Viet Thanh Nguyen serves as editor for a short but impactful collection of essays about refugees and the refugee experience. I read a lot about immigration. I'm not entirely unaware that many of these stories are actually about refugees, but it's interesting that people often morph themselves into "...
Loved the narration. I understand the style of the writing is a little...unpunctuated? The narrator does a great job both reflecting that and making it consumable despite that. And the humor in this book really came through. I should've finished it much more quickly; I just haven't been listening mu...
I read Nguyen's well-received first book, The Sympathizer, so I was eager to read this collection of short stories, and happy to see it available on NetGalley. When I initially selected Sympathizer, it was on my husband's recommendation, but that book easily sold me on Nguyen's ability to compel a r...
Well, this was a difficult book, but one we should all read, I think. The protagonist is a spy, or perhaps counter spy. He's two people in one, so to speak. The story is basically his written confession, comprising over 300 pages, to a "Commandant". So, mostly, we're guessing that he got captured by...
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 ...
The Refugees by Pulitzer prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen is a collection of eight short stories about Vietnamese refugees in the United States. The author himself is a refugee and a child of refugees. Thus, in many ways, these stories are a reflection of his own experiences. The word that comes to mi...
A special thank you to Edelweiss and Grove Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.Viet Thanh Nguyen has been on my "to read" list for quite some time after hearing about the success of The Sympathizer (winner of several awards including the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction). This beautiful...
I originally selected this book from NetGalley because I saw it the same day my husband asked me to get it for him. Fast forward a year or so, and he still hasn’t read it, and I felt guilty getting an advance copy without reviewing it. Well, not really so guilty. For one thing, the list of awards th...
Actual rating 2.5.I wanted to like this book. I wanted to be moved by it. But I wasn't. I'm so conflicted about the book. I can see why others have really enjoyed the book. It was interesting that much of the action happened outside of Vietnam. I also appreciated some of the writing & one of the met...
Saigon has fallen. America is abandoning the South Vietnamese. Panic and pandemonium rage as they try to save themselves for they know that the Viet Cong will be brutal in their reign when they take over. With the suddenness of the evacuation, there are just not enough spaces on the transport plane...
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