About this title: In this viscerally powerful memoir, Nguyen pens a nostalgic, candid account of growing up as a Vietnamese girl in the Midwest in the 1980s, and using popular American food--from Pringles potato chips to Toll House cookies--as a way to fit in and become a RrealS American.
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Description: Good. Purchasing this book supports the King County Library System Foundation. Thriftbooks and KCLSF have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking Adult
Date Published: 2-1-07
ISBN-13:9780670038329ISBN:0670038326
Description: FINE. Superb, crisp, clean, unread hardcover with light shelfwear to the dust jacket and publisher's mark to one edge-GREAT! 0.8 lbs. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking, New York
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780670038329ISBN:0670038326
Description: Near Fine in Near Fine jacket. Memoir. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. A unique vision of the immigrant experience and a lyrical ode to how identity is often shaped by the things we long for. This is the author's first book. This book is in near fine condition and so is the dust jacket. The jacket is not price clipped and is in new clear protective covering. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Date Published: 2008-01-29
ISBN-13:9780143113034ISBN:0143113038
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780143113034. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780143113034ISBN:0143113038
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Description: New. AUDIOBOOK. NOT A BOOK! Please order accordingly! All Audiobooks are in the original factory sealed shrinkwrap box! Box may show signs of dents, etc. All CD's Are guaranteed to play! Audio CD, New, 2009, read more
Binding: Audio CD
Publisher: Brilliance Audio on CD Unabridge
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9781423391081ISBN:142339108X
Description: New. BRAND NEW! In publisher's original shrink-wrap. Free upgrade to domestic First Class. Professional packaging! Books may have a remainder mark on bottom of text block. read more
"I really enjoyed this book, but some of it might have to do with the fact that I know the author's brother. Aside from that, it was just a really interesting memoir because it was different from my life as a kid. I'd always had friends from different cultures, many of them refugees, and was fascinated with their culture. I do remember my friend who was Indian (from India) hated her culture because she wanted to be American. That didn't last forever and by the time she was about 15 or 16 she started to become more familiar with her own culture. Anyway, it's heart wrenching to search for your identity, every adolescent does this, but add in a bit more complexity by being a refugee (no matter what the age) and things change. I thought this was well written and engaging. The only problem I had was time line. Sometimes I got confused about when something happened etc."
"I couldn't put it down. Perhaps because the author and I are similar in age, and therefore my memories of growing up are colored by many of the same references, perhaps because the book takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where I attended college, I found a lot to identify with here.
What I found most interesting, however, is that although my family situation couldn't have been more different, Nguyen's description of the way she moved between two cultures mirrored my own emotional experience so closely. The familiarity and comfort of her Vietnamese culture and the stability it provided could just as easily be turned upside down into something to be ashamed of; that longing to be part of the herd, that rang so true to me."
"I LOVED this book. Although I am a white girl with dark hair, I could relate to the author. It seemed that she was pretty close to my age, the coveted red Tupperware lunchbox was a big giveaway! There was that one girl in my 5th grade class: long blonde hair down to her butt-that sometimes was done up in fancy french braids!-bright blue eyes,she was super skinny, and she was rich because she took ballet classes and wore Jordache jeans every day! Oh! She also had a beautiful name, Shaunda. So when the author would compare herself to others it kind of reminded me of my own insecurity.
It was fun to read a book that took place where I live. I didn't know that when I bought the book. I have only lived in Grand Rapids for 4 years and I enjoyed reading about familiar places.
OH! The discriptions of the food!! To die for! I would like to try some of everything she talked about. Well, the Vietmanese food that is. No thankyou to Chi-Chi's and Ponderosa, yuck! I do remember when our family discovered Ponderosa! We also went often, then my Dad wanted my Mom to buy all the salad bar fixings for the house! But anyway, all those yummies filled with pork...yum! I need to see if I can find a good Vietmanese restaurant nearby!"
"Set in Grand Rapids near where I currently live and where I went to college this memoir is luscious. Very cleverly written. It is also an incredible reflection on being marginalized as a 2nd generation immigrant. Overtones of adoption with the mystery surrounding a missing birth mother.
The book has some really compelling chapters--I thought the chapter in which she breaks into her neighbors' house while they're gone was especially poignant and the chapters that included description of the VietNamese food were delightful. However, there were some real clunkers as well--most notably the one on the Little House books, inexplicably including a summary of this popular series. Unnecessary!!
I thought the discussion of junk food and popular music underscored what every immigrant child feels which is a sense that by studying what is most popular, you can gain access to the mainstream. I know I felt that way when we moved from Japan!! I would find out the EXACT brand of barrette someone was wearing and ask my parents to help me hunt it down so I could be a real American. I felt that connection with the author. At the same time, I wish she had been more candid about her feelings surrounding the separation from her mother and the semi-reunion they had. It all felt very guarded and somewhat unexplored. But she might not have been ready to write more about that."
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