The Refugees (2017 original; edició 2017)

An eloquent and detailed collection of aspirations and dreams tells of those torn between two worlds, the country and family left behind in trade for a distant place of hope and desires fulfilled. Each chapter is an experience of memory suffused with subtle moments that will leave you breathless. ( )

An eloquent and detailed collection of aspirations and dreams tells of those torn between two worlds, the country and family left behind in trade for a distant place of hope and desires fulfilled. Each chapter is an experience of memory suffused with subtle moments that will leave you breathless. ( )

A group of short stories that tell the tales of different refugees, refugee families, and those otherwise related to refugees. From the young woman who is haunted by the ghost of her brother to the tough American ex-soldier who does not want to understand his part-Asian daughter, the stories provide a good way to grasp at least part of what it means to be transplanted from Viet Nam to the U.S. or to be born into a family trying to bridge the two cultures.

The stories are easy to read (although I listened instead) and often enjoyable and even humorous. I know from Nguyen's The Sympathizer that he has quite a wit. ( )

Wow this collection made me think and get even more fascinated about those who left Vietnam and came to the United States to resettle. Some stories didn't resonate with me as much as others did. The stories flowed together well though I thought.

"Black-Eyed Women" (5 stars)- a woman with a career as a ghostwriter finds herself laying some ghosts to rest. Her heartbreaking story of her and her family fleeing for a better life in America will gut you when you get to the end and read about how entwined she is with her mother.

"The Other Man" (5 stars)- a man who resettles in the US in the 1970s finds himself on uncharted territory when he ends up being sponsored by two gay men in San Francisco.

"War Years" (5 stars)- a young boy recounts a story about a widowed woman from Vietnam demanding money from his family in order to fight the Communists. The story helps him see his mother and father in a new light. I honestly thought the story was going in a different direction until I got to the end and you end up feeling pity.

"The Transplant" (4 stars)- A man named Arthur Arellano who has a liver transplant. This causes him to look for the man's family. This causes him to look at his family in a different way when he finally meets the son of his transplant donor. I was enjoying this until the end, when I think that Nguyen maybe wanted you to feel sorry for poor put upon Arthur. I was kind of over this guy though when you realize how self absorbed he is.

"I'd Love You to Want Me" (5 stars)- A woman who is struggling with her husband's onset of Alzheimer's. Mrs. Khanh's story was probably my next favorite after Black-Eyed Women. Her realizing that her husband had a life she didn't know and how she really doesn't care for her oldest son. You get to see Mrs. Khanh slowly giving up on her dreams when she starts to think about what does love really mean. In her mind, it's being devoted.

"The Americans" (5 stars)- James Carver, an African American former Air Force pilot (I think) goes back to Vietnam with his Japanese wife to visit their daughter who is there teaching. Lord, his daughter was exhausting. There's a scene when she yells at her father for what he did while running missions in the country. And sigh, nope, no sympathy for Claire. I did love though James going through his struggles in his career and life and him being pretty baffled by his daughter and what she wants from him. Loved the ending a lot though.

"Someone Else Besides You" (3 stars)- My least favorite. A man going through his family's history and why he wasn't ready to have children with his ex wife. The father in this story was odd to me. I don't know what his purpose was besides to criticize the son. The story takes an odd turn after some vandalism.

"Fatherland" (5 stars)-Really enjoyed this one. A woman named Phuong is excited to meet her half sister who has lived in America, that comes back to Vietnam to visit her, and the rest of the family. The story set up (Phuong's sister Vivien) was raised with her two other siblings in America and her mother divorced their father. The father marries his mistress and has three other children he names after the first set (yeah that happened). What I loved was Phuong coming to realization about her father and her half sister. ( )

This popped up in my library and being more readily available for Immigrant Heritage Month (although strictly speaking, Viet Thanh Nguyen is the son of refugees), I thought it would be a good reads. I was familiar with his name, understood he had won a Pulitzer for his debut 'The Sympathizer' and decided to pick this up on a whim.

This is a short story collection of various refugees and their experiences: what it's like for them living as a refugee, trying to survive, family relationships, business dealings, sexuality, etc. All snippets of what lives of refugees can be like.

I have to agree with the negative reviews: I'm not for short stories (and if I had remembered I might not have read this one of his books first). The writing wasn't compelling and it did feel rather flat. I read 'Girl, Woman, Other' not long ago and while short stories bothered me there, at least some of those were interesting on their own, which was not the case for me here.

It could be that this was not the work to start with (although I understand Nguyen is writing a sequel to The Sympathizer). At some point I'll pick up 'The Sympathizer' and return this one to the library. ( )