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Some memoirs feel more trustworthy than others. Nhi tells her stories not in a straight line but more like a roundelay. Outsider, refugee, immigrant, outsider again. Vietnam, Queens, Brooklyn, Vietnam again. Full circle but, maybe like all lives, perpetually unfinished. Some of her memories are horribly sad, others are funny, and all are recounted with a simple grace and an admirable survivor's strength. -- John Strausbaugh, author of City of Sedition and Victory City In this eye-opening, often heart-wrenching memoir, Nhi Manh Chung tells of escaping Vietnam by boat (three of her family members didn't survive the journey) and settling in New York City. Her hardships gradually ease as she works her way through college, marries, and works as a bilingual teacher in public schools. In one telling episode, she takes her Amerasian students to see Miss Saigon and offers an incisive critique of the show -- from a Vietnamese point of view. Eventually, she revisits the place where she grew up and finds that 'going back to Vietnam was as important for what it prompted me to remember as for what I could see.' She presents those memories here, and what she says will rivet the attention of anyone who recalls that 'dirty little war.' --Thaddeus Rutkowski, author of Border Crossings Nhi Manh Chung lost her mother Lieu (Willow), her brother Kwok Chieu (Beyond the Nation) & her young sister Bao (Treasure) to the ravaging dark sea while trying to escape Vietnam. To them, this book is dedicated. Accepting the fact that she is not a writer, she kept writing her memories which had become part of her heart/spirit/soul. Memories of Vietnam before the war; the cruelties created during & after the war; her more recent American life & the returning trips to the motherland she left. In doing so, she gives voice to those silenced & forgotten by history & to herself which enables her to declare her modest but solid sense of love for life. To witness her courage in revealing her personal history in order to give us a clear echo of resurrected humanity is extremely moving & irreplaceably powerful. -- Yuko Otomo, author of Study & Other Poems on Art, Koan & Anonymous Landscape (forthcoming)

"""In this eye-opening, often heart-wrenching memoir, Nhi Manh Chung tells of escaping Vietnam by boat (three of her family members didn't survive the journey) and settling in New York City. Her hardships gradually ease as she works her way through college, marries, and works as a bilingual teacher in public schools. In one telling episode, she takes her Amerasian students to see Miss Saigon and offers an incisive critique of the show -- from a Vietnamese point of view. Eventually, she revisits the place where she grew up and finds that 'going back to Vietnam was as important for what it prompted me to remember as for what I could see.' She presents those memories here, and what she says will rivet the attention of anyone who recalls that 'dirty little war.'""--Thaddeus Rutkowski, author of Border Crossings ""Nhi Manh Chung lost her mother Lieu (Willow), her brother Kwok Chieu (Beyond the Nation) & her young sister Bao (Treasure) to the ravaging dark sea while trying to escape Vietnam. To them, this book is dedicated. Accepting the fact that she is not a writer, she kept writing her memories which had become part of her heart/spirit/soul. Memories of Vietnam before the war; the cruelties created during & after the war; her more recent American life & the returning trips to the motherland she left. In doing so, she gives voice to those silenced & forgotten by history & to herself which enables her to declare her modest but solid sense of love for life. To witness her courage in revealing her personal history in order to give us a clear echo of resurrected humanity is extremely moving & irreplaceably powerful."" -- Yuko Otomo, author of Study & Other Poems on Art, Koan & Anonymous Landscape (forthcoming) ""Some memoirs feel more trustworthy than others. Nhi tells her stories not in a straight line but more like a roundelay. Outsider, refugee, immigrant, outsider again. Vietnam, Queens, Brooklyn, Vietnam again. Full circle but, maybe like all lives, perpetually unfinished. Some of her memories are horribly sad, others are funny, and all are recounted with a simple grace and an admirable survivor's strength."" -- John Strausbaugh, author of City of Sedition and Victory City"

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