Rating: 
Summary: Extraordinary!
Review: This is the most beautifully written, riveting, poignant book I have read in years. I devoured it in one sitting; the images and emotions it conveyed and elicited will stay with me for a long time.
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Summary: RUN, don't wait another minute-
Review: to obtain a copy of this remarkable narrative. This talented American author of Vietnamese extraction has written a masterpiece of non- fiction based on his life, enduring and experiencing more in his 32 years than most of us can even imagine- and providing a thought provoking revisit to that saddest of times, the Viet Nam era, and the tragic toll taken of ALL those involved. PLEASE read this extraordinary book!
Rating:
Summary: Great, great book.
Review: I traveled through Vietnam in 1998 and I found Andrew Pham's vivid descriptions of contemporary Vietnam in 'Catfish and Mandala' piercingly accurate. In the pantheon of "Vietnam" literature this book comes from a voice and perspective that has been grossly under-represented. Andrew Pham makes the most of this opportunity by writing a carefully crafted, moving and important work. Between the covers the reader is transported in time and place, from the author's childhood hometown of Phan Viet in the 1970's, to the low socio-economic Northern California suburbs of the 1980's, to the chaos and disarray of modern-day Saigon. It should be made clear that this is not a book about the Vietnam War; in one sense it has everything to do with the war (without it he would not be here today), in another it has nothing to do with it. The war is the 800 pound elephant in the living room, the event that until now has defined the relationship between the U.S. and Vietnam for most Americans. But Pham makes it clear that most Vietnamese have long since tried to move on, and this allows him to tackle the more universal and timeless issues of family, relationships, friendship, powerlessness, frustration, empowerment, injustice, corruption, redemption. He does this with remarkable success. I could not put this book down and would recommend it to anyone.
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Summary: CATFISH & MANDALA: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscap
Review: It's a must read book for the 30's something---Vietnamese-Americans. Especially the "sandwich-generation" immigrants and refugees.
Rating:
Summary: A rich, fascinating read
Review: Andrew X. Pham tells an engaging story that is part travelogue, part comedy, and part family drama. Especially interesting is his obversation of being a Vietnamese-American, and how he can feel foreign in both countries. Each word seems carefully chosen, detail is rich, the senses are overwhelmed. I couldn't put it down. The kind of book that you are almost sorry to see come to an end.
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Summary: A stunning and accomplished books about displacement
Review: Between the harrowing postward existence and eventual escape from Vietnam (when he was ten) and the traumas of his family's acculturation to America, Andrew Pham did not NEED to go on dangerous bicycle expeditions to get material! But he did and hung on a unique travelogue he has given readers a rich, multilayered, very moving, and very accomplished a book combining a haunting family history with tales of very rough travel, and reflections on being regarded as a crazy alien in Vietnam and America (and Japan). Pham is obviously very resilient, both physically and emotionally and makes something of great value from painful personal history and difficult travel.
Although the book is unlikely to encourage visitors (especially Vietnamese American ones) to Vietnam, Pham's journey into the multiple traumas of his family's experience yields insights of universal significance. This beautifully written and painfully self-revealing book deservedly won the 1999 Kiriyama Prize. It is hard to imagine a reader who would not learn from the book and I would not want to meet anyone who is not moved by its emotional force!
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Summary: More praise for CATFISH AND MANDALA
Review: "Far more than a travelogue . . . CATFISH is a seamlessly constructed work deftly combining literary techniques with careful, evenhanded reportage . . . A gifted writer . . . Pham opens readers to the full sadness of the human condition on both sides of the world, marveling at spiritual resilience amid irreconcilable facts."--Roland Kelts, The Philadelphia Inquirer"No small achievement . . . scenes of [Pham's] wild road adventure [are] worthy of Jack Kerouac."--Gerald Nicosia, San Francisco Chronicle
Rating:
Summary: lyrical, painful and courageously self-revealing
Review: It is hard not to be moved by this book, by the author, whose journey to Vietnam and back in time, seems to be underlined by desperation and deprivation. What engaged me is the author's ability to be both tentative and bold and reserved and candid in detailing his life.
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Summary: I believe this book is destined to be an American Classic.
Review: It has been a long, long time since I have been so moved by the work of a new American author. "Catfish and Mandala, A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam", by Andrew X Pham, is a book that invites one along on a trek through the minds, hearts, and souls of two nations. As a veteran of the Vietnam War I tagged along willing with Mr. Pham----at first. I soon found myself being pulled deeper into the past, a past that long ago laid waste to my youth and my spirit. Having read this book, I view the world in another light. I view the Vietnamese and American people with an understanding that has escaped me for so many years. To call "Catfish and Mandala" a travelogue is to call Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" and Kerouac's "On the Road" travel books. "Catfish and Mandala" is truly great literature. I only wish it had been written sooner.
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Summary: Another Rave for CATFISH AND MANDALA
Review: "An engaging and vigorously told story. . . a fresh and original look at how proud Vietnamese on the war's losing side reconciled having their identity abruptly hyphenated to Vietnamese-American."--Gavin Scott, Chicago Tribune
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