Rating: 
Summary: Vietnamese-American identity journey
Review: As a Vietnamese-American in his 30s, the best possible compliment I can give to Pham X. An is that he has poignantly written a book for my generation. Throughout the book he had captured his generation's psyche with moving honesty and accuracy that my heart has often felt but my words have been inadequate to convey them. Just like Pham X. An, I felt as an outsider in Vietnam and that feeling had and continue to trouble me deeply. I also faced painful realizations that "my" Vietnam, what I remember from my childhood, no longer exist. In the meantime, in America, I don't quite think, act, and feel like an American. These heartrending feelings were captured poignantly by the author in Catfish and Mandala.The haunting questions of who Vietnamese-Americans are, where our home is, what we will become were answered in the book. How we will deal with this realization is another haunting question that I hope Pham X. An will continue to explore for us. I look forward to reading his next book and I hope I can thank him in person someday for being the voice of my generation.
Rating:
Summary: Neither American Nor Vietnamese -- Six out of Five Stars
Review: Pham's book is a facinating cover to cover read. An incomplete struggle to understand himself, his family and his two countries. In America, Pham finds himself not quite American. Not quite understood, nor understanding. It is a struggle that played itself out for his sister. He thinks the answer is back in Vietnam from which he and his family escaped after the fall of Saigon. In Vietnam, he finds that he does not understand the Vietnamese, nor do they understand him or his motives. His journey to Vietnam is rewarding but not totally satisfying -- raising as many questions as answered. On top of all of this, Catfish and Mandala is a facinating travelogue. A bicycle trip across a country, time and society. Leaves you longing to give Andrew a hug and pat on the back. -Mike
Rating: 
Summary: How much is fiction?
Review: I don't know this guy but they certainly were not the only Asians in Shreveport, Louisiana nor were they the first Vietnamese there. There were Chinese families there since the 1920's that I know of and there were several Vietnamese familes that came over in 1975. If he came over when he was 10 it would have been 1977...over 50 years since some Chinese families and restaurants had been in town. I know, I was there. Even today you can find several of the old families still there although only a handful have restaurants now. Their kids have gone on to become Doctors, Lawyers, CEOs of Companies and Entrepreneurs as well as Policemen, Firemen and serving in the military. Growing up as an Asian in the South during that time period wasn't as dramatic as he made it sound in his book. He came after the Chinese had settled the town and won the respect of the community. For example, there was one chinese businessman in town who was very involved in politics in the 1960's and did wonders for the Chinese community along the way of paving the road to acceptance. The church he mentions that sponsored him was the church of the the elite in town and that included several millionaires. These people were educated and had a lot of class. After I read that part I started to question how much was fiction. Vietnamese soldier earning the Green Beret of the US Army??? Hmm, I just don't know about this guy.
Rating:
Summary: The must read for the 25th Anniv of the Fall of Saigon
Review: The 25th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon was approaching, as was a conference at NYC's Asia Society on Vietnamese American authors, so I purchased this book for a friend. But before I gave the book away, I started to read the preface. And I was as hooked as a net caught in a propeller. I gorged myself on this book's language. It was so poetic, I wanted to deconstruct the sentences to see how Pham built them. How this book did not win a National Book Award I can not fathom. (although it was honored with the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize). As was said in the reviews above and below, Pham's book is an adventure book as worthy as any Outside Magazine story, a memoir, and an extended essay on cultural identity, immigration, guilt, and family dynamics. The metaphor filled, flowing chapters alternate between his current bike trip, the immigrant experience, and his family's flight from Vietnam two decades ago. The book is honest, humorous (as in when he relates his Dilbert-like experiences working as an aerospace engineer in California, or when his brother's boyfriend offers him a supermarket of armaments for road biking protection), psychologically complex (the duty of the first son, the guilt over a suicide), frightening (when relating the experiences of his father in a post-War Vietnamese prison, their escape as boat-people, finding lodging at the home of what may be an escaped mental patient), gutsy (finding a bike path from Narita Airport), sensual, exhilarating, sad, profound, and subtle (can you save every beggar, can you marry every poor Vietnamese woman). Simply a must read.
Rating: 
Summary: Catfish and Mandala
Review: This book is highly reccomended. For those who know so little about such a trerrible country, vietnam
Rating:
Summary: Amazing! I can't praise this book enough.
Review: Pham's descriptions of his journey--his writing, his words, his style--are simply breathtaking. He tells his story with simplicity but paints such a detailed, beautiful picture that you fall in love with the people and places that he visits. His descriptions of the peoplehe encounters, especially the street orphans of Vietnam, are so vivid and real--the latter brought tears to my eyes. Perhaps the greatest compliment I can give is to say that before I read the book, I lent it to my mother (a Vietnamese refugee who had come to the U.S. and raised four kids on her own)--she could not put the book down and still raves about it. Pham has at least two fans who are anxiously waiting for his second work!
Rating:
Summary: Great for those who want an introduction modern Vietnam.
Review: This book is two-fold. One part of the book is a story about the struggle of a Vietnamese family who travels to America and their tragic story after reaching the U.S. The second part of the novel is about one of the members of that family who travels to Vietnam after completing an engineering degree at UCLA. Both of the stories are centered around Andrew X. Pham (I assume it's autobiographical).
The story about Pham's family's immigration to America is in and of itself a reason to buy this book. Although Mexican, Irish and Eastern European immigration to America are covered in school, the Vietnamese experience is one that is almost almost ignored. That is regretable because it is a facinating one.
This book is also a great view of modern day Vietnam. Americans often ignore the plight of people in 3rd world countires like Vietnam. Reading this book will open your eyes to the hardships those who live in Vietnam are having today.
Rating:
Summary: thought provoking
Review: Midway through this novel, I wanted to pull my heart out of my chest. The emotions I felt were painful and sad. Worse part, this book wasn't meant to be depressing or close to tear-jerking.
While I could really care less about author Andrew Pham's adventures on his bicycle, this book gave me a deeper admiration for my Vietnamese-American friends. It helped answer why they were born is such far flung locales like Albuquerque, Kansas City and some hick town in Illinois. Yes, Illinois.
I did a double take while reading, wondering if my friend Ryan had actually written this novel. It seemed like his story, immigrating from Vietnam during the war, growing up in California and now successful in the medical profession. It seemed too close to be true, even down to the two gay brothers.
I always wanted to ask him, but always thought twice, what was it like when he came to the states as a 13-year-old. I wanted to know how he felt, what high school was like, the struggles, the successes, the tears. Did his father die in the war? When did he finally feel comfortable with the English language? What was the discrimination he endured? How did his family leave war-torn Vietnam? All these questions, not a single answer.
Pham's vivid and emotional depiction of immigrant life in the U.S. could be applied to any immigrant group. He retraces his history from life in Vietnam, the escape from Vietnam, finally making it to the U.S. and then, his return to Vietnam.
Pham achieves something with his depiction of his return home. He gives readers the truth, not some pretty account driven for tourists. He doesn't lie about the mosquitos, dirty air, poverty, feelings towards America, commercialism and amount of change since the war.
Pham tries to find some connection with the country he grew up in, some connection to understand who he is. What he finds is something readers need to read to gain a better understanding of immigrant life, Vietnam and one's strive to survive.
Rating:
Summary: Very slow book
Review: I found this book disappointing. The author was unlikeable. It is an autobiography, but I could care less about Pham's personal stories. Although it did get somewhat better towards the end, overall, it was very slow.
Rating:
Summary: A real reflection of Vietnamese American and East-West
Review: I found myself related closely to the book, not because of the dramatic of the story, but because of the experience that Vietnamese Americans have had... I found the truth revealed in many scence that Andrew described... This book actually recalled many memories for me... I also suprised that, with limited experience (was pretty young when Anh An left Vietnam), that he can bring out a lively pictures of reality in Vietnam. Identity... Somehow people like An and myself found that it is hard to believe, what a culture conflict could result such emotion... Thanks for the great work, Anh An.
|
