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The Reeducation of Cherry Truong
A young woman journeys back to Vietnam to uncover family secrets—in this first novel from the author of We Should Never Meet.
Cherry Truong’s older brother has been exiled to live with distant relatives in Vietnam. As Cherry journeys from Los Angeles to her family’s homeland to bring him back, she embarks on a quest to uncover the mysteries and lies in her family’s past—hidden loves, desperate choices, and lives torn apart by the march of war and currents of history. Spanning three generations, The Reeducation of Cherry Truong tells the sweeping stories of the Truong and Vos families, their escape from Vietnam during the war, the forces that separated them, and the ties that bind them over three continents. Aimee Phan’s debut novel introduces readers to a fiercely defiant family who still yearn for reconciliation and redemption in each other’s hearts.
Cherry Truong’s older brother has been exiled to live with distant relatives in Vietnam. As Cherry journeys from Los Angeles to her family’s homeland to bring him back, she embarks on a quest to uncover the mysteries and lies in her family’s past—hidden loves, desperate choices, and lives torn apart by the march of war and currents of history. Spanning three generations, The Reeducation of Cherry Truong tells the sweeping stories of the Truong and Vos families, their escape from Vietnam during the war, the forces that separated them, and the ties that bind them over three continents. Aimee Phan’s debut novel introduces readers to a fiercely defiant family who still yearn for reconciliation and redemption in each other’s hearts.
368 pages
First published March 13, 2012
15 people are currently reading
738 people want to read
About the author
Aimee Phan
3 books112 followersAimee Phan is the author of The Reeducaion of Cherry Truong (2012) and We Should Never Meet (2004.) She is chair of the undergrad Writing and Literature program at California College of the Arts. She is married to the poet Matt Shears (10,000 Wallpapers, Where a Road Had Been.)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews
May 13, 2012
It's not often I run across a book that I want to reread immediately after reading it the first time, but The Reeducation of Cherry Truong falls into this category. It's the story of two families, the Truongs and the Vos, who are related by the marriage of Sanh Truong and Tuyet Vo. Sanh and Tuyet have two children: Lum, who was born in Vietnam shortly before the end of the war, and Cherry, born in America.
As the novel opens, we know only two things, that Lum was responsible for an injury suffered by Cherry five years earlier and as a result was sent back to Vietnam by his parents, and that there has been deep animosity between the Truongs and the Vos ever since Sanh's father reneged on a promise to help the Vos flee Vietnam after the communists took Saigon in 1975. The story then unfolds episodically, each chapter beginning with an old letter and told from the point of view of one of the characters. The narrative jumps around in time and place, spanning events occurring in Vietnam, Malaysia, Paris, and Southern California, from 1972 to 2002.
Being told in a non-linear and incomplete fashion, the reader can never be sure of exactly the truth of any situation and is thus forced to suspend moral judgment. Characters that initially appear sympathetic are later seen to be monsters -- but even then there's more that's hinted at that might change how that character is viewed yet again. It's brilliant really, as this is exactly the situation Cherry is in; in the novel's present day, she's trying to unravel exactly what happened in her family, to understand, as she says, "why we keep hurting each other. Why none of us can stop." The reeducation of the book's title is an allusion to the reeducation camps of the Vietnamese government, with Cherry's family being its own kind of prison. It refers both to Cherry's search for understanding and to her forced role in her family's need to avenge past grudges both large and small.
This is one of the finest novels I've read in ages, and I want to read it again sooner rather than later. Highly recommended.
As the novel opens, we know only two things, that Lum was responsible for an injury suffered by Cherry five years earlier and as a result was sent back to Vietnam by his parents, and that there has been deep animosity between the Truongs and the Vos ever since Sanh's father reneged on a promise to help the Vos flee Vietnam after the communists took Saigon in 1975. The story then unfolds episodically, each chapter beginning with an old letter and told from the point of view of one of the characters. The narrative jumps around in time and place, spanning events occurring in Vietnam, Malaysia, Paris, and Southern California, from 1972 to 2002.
Being told in a non-linear and incomplete fashion, the reader can never be sure of exactly the truth of any situation and is thus forced to suspend moral judgment. Characters that initially appear sympathetic are later seen to be monsters -- but even then there's more that's hinted at that might change how that character is viewed yet again. It's brilliant really, as this is exactly the situation Cherry is in; in the novel's present day, she's trying to unravel exactly what happened in her family, to understand, as she says, "why we keep hurting each other. Why none of us can stop." The reeducation of the book's title is an allusion to the reeducation camps of the Vietnamese government, with Cherry's family being its own kind of prison. It refers both to Cherry's search for understanding and to her forced role in her family's need to avenge past grudges both large and small.
This is one of the finest novels I've read in ages, and I want to read it again sooner rather than later. Highly recommended.
June 23, 2012
As I read this lovely novel, I thought often of "Sacred Willow," by Duong Van Mai Elliott. There are so many incredible books about Vietnam, but very few deal with the issue of the generational differences that erupted over the course of the 20th century. As well, there are numerous books that deal with first-generation immigrant experiences, but having a parent raised in a different culture is very different from having a parent raised in a different culture that has always known war. The generational split is jarring, and as "The Reeducation of Cherry Truong" shows, often insurmountable. Following two related Vietnamese families as they disperse to the United States and France after the war, this book is at it's strongest when showing how disconnected the Vietnamese parents are from the children they raise in America and France -- and vice versa. The stories are clearly personal to the author, and even though the book already weighs in at 350 pages, I feel that it could have been much longer. So many of these characters deserve their own novels, but at the same time, each one is given, over the course of the book, his or her own significant short story -- not surprising, given that Aimee Phan is a highly regarded short story writer. This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the impact of the Vietnam War on the family structure of Vietnamese refugees. Beyond that, it's simply a great read, especially for book groups, since it offers so much to discuss.
May 10, 2012
Two Vietnamese families, escaping Vietnam after the fall of Saigon, some go to France and some go to the United States after there stay in a relocation zone. What do they bring with them and how it affects their future is the basis for this wonderful novel by Phan. Immensely readable and addictive we follow the family as they attempt to acclimate to their new homes and way of life. Yet secrets and things they have done will follow them always and effect them and their children in negative ways throughout their lives. We can never escape ourselves. Grandma Vo is a piece of work, said to have run a black market racket in Vietnam she has all the money and interferes by using manipulation and guilt in her children's lives. My favorite character was the grandmother Hoa who has not had an easy time with her husband yet comes fully into her own when he is diagnosed with Alzheimers. I loved reading the progression and growth of the characters, all who were interesting and well rounded. There is much strength in this novel and it shows the reality of the true immigrant experience.
January 26, 2013
Slow to start, I found this book to be very difficult to get immersed in. I was interested to see where the paths of this family went, from Vietnam to Malaysia and later France and America. The circumstances resulted in many characters’ unhappiness but I can’t help but feel like the abrupt, and choppy writing style added to my icky mood while reading. The overall tone of the novel was very stoic. Normally, I am a huge fan of multi-point of view stories, but here I felt the bouncing around didn’t bounce fast enough. Cherry, who in the title appears to be the main character, was overshadowed by her mean-spirited, elder relatives. I even debated putting it down but I’d already invested a week in the book so I managed to stick through to the end. The last quarter peaked my interest, but just as I was getting invested in the present day storyline, and finally learning more about Cherry as a character, the novel was coming to an end. Overall, disappointed. :(
on-hold
January 11, 2013I was halfway through this book before I realized how much it was taking out of me. I read quite a few books that people would consider depressing, but they don't have the same effect as this one. This one was frustrating because I couldn't understand why all the characters would choose to be so spiteful and mean to one another. They were a family. I felt like they should have been working together and looking out for one another instead of tearing each other down. I didn't like any of them. I imagine if I had read it all, I would have had a much better understanding of how they became who they were, but it wasn't worth it for me. Plus, the jumping around so much always taxes my brain anyway.
March 9, 2020
I read this book a while ago and am just going back now to re-read it. I love Aimee Phan's prose, which paints vivid pictures of the Truong and Vo family members, whether they are in Vietnam, US or France. The Reeducation of Cherry Truong is one of my favorite books about the drifting lives of Vietnamese, who are scattered around the world due to the turbulent events of our history.
February 10, 2012
I received this book through Goodreads First Reads.
The Reeducation of Cherry Truong is a haunting, dark story of three generations of a Vietnamese family. Having split up after their time in a refugee camp, this story is spread across three countries; the United States, France, and Vietnam. There is always a sense of darkness and mystery within this novel, each word and action having significance to a broader story than what originally meets the eye. Cherry, the main character of sorts, returns to her family's homeland of Vietnam, and it is only then that she can begin to piece together the shattered truths, delicately placed lies, and the true feelings and intentions of her severed, pained family.
Overall, I found this book to be alright. The detail was exquisite, and the plot was intriguing and dramatic, leaving me uncertain as to what would happen next. I was actually quite surprised that I found this book relatable- though my family has been in America for longer than the living remember, I understand the webs of deceit and the complex emotional relationships between characters, facades included. I am also very appreciative of the fact that there's a family tree included in the front of the novel. I found myself looking back at it quite often, and it made my reading experience easier.
That being said, there were certain aspects of this writing that I didn't enjoy so much. Before I could begin to comprehend my positive opinions of this book, I had to read 200 pages. Having finished the book, I understand why it drew out as it did, but it turned me off from wanting to complete the novel. Also, each chapter-like segment is told from a different perspective of the family, which helps the reader gain insight. These segments also jump in time, which I was okay with. But within each of these sections, I found that jumping between past and present with almost no transition made it hard for me to follow. In addition, I found it odd that Vietnamese words were italicized, but not defined. By drawing attention to these foreign words (foreign to me, at least) I expected there to be a glossary or footnotes, but there were none. I was able to figure out a rough idea using context clues, but detailed definitions would have been helpful and appreciated.
I think that this book is for sure worth reading once, but I won't be reading it again. It helps readers gain an insight into just how much a family can endure, or at least, how each family member copes with it, but ultimately it just didn't hold my attention the way I thought it would.
The Reeducation of Cherry Truong is a haunting, dark story of three generations of a Vietnamese family. Having split up after their time in a refugee camp, this story is spread across three countries; the United States, France, and Vietnam. There is always a sense of darkness and mystery within this novel, each word and action having significance to a broader story than what originally meets the eye. Cherry, the main character of sorts, returns to her family's homeland of Vietnam, and it is only then that she can begin to piece together the shattered truths, delicately placed lies, and the true feelings and intentions of her severed, pained family.
Overall, I found this book to be alright. The detail was exquisite, and the plot was intriguing and dramatic, leaving me uncertain as to what would happen next. I was actually quite surprised that I found this book relatable- though my family has been in America for longer than the living remember, I understand the webs of deceit and the complex emotional relationships between characters, facades included. I am also very appreciative of the fact that there's a family tree included in the front of the novel. I found myself looking back at it quite often, and it made my reading experience easier.
That being said, there were certain aspects of this writing that I didn't enjoy so much. Before I could begin to comprehend my positive opinions of this book, I had to read 200 pages. Having finished the book, I understand why it drew out as it did, but it turned me off from wanting to complete the novel. Also, each chapter-like segment is told from a different perspective of the family, which helps the reader gain insight. These segments also jump in time, which I was okay with. But within each of these sections, I found that jumping between past and present with almost no transition made it hard for me to follow. In addition, I found it odd that Vietnamese words were italicized, but not defined. By drawing attention to these foreign words (foreign to me, at least) I expected there to be a glossary or footnotes, but there were none. I was able to figure out a rough idea using context clues, but detailed definitions would have been helpful and appreciated.
I think that this book is for sure worth reading once, but I won't be reading it again. It helps readers gain an insight into just how much a family can endure, or at least, how each family member copes with it, but ultimately it just didn't hold my attention the way I thought it would.
March 30, 2015
Like any person writing a story, there's a huge fear that it's already been done and done better. The Reeducation of Cherry Truong sounded uncomfortably familiar to the premise of my in-progress novel (French Vietnamese family members, secret letters, traveling to Vietnam), but as I read, those similarities became more and more superficial. Which was a relief because this is a beautiful novel, both in story and craft.
The night before leaving a Malaysian refugee camp for a new home in Paris, Grandpere and Grandmere Truong learn that their son Sanh will be heading instead to America with his wife and child. Their daughter-in-law Tuyet, devastated by the Truongs' refusal to find a seat for her mother on the escape boat to Malaysia, has decided their chances are better in America. And so splits a branch of the Truong family, with consequences lasting decades.
After such a tumultuous history, the characters of The Reeducation of Cherry Truong are obsessed with the past, and none more so than Cherry, the daughter of Sanh and Tuyet. Intelligent but reticent, she sits on the sidelines and watches the family drama around her unfold. The novel is told from the perspective of several characters: both of Cherry's grandmothers, Cherry's mother and father, both of Cherry's cousins in France, and Cherry herself. It begins with Cherry's brother's exile to Vietnam, and Cherry's reflections on it serve as a narrative catalyst: each chapter afterwards alludes to a different time period, uncovering multiple generations across multiple countries, accompanied by letter excerpts. In less capable hands, this could be confusing and murky, but in Phan's confident and clear-eyed prose, the effect is of a pendulum swinging back and forth, each tick growing more and more resonant. Through the years, her characters struggle for redemption. None are ultimately sure if they've succeeded. At the heart of it all is Cherry, who collects her grandparents' letters and reads them for answers to how her family has divided and evolved. In the States, in France, in Vietnam, she watches her relatives with intensity, comparing their lives and wondering how things could have been if they'd never been separated. The family drama comes to a head in a near fatal incident that splits Cherry's family forever.
Growing up, I never had any Vietnamese literature to read, so The Reeducation of Cherry Truong holds a special place in my heart. I'll be continuing to search out novels by Vietnamese American authors, but as far as I know, this one is the most modern.
The night before leaving a Malaysian refugee camp for a new home in Paris, Grandpere and Grandmere Truong learn that their son Sanh will be heading instead to America with his wife and child. Their daughter-in-law Tuyet, devastated by the Truongs' refusal to find a seat for her mother on the escape boat to Malaysia, has decided their chances are better in America. And so splits a branch of the Truong family, with consequences lasting decades.
After such a tumultuous history, the characters of The Reeducation of Cherry Truong are obsessed with the past, and none more so than Cherry, the daughter of Sanh and Tuyet. Intelligent but reticent, she sits on the sidelines and watches the family drama around her unfold. The novel is told from the perspective of several characters: both of Cherry's grandmothers, Cherry's mother and father, both of Cherry's cousins in France, and Cherry herself. It begins with Cherry's brother's exile to Vietnam, and Cherry's reflections on it serve as a narrative catalyst: each chapter afterwards alludes to a different time period, uncovering multiple generations across multiple countries, accompanied by letter excerpts. In less capable hands, this could be confusing and murky, but in Phan's confident and clear-eyed prose, the effect is of a pendulum swinging back and forth, each tick growing more and more resonant. Through the years, her characters struggle for redemption. None are ultimately sure if they've succeeded. At the heart of it all is Cherry, who collects her grandparents' letters and reads them for answers to how her family has divided and evolved. In the States, in France, in Vietnam, she watches her relatives with intensity, comparing their lives and wondering how things could have been if they'd never been separated. The family drama comes to a head in a near fatal incident that splits Cherry's family forever.
Growing up, I never had any Vietnamese literature to read, so The Reeducation of Cherry Truong holds a special place in my heart. I'll be continuing to search out novels by Vietnamese American authors, but as far as I know, this one is the most modern.
October 22, 2012
I learned so much reading this book. Again, it wasn't always easy to read, but now I want to read more about Vietnam. Not the war, exactly, but just understanding the history and what happened to all of the families.
December 30, 2019
I really liked We Should Never Meet, and I like The Reeducation of Cherry Truong maybe just a little better than We Should Never Meet. I feel like I'm making this a negative review of The Reeducation of Cherry Truong for saying that, but I swear that's not the case at all. In fact, through this book, I can see that Aimee Phan has truly perfected her craft.
The writing is infinitely more polished compared to We Should Never Meet, meticulously concise while still able to establish and maintain a melodic rhythm throughout. The characters and dialogues don't feel as forced, either-- perhaps this is because their lives are no longer confined to the immigrant story archetype. Everything flows incredibly smooth, too, in terms of plot progression and the narrative voice itself. So very preplanned, yet so very natural at the same time.
Reading The Reeducation of Cherry Truong was a refreshing experience for me, because the story itself goes beyond the "immigrant story" archetype yet the theme of "immigrants' lives" is the adhesive that holds the story together. The plot does get confusing at times because of the number of characters, but I also think that's to be expected as it reflects the complex, oftentimes indebted relationships in Vietnamese families, especially families of married couples that have been separated. I truly enjoyed how Aimee Phan has handled the immigration theme here-- it's clearly there as the characters' immigrant identity, memories, and traumas are clearly prevalent in everything they do and say; at the same time, it's more than retelling the immigrating process and the "assimilation" struggles. The book shows how each character copes and uses different means to survive, which also adds immense personality and depth to the characters. We've got a premise that's often (sometimes too often) explored in Vietnamese American literature involving war refugees, only for the characters then to nudge and challenge and alter our preconceptions of a typical immigrant story.
Although this isn't a personally impactful story for me and I'm unlikely to reread it, it's a truly solid book, pleasant to read, pleasant to finish.
The writing is infinitely more polished compared to We Should Never Meet, meticulously concise while still able to establish and maintain a melodic rhythm throughout. The characters and dialogues don't feel as forced, either-- perhaps this is because their lives are no longer confined to the immigrant story archetype. Everything flows incredibly smooth, too, in terms of plot progression and the narrative voice itself. So very preplanned, yet so very natural at the same time.
Reading The Reeducation of Cherry Truong was a refreshing experience for me, because the story itself goes beyond the "immigrant story" archetype yet the theme of "immigrants' lives" is the adhesive that holds the story together. The plot does get confusing at times because of the number of characters, but I also think that's to be expected as it reflects the complex, oftentimes indebted relationships in Vietnamese families, especially families of married couples that have been separated. I truly enjoyed how Aimee Phan has handled the immigration theme here-- it's clearly there as the characters' immigrant identity, memories, and traumas are clearly prevalent in everything they do and say; at the same time, it's more than retelling the immigrating process and the "assimilation" struggles. The book shows how each character copes and uses different means to survive, which also adds immense personality and depth to the characters. We've got a premise that's often (sometimes too often) explored in Vietnamese American literature involving war refugees, only for the characters then to nudge and challenge and alter our preconceptions of a typical immigrant story.
Although this isn't a personally impactful story for me and I'm unlikely to reread it, it's a truly solid book, pleasant to read, pleasant to finish.
April 28, 2012
Cherry Truong is a young woman living in California to Vietnamese parents who fled their home country in terrible circumstances. Cherry was born in America and has only ever known the freedom of living there. Recently been granted acceptance to medical school, Cherry finds herself wishing to see her brother, Lum. After getting himself into some trouble that culminated in a terrible event, impacting on Cherry, Lum was exiled back to the extended family in Vietnam, supposedly for six months but there he has stayed. Cherry wants to fly out and see Lum and bring him home.
Cherry’s parents Sanh and Tuyet fled Vietnam supposedly for France. Arranged by Sanh’s father, the passages on the boat took them to Indonesia where they were held in order for their applications to emigrate were processed. The entire family was supposed to go to France to join one of Sanh’s brothers, Yen, who was already living there, studying – Sahn’s parents Hung and Hoa and his other brother Phung and his wife Ngoan, their daughter Cam as well as Yen’s wife Trinh and their son Xuan. At his wife Tuyet’s preference, Sahn and Tuyet instead decided to move to America, where it would be easier to sponsor Tuyet’s family to also move over. Tuyet holds a grudge against Hung, who refused to purchase enough seats in order for her family to accompany them out of Vietnam.
Hoa is Sahn’s mother, a very traditional Vietnamese woman trapped in an unhappy marriage with the arrogant and sometimes abusive Hung. She is absolutely devoted to her sons and to preserving the family unit but she cannot help but be disappointed in some of her daughter-in-laws. Her oldest son’s marriage was arranged and Hoa considers this to have been a very good and beneficial match. Unfortunately her two younger sons chose their own partners – definitely not women that Hoa would’ve considered. And now her family is about to be split apart.
Spanning three generations, The Reeducation Of Cherry Truong is a story of family and what happens when that family is taken out of its familiar comfort zone and culture. Decisions will be made that will divide and adjustments will have to be made to fit in in their new worlds.
I was offered the chance to read and review The Reeducation Of Cherry Truong and was immediately intrigued. It was compared to Amy Tan and although it’s been a while since I’ve read an Amy Tan, I really enjoy her books. This also appealed to me because it embraces and displays a culture with which I am totally unfamiliar. I don’t know a lot about Vietnam and I especially don’t know a lot about the family dynamics. This book certainly helped to change that. Not only was it a wealth of information itself within the story line but I often found myself stopping reading it in order to look things up and read a little more online about the time periods in which the book was set, particularly when the family was fleeing Vietnam and being held for processing. The family escaped by boat, touching down on soil and claiming refugee status in an act that is still so relevant today, especially here in Australia where the boat people are such a contentious issue. Unlike Australia though, the processing situation appears quite different – the refugees chose a country and applied to be granted residency there. They met with workers from that country and waited until someone could sponsor their arrival. Hung and Hoa choose France where one of their sons is studying and after a while a Catholic family sponsored all of them and they get news that they will finally be leaving the camp and being reunited with their son. Unfortunately, one of their other sons, who is in the camp with them with his wife and young son Lum states that they will not be going to France. Instead they have applied -and been accepted- to go to the United States. Hung is a proud man and takes this as a sort of disobedience, or sign of disrespect. Although Sahn and his wife do seem to have good reasons for wanting to choose America (or possibly, not wanting to choose France just because everyone else is) Hung is a stiff and unyielding sort of father.
The novel begins in the present day, with Cherry going to Vietnam to visit her exiled brother Lum and then takes us back and forward in time between several different narrators – her paternal grandmother Hoa, her mother Tuyet and even her maternal grandmother Kim-Ly. The story gives such a brilliant portrayal of Vietnamese culture and how it differs to that of Western culture, especially in regards to the way the elder generations are treated. It is considered an honour to care for ones parents or even grandparents and the responsibility is absolute and generally not able to be refused – no one would think of refusing. The thoughts of the elderly Vietnamese on the American retirement homes and the way that Americans do not bother to care for the older family members are so well portrayed, likewise the younger generation, those born or raised almost entirely in America, can’t understand why their grandmother is a constant revolving presence in their houses. As a Westerner I found the family dynamics very interesting, particularly in the French branch where they all lived in the one house and Hoa cleaned the entire house, including going into everyone’s bedrooms! I could not imagine my mother-in-law living with me and intruding into the personal space that is my bedroom! Also it was easy to get somewhat frustrated with some of the characters due to the entirely different views they had, which were unyielding. There was no such thing as compromise.
All in all, this is a very enjoyable book but I did feel that the ending was a fraction abrupt and a little weak, compared to the relative strength of the narrative of the rest of the story. I did feel like I ‘missed something’ right at the end when I realised it was complete and there were some things that I would really have liked to have known about some characters at the end, or seen. Also, I read this as a PDF file, which made it difficult to keep the names straight as they are very similar: Hung, Phung, Hoa, Trinh, Tuyet, Thuan, Thang, Tri, Viet. This would be easy to combat in physical form as there are family trees at the beginning of the book for flipping to for easy reference. However in PDF it involved looking at the number of the page I was up to, going back to the beginning to look up the family tree and then returning to the page I was on. It did pull me out of the story a bit because for a little while at the beginning I was quite often checking who was who. But that’s quite a minor quibble really!
Cherry’s parents Sanh and Tuyet fled Vietnam supposedly for France. Arranged by Sanh’s father, the passages on the boat took them to Indonesia where they were held in order for their applications to emigrate were processed. The entire family was supposed to go to France to join one of Sanh’s brothers, Yen, who was already living there, studying – Sahn’s parents Hung and Hoa and his other brother Phung and his wife Ngoan, their daughter Cam as well as Yen’s wife Trinh and their son Xuan. At his wife Tuyet’s preference, Sahn and Tuyet instead decided to move to America, where it would be easier to sponsor Tuyet’s family to also move over. Tuyet holds a grudge against Hung, who refused to purchase enough seats in order for her family to accompany them out of Vietnam.
Hoa is Sahn’s mother, a very traditional Vietnamese woman trapped in an unhappy marriage with the arrogant and sometimes abusive Hung. She is absolutely devoted to her sons and to preserving the family unit but she cannot help but be disappointed in some of her daughter-in-laws. Her oldest son’s marriage was arranged and Hoa considers this to have been a very good and beneficial match. Unfortunately her two younger sons chose their own partners – definitely not women that Hoa would’ve considered. And now her family is about to be split apart.
Spanning three generations, The Reeducation Of Cherry Truong is a story of family and what happens when that family is taken out of its familiar comfort zone and culture. Decisions will be made that will divide and adjustments will have to be made to fit in in their new worlds.
I was offered the chance to read and review The Reeducation Of Cherry Truong and was immediately intrigued. It was compared to Amy Tan and although it’s been a while since I’ve read an Amy Tan, I really enjoy her books. This also appealed to me because it embraces and displays a culture with which I am totally unfamiliar. I don’t know a lot about Vietnam and I especially don’t know a lot about the family dynamics. This book certainly helped to change that. Not only was it a wealth of information itself within the story line but I often found myself stopping reading it in order to look things up and read a little more online about the time periods in which the book was set, particularly when the family was fleeing Vietnam and being held for processing. The family escaped by boat, touching down on soil and claiming refugee status in an act that is still so relevant today, especially here in Australia where the boat people are such a contentious issue. Unlike Australia though, the processing situation appears quite different – the refugees chose a country and applied to be granted residency there. They met with workers from that country and waited until someone could sponsor their arrival. Hung and Hoa choose France where one of their sons is studying and after a while a Catholic family sponsored all of them and they get news that they will finally be leaving the camp and being reunited with their son. Unfortunately, one of their other sons, who is in the camp with them with his wife and young son Lum states that they will not be going to France. Instead they have applied -and been accepted- to go to the United States. Hung is a proud man and takes this as a sort of disobedience, or sign of disrespect. Although Sahn and his wife do seem to have good reasons for wanting to choose America (or possibly, not wanting to choose France just because everyone else is) Hung is a stiff and unyielding sort of father.
The novel begins in the present day, with Cherry going to Vietnam to visit her exiled brother Lum and then takes us back and forward in time between several different narrators – her paternal grandmother Hoa, her mother Tuyet and even her maternal grandmother Kim-Ly. The story gives such a brilliant portrayal of Vietnamese culture and how it differs to that of Western culture, especially in regards to the way the elder generations are treated. It is considered an honour to care for ones parents or even grandparents and the responsibility is absolute and generally not able to be refused – no one would think of refusing. The thoughts of the elderly Vietnamese on the American retirement homes and the way that Americans do not bother to care for the older family members are so well portrayed, likewise the younger generation, those born or raised almost entirely in America, can’t understand why their grandmother is a constant revolving presence in their houses. As a Westerner I found the family dynamics very interesting, particularly in the French branch where they all lived in the one house and Hoa cleaned the entire house, including going into everyone’s bedrooms! I could not imagine my mother-in-law living with me and intruding into the personal space that is my bedroom! Also it was easy to get somewhat frustrated with some of the characters due to the entirely different views they had, which were unyielding. There was no such thing as compromise.
All in all, this is a very enjoyable book but I did feel that the ending was a fraction abrupt and a little weak, compared to the relative strength of the narrative of the rest of the story. I did feel like I ‘missed something’ right at the end when I realised it was complete and there were some things that I would really have liked to have known about some characters at the end, or seen. Also, I read this as a PDF file, which made it difficult to keep the names straight as they are very similar: Hung, Phung, Hoa, Trinh, Tuyet, Thuan, Thang, Tri, Viet. This would be easy to combat in physical form as there are family trees at the beginning of the book for flipping to for easy reference. However in PDF it involved looking at the number of the page I was up to, going back to the beginning to look up the family tree and then returning to the page I was on. It did pull me out of the story a bit because for a little while at the beginning I was quite often checking who was who. But that’s quite a minor quibble really!
August 31, 2020
The Reeducation of Cherry Truong tells the story of two families, the Truongs & the Vos, as they escape Vietnam in the aftermath of the war, where they end up and what led to the two families’ rift. The story is told with multiple POVs and a non-linear timeline. While this usually would be a huge source of confusion for me, the author gives each narrator a distinct voice and clearly labels the jumps in location & time. There's also a family tree included at the beginning of the novel--I was referencing this in every chapter in the first half of the book.
The multiple POVs was one of the things I loved the most. Through this, the reader gets an inside look at the harsh realities that refugees face when leaving behind their homeland and trying to establish a new life in a place where they don’t know the language, culture, and, often, have little support. The reader gets to know the characters more than if the story had been told from one POV. The multiple POVs also, in turn, makes the title misleading. Cherry narrates a few chapters but some events in the book happen before she is even born.
This was on its way to be a five-star read for me but the ending didn’t hit its peak in my opinion. I was left wanting more closure.
Despite the lackluster ending, I highly recommend this book for anyone who likes family stories and for anyone who wants to read about a typical Vietnamese immigrant experience. There were so many times I found myself & my upbringing mirrored in this story. REPRESENTATION MATTERS YALL! The book explores topics such as intergenerational trauma, the model minority, gambling addiction, sexual assault and more.
The multiple POVs was one of the things I loved the most. Through this, the reader gets an inside look at the harsh realities that refugees face when leaving behind their homeland and trying to establish a new life in a place where they don’t know the language, culture, and, often, have little support. The reader gets to know the characters more than if the story had been told from one POV. The multiple POVs also, in turn, makes the title misleading. Cherry narrates a few chapters but some events in the book happen before she is even born.
This was on its way to be a five-star read for me but the ending didn’t hit its peak in my opinion. I was left wanting more closure.
Despite the lackluster ending, I highly recommend this book for anyone who likes family stories and for anyone who wants to read about a typical Vietnamese immigrant experience. There were so many times I found myself & my upbringing mirrored in this story. REPRESENTATION MATTERS YALL! The book explores topics such as intergenerational trauma, the model minority, gambling addiction, sexual assault and more.
March 27, 2018
let's be real here. the truong/vo family is the average viet family lol. if there is anything aimee pham did right it was almost tricking me into thinking i was reading a story about my family, or my friend's family. not only because of the experiences (that was definitely 60% though...) but also because the characters feel so real and alive.
i think this novel spread itself a little thin...not really sure what it is trying to say. it was wonderful, though. i only wish that it had wrapped up these stories more tightly. i liked sanh a lot and i wish we had learned more about him and his relationship with cherry. i also wanted to learn more about xuan and cam, the children raised in france. hmm. it starts off as a familial story but wraps up mostly on lum's arc which kinda feels empty. towards the late middle and end, all of the things the reader is supposed to infer are explicitly written in the book, so it feels like the author is trying to find a way to end the book but isn't sure how.
i enjoyed aimee's writing in "we should never meet" significantly more. the story was contained and controlled, even though the storyline was very complex
i think this novel spread itself a little thin...not really sure what it is trying to say. it was wonderful, though. i only wish that it had wrapped up these stories more tightly. i liked sanh a lot and i wish we had learned more about him and his relationship with cherry. i also wanted to learn more about xuan and cam, the children raised in france. hmm. it starts off as a familial story but wraps up mostly on lum's arc which kinda feels empty. towards the late middle and end, all of the things the reader is supposed to infer are explicitly written in the book, so it feels like the author is trying to find a way to end the book but isn't sure how.
i enjoyed aimee's writing in "we should never meet" significantly more. the story was contained and controlled, even though the storyline was very complex
June 5, 2019
This is an excellent book. It is a family saga of two Vietnamese families that left Vietnam and emigrated. This is ground that has been covered before but Ms. Phan breathes life into the characters. The emotions that these two families went through and tribulations they encountered really struck home. The characters were fully fleshed out- not stereotypes in any way. I would have given the book 5 stars except that number of characters, particularly at the beginning were difficult to keep track of.
The American Dream is (or was) something known the world over and the immigrants that came here with hopes and dreams proved that their vitality and hard work, they were able to make a better life for their children. Growing up between two cultures has its inherent tensions and these children have an added burden to live up to the expectations of their parents whose idea of success is different than their American children. This novel explores these issues in a dynamic and interesting way.
The American Dream is (or was) something known the world over and the immigrants that came here with hopes and dreams proved that their vitality and hard work, they were able to make a better life for their children. Growing up between two cultures has its inherent tensions and these children have an added burden to live up to the expectations of their parents whose idea of success is different than their American children. This novel explores these issues in a dynamic and interesting way.
November 30, 2020
So this book hit a nerve for me because I feel like I resemble Cherry in many ways that is most definitely not a good thing. There’s so much going on that I can’t stay 100% on top of who the characters are, but just from reading all of their perspectives, I began to understand the position of my own family members better. I’ll never quite understand them, but I don’t have to, to still love and respect them. What disappoints me (and maybe this isn’t fair) is that nothing ever seems to move forward in these families. I wanted some sort of neat conclusion, any hint that families could be fixed. But it’s probably wishful thinking on my part. (*insert my own Vietnamese family drama here*)
November 17, 2019
Twist and turns make me appreciate my own family
Relating to the story and drama but not the controlling personalities in this book makes me appreciate my own family. Aimee does a great job making us invest in the characters. It was hard to follow the different narratives and timelines at first but she starts to bring it all together as you read on.
Relating to the story and drama but not the controlling personalities in this book makes me appreciate my own family. Aimee does a great job making us invest in the characters. It was hard to follow the different narratives and timelines at first but she starts to bring it all together as you read on.
February 12, 2022
Very difficult book to follow, especially with so many characters, generations, places, and timeline. Although there are a lot of interesting cultural aspects, it bothers me how critical all the personalities are. It was a pain for me to finish reading the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 14, 2017
I really liked this book. Although rarely taking a chance with random books I'm glad I picked this one up.
December 7, 2019
Compulsive read through of an upbringing close to mine, with all the wretchedness of family hurt and love and withholding. First Vietnamese author I’ve ever read.
November 6, 2025
This was actually quite good and made me appreciate family dramas more, i may need to read more in the future🤭
May 15, 2012
Are we a reflection of our parents? Are we destined to be like them? What does our future hold? Tough questions for anyone, but those are the questions I came away with after reading The Reeducation of Cherry Truong by Aimee Phan. Two immigrant families, spanning from California to Vietnam to Paris struggle to make their path in life.
Cherry Truong has always followed the right path, obeying her parents and getting good grades. Being born in America, Cherry was raised to believe in the American Dream. Her parents constantly drove home the point that education is the only way to success. When we first meet Cherry she is a woman in transition. She has delayed going to medical school, choosing instead to visit her exiled older brother Lum, who is living in Vietnam. Lum followed his own path. What led him to return to his birth place? It takes a while before we get there. But in a nutshell Lum was an embarrassment to his family. It reached a level to where Cherry was seriously injured.
Lum was supposed to return to California after six months, but chose to find his own life instead. A life where is father, Sanh, mother, Tuyet, and Grandmother Vo aren't constantly reminding him what a disappointment he was. He seemed to be the only character who fought for some individuality, albeit he did it in a bad way. Instead of getting into a top college Lum went to a community college. Instead of getting a good job, he was in a dead-end position at a flower shop. He gets sucked into gambling. He loses more than he wins. But I wondered if he were a "successful" gambler (if there is such a term), would his family be so disapproving? Before coming to America, Grandma Vo became wealthy by selling opium. She was essentially a small-time drug dealer, but because she was more discreet in her practices everyone else turns a blind eye. She provided for her daughters after her husband's death, so it's ok. Shhhhh!!! The family matriarch was a drug dealer, but it's ok because you have to respect your elders. When Lum calls her out, Grandma Vo is determined to bring down her grandson.
There is so much good stuff with Cherry's side of the family alone, it was a little hard to get into some of the other subplots. We go back and forth between the present day in California and Paris, and post-war Vietnam. Points of view constantly shift between the past and the present. I don't normally have a problem with that but this book has so many characters. It's hard to connect with some characters when you're trying to remember what happened with the others.
I was intrigued the most by Cherry, Grandma Vo and Sanh's mother, Hoa. Cherry is caught between worlds. She loves her brother and she loves her parents, but she is constantly caught between them. She tries to understand her parents by delving into their past. Maybe if she understand what led them to America, maybe Cherry can truly understand herself. But by the end, which felt a little abrupt, you wonder if Cherry will truly get any satisfaction. In my opinion, Grandma Vo was nothing more than a hypocrite. I had to laugh every time she is asserting her moral authority over everyone, when all she really needed to do was look in the mirror. Hoa just wanted to keep her family together, but her rather surly husband, Hung, did every thing he could to suppress her voice. Whenever she wanted to express her opinion, Hung reminds her that wives are supposed to be seen and not heard. But no matter what he said, it seemed like she still loved him.
Aside from my issues with the book, I did like it. It's a different take on the immigrant experience and what it takes to find your path in life.
Rating: Superb
Note: I received an e-galley of the book from Wunderkind PR.
June 3, 2012
Reason for Reading: I love Asian historical family generational dramas!
This was an immensely satisfying read and will appeal to readers of Lisa See and more so Amy Tan. Dealing with a South Vietnamese family who escapes after the Americans leave and they've had enough of Communist rule. The refugee family ends up in Malaysia and then is split when the patriarch and entire family but one son and his expectant wife emigrate to Paris. The other goes to America. The book moves from past to present as it examines how this one episode had lasting effects on the family down to the third generation. As the granddaughter, Cherry, of the patriarch discovers deep hidden secrets about individual family members the whole truth of that one incident becomes revealed. The story focuses on family relationships between various members (brother/sister, cousins, grandmother/granddaughter, parents/eldest son, etc), generational relationships, cultural differences between the generations and the immigrant experience. The story is not American centric either which makes it unique for this type of story. Yes, one family experiences life in the US, but we also see the perspective of the Vietnamese immigrant in Paris at the same time.
There are many characters to keep track of and they are all intriguing in their own way. I didn't really find many of them lovable as they, mostly, all, at some point show character flaws, some quite terrific, that made them hard, for me, to really like as people, but I was extremely invested in them and how their lives would work out in the end. I love how the choices of the first generation end up affecting the third in ways that are traced back to those choices. Could whole lives have been lived differently if selfish decisions had been set aside many years ago?
This was a quick read for me. It took a little bit to get going as the story does switch back and forth through time, telling one person's story, then another's but once I got used to this I was turning the pages as fast as I could read. Though the book is named after the American granddaughter, Cherry, it was the French grandmother, Hoa, who was the most intriguing character to me and I enjoyed her storyline the most. The abrupt ending startled me, but otherwise I very much enjoyed this sometimes dark and always unforgettable story of familial ties, love and betrayal. Aimee Phan is an author to watch for in the future.
This was an immensely satisfying read and will appeal to readers of Lisa See and more so Amy Tan. Dealing with a South Vietnamese family who escapes after the Americans leave and they've had enough of Communist rule. The refugee family ends up in Malaysia and then is split when the patriarch and entire family but one son and his expectant wife emigrate to Paris. The other goes to America. The book moves from past to present as it examines how this one episode had lasting effects on the family down to the third generation. As the granddaughter, Cherry, of the patriarch discovers deep hidden secrets about individual family members the whole truth of that one incident becomes revealed. The story focuses on family relationships between various members (brother/sister, cousins, grandmother/granddaughter, parents/eldest son, etc), generational relationships, cultural differences between the generations and the immigrant experience. The story is not American centric either which makes it unique for this type of story. Yes, one family experiences life in the US, but we also see the perspective of the Vietnamese immigrant in Paris at the same time.
There are many characters to keep track of and they are all intriguing in their own way. I didn't really find many of them lovable as they, mostly, all, at some point show character flaws, some quite terrific, that made them hard, for me, to really like as people, but I was extremely invested in them and how their lives would work out in the end. I love how the choices of the first generation end up affecting the third in ways that are traced back to those choices. Could whole lives have been lived differently if selfish decisions had been set aside many years ago?
This was a quick read for me. It took a little bit to get going as the story does switch back and forth through time, telling one person's story, then another's but once I got used to this I was turning the pages as fast as I could read. Though the book is named after the American granddaughter, Cherry, it was the French grandmother, Hoa, who was the most intriguing character to me and I enjoyed her storyline the most. The abrupt ending startled me, but otherwise I very much enjoyed this sometimes dark and always unforgettable story of familial ties, love and betrayal. Aimee Phan is an author to watch for in the future.
February 17, 2012
March is just around the corner and with it comes some exciting things like warmer weather (even though it’s been pretty warm here in the south all winter this year), longer days and less Seasonal Affective Disorder from never seeing the sunshine, my birthday and the Ides of March (same day), the local Battle of the Books competition, and perhaps best of all, the release of Aimee Phan’s debut novel The Reeducation of Cherry Truong (Phan previously released a book of short stories, We Should Never Meet). St. Martin’s Press sent me an Advanced Reader Copy of this book last month and I devoured it. This is a beautiful story of family, tragedy, culture and Vietnamese history that sweeps four countries, two continents and three generations. Prior to reading this book, I have to admit that I had never heard of the reeducation camps that occurred in Vietnam after the war and a Google search revealed some pretty awful truths about North Vietnam’s history.
The story is told in flashbacks from the perspectives of members from two Vietnamese families, the Vos and the Truongs. After the Fall of Saigon in 1975 the two families split apart; the Vos head to American and the Truongs leave for France both via a refuge camp in Malaysia. Sahn Truong leaves behind a disappointed family to take his wife, Tuyet Vo, and her family to America while the rest of the Truongs make their way to France. Both family units struggle to maintain their culture and identity while integrating into their new societies and cultures. Heartbreak and corruption is experienced by all characters in the new worlds. Cherry, the only member of the families who was actually born in the United States, is desperate to reconnect to her roots and with her brother who has moved back to Vietnam following a tragedy.
Taking place from 1979 to 2002, with a dozen characters and three generations who all experience their own form of reeducation the book is a commentary on both the history of a country as well as what it means to be a family. The characters are all well developed and each has qualities that make them simultaneously loveable and loathed, in other words, human.
The book reads like a series of short stories that come together to paint a wonderful portrait of the immigrant experience.
The story is told in flashbacks from the perspectives of members from two Vietnamese families, the Vos and the Truongs. After the Fall of Saigon in 1975 the two families split apart; the Vos head to American and the Truongs leave for France both via a refuge camp in Malaysia. Sahn Truong leaves behind a disappointed family to take his wife, Tuyet Vo, and her family to America while the rest of the Truongs make their way to France. Both family units struggle to maintain their culture and identity while integrating into their new societies and cultures. Heartbreak and corruption is experienced by all characters in the new worlds. Cherry, the only member of the families who was actually born in the United States, is desperate to reconnect to her roots and with her brother who has moved back to Vietnam following a tragedy.
Taking place from 1979 to 2002, with a dozen characters and three generations who all experience their own form of reeducation the book is a commentary on both the history of a country as well as what it means to be a family. The characters are all well developed and each has qualities that make them simultaneously loveable and loathed, in other words, human.
The book reads like a series of short stories that come together to paint a wonderful portrait of the immigrant experience.
January 19, 2013
This was more of a 3.75 star rating. Between 3 and 4, I went for 4 because the story has stayed with me a bit after reading and it was a page-turner.
The book starts with introducing us to Cherry Truong who has been accepted to nursing school and it in the midst of a celebration. Her brother is not there - he's been sent away, to Vietnam - after an accident that we don't know about yet that involved Cherry being in a coma. Cherry ultimately decides she wants to see her brother in Vietnam. In this vein, the story goes back to the generation of Cherry's grandparents, where they were forced to leave during the Vietnam War. Both grandparent's families from Cherry's mother and father side went to the refugee camps in Malaysia. Cherry's father's family are all set to go to France, where Cherry's uncle has been. And right before they are all set to leave, Cherry's father decides to not go to France with his family, but instead follow his wife's family to the USA.
In this separation, we learn the stories of each family, going back and forth through time between generations. It sounds confusing and to some, these shifts might be hard to follow. But for me, the book really hooked me in, and it was insane to see the family dynamics, as the elder generation was stubborn to keep the patriarchal traditions of Vietnamese families.
SPOILER ALERT: I will admit that the ending for me was very unsatisfying, as the book seemed to be leading to some kind of climax or resolution. But it didn't.
The book starts with introducing us to Cherry Truong who has been accepted to nursing school and it in the midst of a celebration. Her brother is not there - he's been sent away, to Vietnam - after an accident that we don't know about yet that involved Cherry being in a coma. Cherry ultimately decides she wants to see her brother in Vietnam. In this vein, the story goes back to the generation of Cherry's grandparents, where they were forced to leave during the Vietnam War. Both grandparent's families from Cherry's mother and father side went to the refugee camps in Malaysia. Cherry's father's family are all set to go to France, where Cherry's uncle has been. And right before they are all set to leave, Cherry's father decides to not go to France with his family, but instead follow his wife's family to the USA.
In this separation, we learn the stories of each family, going back and forth through time between generations. It sounds confusing and to some, these shifts might be hard to follow. But for me, the book really hooked me in, and it was insane to see the family dynamics, as the elder generation was stubborn to keep the patriarchal traditions of Vietnamese families.
SPOILER ALERT: I will admit that the ending for me was very unsatisfying, as the book seemed to be leading to some kind of climax or resolution. But it didn't.
April 15, 2012
This book was hard to put down. It was very well-written, heartfelt, imaginative, and moving. The characters are interesting, well-developed, and complex. I learned a lot about Vietnamese history and culture, but mostly I was compelled by the story. I thought the first and last third of the book were the strongest, and the writing got a little lost, or tedious, in the middle. My main critique is that there were too many characters, and even halfway through the book, I found myself looking and re-looking at the genogram. I think some of the characters like Duyen, Viet, Tri, and Linh were not really necessary for the narrative, and just having to keep track of all the family members detracted from the flow of the story. I thought the sources of conflict between all of the U.S. cousins was also hard to keep track of (and very depressing -- though I suppose understandable), and I think the same effect could have been achieved with Dat as the only cousin in the U.S. However, the complex family dynamics really did make sense given the family history, and I liked how there were surprises as the story progressed which filled in some of the gaps and questions I had. This book is really a work of art in the way that plot and characterization are both very skilled: I think this balance can be difficult to achieve and the writer was ultimatey very successful in weaving the two together.
July 21, 2012
This novel is a multi-generational and multi-point of view story of a family of Vietnamese immigrants, half of whom go to Paris and half of whom go to Orange County, California, after the fall of Saigon to the communist regime.
When I was in high school I went through a Vietnam war phase and so I have read a ton of stories about the war and the country from an American point of view, but less so from the view of the Vietnamese people. I really enjoyed this opportunity to see the other side.
I liked that although at first the different points of view seemed fractured, that as the book went along it became clear that each of the characters had information that led to a whole at the end. I also thought it was interesting to see the contrast of how France and the U.S. exerted different influences on the different branches of the family.
The only draw back, I think, was that the loose ends seemed to wrap up too neatly at the end. I think the story would have been more powerful if there was a bit more mystery. However, I found this to be an engrossing read that brought me to new and interesting places.
When I was in high school I went through a Vietnam war phase and so I have read a ton of stories about the war and the country from an American point of view, but less so from the view of the Vietnamese people. I really enjoyed this opportunity to see the other side.
I liked that although at first the different points of view seemed fractured, that as the book went along it became clear that each of the characters had information that led to a whole at the end. I also thought it was interesting to see the contrast of how France and the U.S. exerted different influences on the different branches of the family.
The only draw back, I think, was that the loose ends seemed to wrap up too neatly at the end. I think the story would have been more powerful if there was a bit more mystery. However, I found this to be an engrossing read that brought me to new and interesting places.
December 6, 2016
There is so much about this novel that I loved, I hardly know where to begin. I was lucky enough to hear Ms. Phan read during my final MFA residency at Sierra Nevada College in Lake Tahoe this summer. I don't recall now if she read from this novel or another, but I knew from that reading that hers was writing I would greatly enjoy (and learn from) and this novel didn't disappoint.
I try not to include spoilers in my reviews because I hate that, so this review is shorter than I might otherwise write. This is a saga of a Vietnamese family and I was instantly drawn in by the strong characters. It was one of those rare novels wherein the characters are so well crafted that in my mind they are living, breathing people and I was really sad to have to let them go at the end of the novel. The language was lovely and the story seamless. It was truly a joy to read, I only wish it had been longer. The only difficulty I had with it was knowing that I was likely mispronouncing names and I wouldn't want that to happen if these were people I actually knew--they felt that real to me. But that says more about my ignorance than the writing.
Bottom line: Absolutely read this.
I try not to include spoilers in my reviews because I hate that, so this review is shorter than I might otherwise write. This is a saga of a Vietnamese family and I was instantly drawn in by the strong characters. It was one of those rare novels wherein the characters are so well crafted that in my mind they are living, breathing people and I was really sad to have to let them go at the end of the novel. The language was lovely and the story seamless. It was truly a joy to read, I only wish it had been longer. The only difficulty I had with it was knowing that I was likely mispronouncing names and I wouldn't want that to happen if these were people I actually knew--they felt that real to me. But that says more about my ignorance than the writing.
Bottom line: Absolutely read this.
August 28, 2012
The story is compelling (it's a myriad of stories pieced together)--I wanted to know what were the secrets and precursors. At many points, the writing is fluid and beautiful in a clause or in a sentence. But I found the tone and style of writing to be choppy; the movement jerks along. I couldn't pinpoint any technical reasons for this but it has something to do with how writing, rhythm and tone/mood occur and work together. The flashbacks and shifts in perspectives (or characters) were not the reason for the book's jarring feel.
I did find some of the characters' maninpulations farfetched or perhaps it was that so much drama/melodrama and crises happened within one family or the two families connected by marriage. In fact, a set of aunts-uncles and their children on both the Truong and the Vo side could have easily been removed or at least diminished in print to focus and refine the development of the main characters. I would have wanted to have liked at least one character but I didn't although I was neutral, at best, about Cherry.
I did find some of the characters' maninpulations farfetched or perhaps it was that so much drama/melodrama and crises happened within one family or the two families connected by marriage. In fact, a set of aunts-uncles and their children on both the Truong and the Vo side could have easily been removed or at least diminished in print to focus and refine the development of the main characters. I would have wanted to have liked at least one character but I didn't although I was neutral, at best, about Cherry.
July 23, 2016
I found this at the library and it was good. The story is about a Vietnamese family spread between the US, France, and Vietnam. The title character Cherry grows up in the US but the story goes back two generations to the Vietnamese War.
The book jumps around in time, which I liked, because there was an element of mystery around how the characters in the present time connected to the characters in the past. The book also interspersed a set of short letters between characters with the chapters; the letters themselves then became part of the plot and not just a device to reveal certain information.
I thought the character development was pretty good, although some of the characters seemed like caricatures. It made me think about the women I know from my nail salon and whether their families and lives were similar to the ones in the book. That is, is this book representative of the multi-generational Vietnamese immigrant experience, or is it just one example experience.
Either way, I enjoyed it.
The book jumps around in time, which I liked, because there was an element of mystery around how the characters in the present time connected to the characters in the past. The book also interspersed a set of short letters between characters with the chapters; the letters themselves then became part of the plot and not just a device to reveal certain information.
I thought the character development was pretty good, although some of the characters seemed like caricatures. It made me think about the women I know from my nail salon and whether their families and lives were similar to the ones in the book. That is, is this book representative of the multi-generational Vietnamese immigrant experience, or is it just one example experience.
Either way, I enjoyed it.
November 20, 2012
This novel tells the story of two Vietnamese families linked by marriage and the events and choices that led them in different paths. At the center is American-born Cherry who lives with her parents and brother in Little Saigon, surrounded by her maternal grandmother and extended family. Her father's side lives in Paris. The chapters alternate between various family members and go back and forth in time to tell the story of how they ended up where they did. Through them, you learn the circumstances that led to their escape from Vietnam and how these experiences shaped the family dynamic.
My only complaint about this novel is that it rushed through the parts directly relating to Cherry and the present aspect of the story. The past was written about well, but I felt Phan could have given us a bit more to understand the present dynamic. I wish it had been clearer why Cherry had been chosen as the anchor of this tale.
My only complaint about this novel is that it rushed through the parts directly relating to Cherry and the present aspect of the story. The past was written about well, but I felt Phan could have given us a bit more to understand the present dynamic. I wish it had been clearer why Cherry had been chosen as the anchor of this tale.
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