Rating: 
Summary: Phenomenal
Review: For anyone interested in travel, self-discovery, Vietnam and just darn good story-telling, this is a phenominal book. What makes it all the more remarkable is that this work was written by a young, first-time author who was unafraid to share with readers the truth--no matter how ugly or embarrassing--of his life and the fascinating situations he has found himself in. I can't wait for Pham's next book.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read for anyone interested in Vietnam!
Review: This is an exceptional story and one that is hard to put down. It gives a very realistic picture of the life in present day Vietnam as well as some info on its past in the 1900's. It shows truthfully the attitudes of modern Vietnamese toward their countrymen who left Vietnam for America and elsewhere, the "Viet-Kieu", of which group the author is a member. The stories of the author's adventures are fascinating and very realistically portrayed. Any Viet-Kieu must read this book whether he or she plans to return to Vietnam or not. Others who may want to travel in Vietnam also should read it, as well as those who have lived or visited there. You will recognize much that is familiar! Don't miss this one!!
Rating:
Summary: A Classic Travel Book and a startling look at Modern Vietnam
Review: Catfish and Mandala is many things. It is the classic travel adventure to an exotic land. It is a bit of history and culture in its description of modern Vietnam. It is a look at family and life in Vietnam and in America. And it is a book about dealing with the loss of a loved one. And in each thing this book does it is a masterpiece.The previous reviews are right on the money. From the moment you pick up this book you can not put it down. I found myself reading this book every moment I had. In the library, on the front porch, while waiting for diner to finish cooking, even while my students were taking a test. Even if I could only read a page or two I did. I recently read a terrible book on modern Vietnam called Shadows and Wind. After reading that book, I did not have half the sense of what it is like in modern Vietnam as I did from Catfish and Mandala. I am going to Vietnam this summer and I am glad I read this book before I went. I do not want to give anything away that happens in this book. I can only say that if you are looking for a great book. A great book that will take you to a far off land. Read this book. It is a travel classic on the level of Iron and Silk, the Lady and the Monk, and the River at the Center of the World. A great and thought provoking read about Vietnam, family, and life.
Rating: 
Summary: too dramatizing
Review: Overall the book is a good read, but it is too dramatizing and doesn't deserve a five star. Andrew X. Pham in this book is over-making his effort by turning many nouns into verbs and using big words when it is unnecessary. The story is good, although not one hundred percent factual, because all of Vietnam as described in the book is so poor and corrupted, but in reality, Vietnam is more deserving than its description.
Rating:
Summary: You won't be able to put it down...
Review: If you are unsure about buying this book, don't be! This is the best book I have read since "She's Come Undone" by Wally Lamb (for all the Oprah Book Club folks). The first chapter immediately took my notice, and I couldn't put the book down or stop thinking it about until I finished it. Which is amazing since I have about 20 'must-read' books on my shelf that I have only gone halfway through. I'm telling everyone about this book - Andrew Pham is so talented. I came here when I was 6 months old, so I am pretty 'Americanized'. This book has allowed me understand my family and myself more, specifically why I have conflicting reactions and feelings sometimes, and I recommend this especially for the younger adult Vietnamese-American generation. Regardless of your background though, I am sure your heart will react to the characters and experiences in this book.
Rating:
Summary: you'll think about identity, whether or not you identify
Review: Taken as a collection of travelogue vignettes, it's a good yarn, fairly well told. I did think the writing style was a little uninspired. Pham deploys a technique of coining noun-verbs which I found distracting after a while. But that's just surface style... the book stirred a lot of murky submerged feelings in me. Being half-Asian myself, there are natural parallels. Like Pham, I have thought frequently about the nature of identity here in "these United States". Beyond that, it is an intriguing glimpse of a country and people about which the typical reader in the US probably has, like me, many misconceptions. Along with 'Catfish and Mandala', you might also consider Anne Fadiman's 'The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down', which chronicles the collision of Hmong culture and Western medicine as embodied by the doctors of the county hospital in Merced, CA. The Hmong were mountain tribesmen who were used by the CIA to fight a shadow war in Laos, and many subsequently wound up here. The analogy to the Viet-kieu is obvious -- that book too has a good chance of significantly expanding your consciousness of (Asian-)American cultural issues, and the writing, organization, and research are first-rate.
Rating:
Summary: More than momentarily gut wrenching
Review: Andrew X. Pham's honesty is brutal and painful--in describing both his life's events and his feelings about them, he spares no-one it seems, least of all, himself. I have a lasting image of guts spilled both literally and figuratively across various landscapes. Although his escapades often have a hectic, hellbent quality, his writing is keenly observant and, at the end of the book, I was left with a tender feeling at his ability to transcend judgment.
Rating:
Summary: Catfish Dreams...
Review: This book was remarkably moving in every way. It is rare that I feel compelled to write a review, but as a Vietnamese-American myself, I felt it important that if others out there were in search of something refreshingly honest, artful and familiar to one's own experience - they could find it in Andrew X. Pham's book Catfish and Mandala. (Yes, there are modern Vietnamese-American writers out there!) I myself, was beginning to feel that they had all succumbed to the Silicon Valley life, and that we had settled on a legacy comprised of the ravages of war or traditional folktales, but Andrew proves otherwise, or at least -has proved that one can either choose to live the "American Dream" or simply live dreamily. I feel he has opted to illustrate the latter and in doing so, opens us up to a world very few have chose to present on paper. As the above reviews summarized, it is an excellent memoir of his life as a Vietnamese : rife with the usual immigrant ("boat people") memories, the struggle for American assimilation and success, and hauntings of war. However, Catfish and Mandala not only fuses these typical elements, but also adds a touch of the modern. The result is a brand new perspective, seen through the eyes of the younger Vietnamese -American generation. It is different in that it is a search to understand our 'baggage' as Vietnamese-Americans, despite barely having first-hand experience of the war, of those struggles, of being raised in a 100% Vietnamese culture. He is a reflection of how the younger generation has reaped the benefits, but we are nonetheless, haunted by ghosts all of our lives. Something is missing. We need something palpable, we need to find pieces to the puzzle. Pham's book manifests itself as a collage of sorts; passing from memory to reality, and from imagination to revelation. I am pleased that he is able to encompass it all so thoughtfully, but seperately as well, so as many of the chapters could stand alone as seperate reflections of the whole. His journey is a personal one, but he writes in that way, which makes you feel he has taken that personal journey you'd wish you had the gall to make, playing on vivid memories, conjuring up those images of people and faces we know we've all experienced somewhere along the way if you are Vietnamese -American: (e.g. In describing his mother - "Shetries so hard I ache for her, this simple woman who takes pleasure nickeling the grocers for bargains, deals for the family...This woman kwho makes egg rolls for cosmetic giels at the department store who give her free makeovers."....And upon arriving at Saigon airport with only his bike and a bag.."Is tis all you have?" asks my grandaunt in a tone that makes me ashamed. I nod, coloring, because I have neither money to play the good-conquering-son returning home with a cargo of treasure. The Vietnamese I know who came back brought an average of $3000 worth of gifts. Every passenger off the plane has cartloads of goodies: cameras, microwaves, computers, microscopes, tennis rackets, badminton rackets, boom boxes, clothes, soap, shampoo, facial cream, perfumes, cognac.."..And upon visiting a historic site and viewing tourists coming in .."The gatekeepers are giving them an extraordinarily hard time. A couple of them thing it is grossly unfair to pay to bring in their cameras." Or in describing Vietnamese food .."There wer Peking duck with pillowy white buns to be eaten with scallion brushes and sweet plum sauce; roasted pig with craker-crunchy skin to be savored on angel-hair rice noodles glistening with scallion oil; swert pork spare ribs complete with the three layers of good-fortune fat; several whole boiled chickens for dipping with lime, pepper and salt; a tub of prawn salad tossed with rice vinegar and pickled carrots, great for making canapes with shrimp chips; green papaya saled with sugary chili-fishsauce..." God - there are just so many great passages that have great detail. He created poetry out of very sentimental moments, yet could make you cry in horror (usually in regards to government corruption, the smell of dogmeat, or the bouts with diarrhoea & mosquities) For some I laughed aloud and said "Oh yeh! I here you ya" while with others, I needed a moment to collect myself. In sum, please BUY this book no matter who you are. But I do, highly recommend this to Vietnamese-Americans who are in dire need of literature - And not because he is Vietnamese -American, but because he's GOOD. Truly - P.S. Andrew if your out there - let's have coffee! I'll be going to Vietnam aroung MAY/June 2001... - Christina
Rating:
Summary: Amazing, inspiring - couldn't put it down
Review: I bought this book in preparation for a trip to Vietnam, but found that it is a fascinating story even if you never visit the country. It is an story of triumph against the odds, of the strength of the human spirit, of not being able to go home but the importance of living in the present. I was completely pulled into the book and only put it down when forced to do so. I would highly recommend this for anyone who is interested not only in Vietnam, but also for inspiration to pursue one's goals in life.
Rating:
Summary: The View from the Other Side
Review: As a Regular Army officer I had three Vietnam tours, two during the time of the US military presence, and a third during the period from the US military withdrawal in early 1973, and the final fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. During the third tour, as it became more and more obvious that the GVN was doomed, more and more of our attention focused on saving "our Vietnamese", those who had worked closely with the US, and who would suffer horribly from this association. As we loaded our chosen ones on to US aircraft, in many cases in direct defiance of the US Ambassador's instructions that all Vietnamese "principals", or officials, should not be helped to escape, I often wondered how these individuals, and their families, would survive in the US. I also wondered what would happen to those whom we were unable to exfiltrate - how they would survive, and if they could make it out on their own. Thanks to Andrew X. Pham's Catfish and Mandala I think I now know the answers to at least some of the questions I and a handful of other US military personnel had. A great book, and one I will recommend to everyone who wants to know what Vietnam was like then, and is now.
|
