" shows a cross section of two immigrant communities who have found ways of living, dealing and mingling with each other, in this multi-cultural metropolis.
"I'd love you to want me", is possibly one of the best love stories I've ever read. It captures A love of such depth, portraying selflessness as an essential ingredient while taking care of her Alzheimer's affected husband.
In "The Americans", our author shows that the mentality of superiority an American, a veteran, is now outdated, and even his own child will not condone that thinking. The story happens in Vietnam. There is also a reference to Sri Lanka in this story, although not for good reasons. It says that the robotic mechanism used for de- mining was already in use, in SL.
Children could carry baggage, in terms of parental behaviour, far into their adulthood. In "Someone else beside you", a father who that dictated over the lives of his children, returns as in a bad dream, to his now grown son. It brings unexpected yet rewarding results for his son, now a grown man with a broken marriage.
The story of Vivien, who likes his father's second wife's family to believe that she's been living the American dream, since she went there as a refugee with the mother. The truth is not so pretty, as she later divulges. "Fatherland" is a short story that most of the Asian countries can relate to, when it comes to putting up appearances with so called "success stories" in their new homes.
There is not a single weak story here. Yet there is a common strand a high level theme - where the members were victim of communism, when North Vietnamese armies gained control over the South. Most of the characters are those who fled in life threatening circumstances to the U.S. There are a few characters, who stayed back, being focused on too. The author can relate to these stories, as he states in the acknowledgements section, thus:
Thanks to my father and mother, Joseph and Linda. Refugees in 1954 and again in 1975, they are the most courageous people I know. They saved my life.
Thanks to my older brother, Tung, the original refugee success story. Seven years after arriving in the United States, he went to Harvard. He sets a high standard.
Thanks to Lan Duong, my fellow refugee, writer, and partner. A reader of my every word, she has shared both the suffering and the joy.
Thanks to our son, Ellison, for reminding me of childhood. By the time this book is published, he will be nearly the age that I was when I became a refugee.
This is easily one of the best books I've read this year.
Rating - *****
Genre - Short stories
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