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I Am Vietnamese
Think Pho Ga for the Vietnamese soul. This is an edgy collection of 70+ English short stories from Vietnamese people across the world about our struggles with cultural identity, failure, parents, expectations, and life itself. Contributing authors include best-sellers Madeline Truong, Andrew Pham, Andrew Lam, and MasterChef Christine Ha, and many talented amateurs. Author proceeds go to charity!
Within these 300 pages, you will find 70+ English short stories of a Vietnamese generation full of optimism and angst. These edgy stories run the gamut from quirky parents, cultural confusion, child abuse, bi-cultural marriage, and sexuality. This book will make you laugh and cry.
The Vietnamese living overseas are a special group of people. We are a people without a land. But, that doesn't mean we don’t have a culture. Regardless of our varying grasps of the Vietnamese language and our cultural heritage, we are bounded by our struggles, our values, and our parents’ quirkiness. In our hearts, if nowhere else, we are Vietnamese.
The I Am Vietnamese anthology aims to inspire and connect those like us to provide a sense of community while we struggle on own personal journeys, and to remind to us that we are not alone. We share the same hardships — overprotective parents, the inability to communicate, the struggle to incorporate western and eastern ideals, and the fear of disappointing others. As we read personal accounts of those like us, we feel inspired, connected, and like we belong.
Within these 300 pages, you will find 70+ English short stories of a Vietnamese generation full of optimism and angst. These edgy stories run the gamut from quirky parents, cultural confusion, child abuse, bi-cultural marriage, and sexuality. This book will make you laugh and cry.
The Vietnamese living overseas are a special group of people. We are a people without a land. But, that doesn't mean we don’t have a culture. Regardless of our varying grasps of the Vietnamese language and our cultural heritage, we are bounded by our struggles, our values, and our parents’ quirkiness. In our hearts, if nowhere else, we are Vietnamese.
The I Am Vietnamese anthology aims to inspire and connect those like us to provide a sense of community while we struggle on own personal journeys, and to remind to us that we are not alone. We share the same hardships — overprotective parents, the inability to communicate, the struggle to incorporate western and eastern ideals, and the fear of disappointing others. As we read personal accounts of those like us, we feel inspired, connected, and like we belong.
- GenresNonfiction
294 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 24, 2014
18 people are currently reading
9 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 7, 2021
Having lived in Vietnam for 4 years and forever been recoded for the better by their pithy norms I appreciated this anthology of many Vietnamese that left the country but struggled and shared their experiences.
Unsure how this got in my mix, but a pleasure to read in raw voices the struggles of cross cultural transitions, how some gained enlightenment, how others created new paths, and how even Vietnamese 2nd generation get a bit of pride and smitten with the vibrance and energies of modern Vietnam.
Unsure how this got in my mix, but a pleasure to read in raw voices the struggles of cross cultural transitions, how some gained enlightenment, how others created new paths, and how even Vietnamese 2nd generation get a bit of pride and smitten with the vibrance and energies of modern Vietnam.
July 11, 2025
Struggles as minority
February 8, 2017
Wow, I absolutely loved this book. Easy to dip into and come away feeling inspired by all these amazing stories. Not all the stories were "happy", necessarily, but the strength of character and sheer resilience of first generation Vietnamese expats was inspiring nonetheless.
It's especially enlightening and uplifting to read about the kindness of the American people who sponsored and welcomed Vietnamese refugees in the 1970s, especially in the light of some anti-refugee rhetoric today.
With such a bland ancestry myself, I am fascinated by dual cultured upbringings and, despite the hardships and adjustments that come with it, actually quite jealous sometimes. Reading about the food, the smells, the generosity, compassion, positivity in the face of adversity; it brought back a lot of memories of my time in Vietnam and made me feel a rush of gratitude, as well as longing to travel back to HCMC to experience it all over again.
Just off to check out the spoken word performances on YouTube... and maybe dust off my Vietnamese books again.
It's especially enlightening and uplifting to read about the kindness of the American people who sponsored and welcomed Vietnamese refugees in the 1970s, especially in the light of some anti-refugee rhetoric today.
With such a bland ancestry myself, I am fascinated by dual cultured upbringings and, despite the hardships and adjustments that come with it, actually quite jealous sometimes. Reading about the food, the smells, the generosity, compassion, positivity in the face of adversity; it brought back a lot of memories of my time in Vietnam and made me feel a rush of gratitude, as well as longing to travel back to HCMC to experience it all over again.
Just off to check out the spoken word performances on YouTube... and maybe dust off my Vietnamese books again.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews