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The House on Dream Street: Memoir of an American Woman in Vietnam
In this heartfelt memoir, Dana Sachs takes the reader on a sensual and textured voyage to a country most Americans think about only in terms of war. A finalist for the Independent Publisher Book Award, this deftly written narrative reveals how Sachs settled in with slick, warmhearted Tung and his quietly tenacious wife Huong in Hanoi and made a place for herself in “enemy” territory. With vivid descriptions of the community—the noodle stalls and roaring motorcycles, the vestiges of French colonialism, and the encroachment of glittering high-rises—Sachs explores the tenuous balance between the traditions of old Vietnam and a country in the throes of modernization. Sachs’s honest depiction of her difficulties renders her triumphs and love for the country and its people all the more poignant and compelling. This edition includes a new afterword by the author.
364 pages, Paperback
First published September 8, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
March 30, 2015
What drew me to The House on Dream Street was the promise of a firsthand account of living in Vietnam. While I've been to Vietnam twice, those short visits (almost three months combined) can't replace the day-to-day details of actually living and working in a place. The House on Dream Street is a travel memoir recounting Sachs's repeated trips to North Vietnam over the course of two years.
Sachs, an American journalist, impulsively drops her life in San Francisco for a new one in Hanoi. She settles into a garishly decorated room at a young family's house, tentatively forging a friendship with the quiet, retiring wife of her landlord. But as Sachs's grasp of the Vietnamese language grows, so too does her relationships with the local people, and her confidence navigating the chaotic streets and markets of Hanoi. She harbors a crush on Phai, a motorcycle mechanic and close friend of the family she lives with. Their whirlwind relationship falls apart when, after six months of living in Vietnam, Sachs decides to return to the States. Back home, she realizes her connection to Phai was just a physical manifestation for her obsession with Vietnam. But Sachs can't let go of Vietnam, and returns again and again, each time revealing a new glimpse of life among the impoverished farmers, the bohemian socialites, the high energy executives, and the veterans.
The House on Dream Street is a lushly rendered introduction to Vietnam, and while I enjoyed the fleshed-out conversations and snippets of insight into the culture, the view of Vietnam is an intensely narrow and white-centric one. All trips combined, Sachs spends less than a year in Vietnam, and her struggle with the language grants her an outsider status for a portion of it. As Sachs didn't visit Vietnam intending to document her experiences as a memoir, her interactions with the people around her are unreliable. Before reading, I assumed Sachs had lived in Vietnam for at least several years and was disappointed to find out her longest stint was six months. Overall, this was an interesting read, but not a particularly illuminating one for someone already well acquainted with Vietnamese culture. I was also dismayed by Sachs's patronizing view of Phai, and at times the way she talked about the Vietnamese people left me uncomfortable. I suggest supplementing your reading with writing from a Vietnamese author who can more genuinely share the Vietnamese experience.
Sachs, an American journalist, impulsively drops her life in San Francisco for a new one in Hanoi. She settles into a garishly decorated room at a young family's house, tentatively forging a friendship with the quiet, retiring wife of her landlord. But as Sachs's grasp of the Vietnamese language grows, so too does her relationships with the local people, and her confidence navigating the chaotic streets and markets of Hanoi. She harbors a crush on Phai, a motorcycle mechanic and close friend of the family she lives with. Their whirlwind relationship falls apart when, after six months of living in Vietnam, Sachs decides to return to the States. Back home, she realizes her connection to Phai was just a physical manifestation for her obsession with Vietnam. But Sachs can't let go of Vietnam, and returns again and again, each time revealing a new glimpse of life among the impoverished farmers, the bohemian socialites, the high energy executives, and the veterans.
The House on Dream Street is a lushly rendered introduction to Vietnam, and while I enjoyed the fleshed-out conversations and snippets of insight into the culture, the view of Vietnam is an intensely narrow and white-centric one. All trips combined, Sachs spends less than a year in Vietnam, and her struggle with the language grants her an outsider status for a portion of it. As Sachs didn't visit Vietnam intending to document her experiences as a memoir, her interactions with the people around her are unreliable. Before reading, I assumed Sachs had lived in Vietnam for at least several years and was disappointed to find out her longest stint was six months. Overall, this was an interesting read, but not a particularly illuminating one for someone already well acquainted with Vietnamese culture. I was also dismayed by Sachs's patronizing view of Phai, and at times the way she talked about the Vietnamese people left me uncomfortable. I suggest supplementing your reading with writing from a Vietnamese author who can more genuinely share the Vietnamese experience.
September 1, 2012
The first time I read this book (yes, I've read it more than once), I had just returned to America after living in Vietnam for four years. I'd heard of Sachs through the couple who edited Destination: Vietnam magazine, and I was intrigued by her book. I had been living in Ho Chi Minh City in the south of Vietnam, while Sachs's book was about her life as an American woman in Hanoi in the 1990s. What appealed to me so much about her story is that despite her frustrations, her moments of anger, her mixed emotions - there was such a rich underlying tenderness toward Vietnam. A tenderness I share and that I often find hard to explain to people who have not been there. Sachs captured the magical spell that the country casts over some people. A spell that for some reason cannot be broken. Living with a Vietnamese family, she gets to know the country on a domestic level, learning its rhythms. She also begins a poignant love affair with a local man - a relationship that will take her even further in her understanding of Vietnam and give readers a chance to see it in a way I've never encountered before or since reading this book.
September 18, 2010
Making the decision to move and live abroad in a country where you don't speak the language or understand the culture, is something many people may not fathom. In The House on Dream Street, Sachs journeys to Hanoi to discover its people and its culture. Sachs finds herself completely enraptured by the people, the environment, and a witness to the country's evolution.
Though the memoir began as Sachs' love affair with Vietnam, her story quickly became less about Vietnam and more about her own personal life.
As I read this book, I found myself searching for more details and insight into the country, the generational shift, and the cultural richness. I was left with unanswered questions and a feeling that once Sachs decided to return to San Francisco, get married, her fondness for the people and the culture was just a passing phase of her life.
Though the memoir began as Sachs' love affair with Vietnam, her story quickly became less about Vietnam and more about her own personal life.
As I read this book, I found myself searching for more details and insight into the country, the generational shift, and the cultural richness. I was left with unanswered questions and a feeling that once Sachs decided to return to San Francisco, get married, her fondness for the people and the culture was just a passing phase of her life.
October 2, 2016
As someone who married in to Vietnamese culture, I am always reading about and looking for interesting books about the place, particularly from outsider perspectives. This book was interesting for the sake of day-to-day living in Ha Noi, but lacked a sense of connection with the culture itself. Perhaps this is inevitable, because the author is not part of a Vietnamese family, but her interactions with Vietnamese people often seem shallow. In particular, her brief relationship with Phai (a man of low social class) is... pretty gross.
After finishing, I had learned some interesting things (particularly a few Vietnamese idioms I didn't know), but found myself wishing that the author had lived in Vietnam longer and that she'd focused more on the place than herself.
After finishing, I had learned some interesting things (particularly a few Vietnamese idioms I didn't know), but found myself wishing that the author had lived in Vietnam longer and that she'd focused more on the place than herself.
January 24, 2019
One of the best books I've read about living and working in another country. While reading, I got a real sense of what Vietnam and the Vietnamese are like, and why the author fell in love with the country and culture. I recommend it highly.
August 9, 2011
Pretty good, but boy oh boy did she mess up in choosing a Vietnamese lover... I'm glad she lived with a family and didn't hang out with expats all the time! Makes for a much better memoir that way!
January 4, 2025
Enjoyed the author’s writing style: embedding some historical and cultural facts within her story of living in Vietnam in the nineties for a year. Lacked depth for me, but I appreciated her perspective on life in Hanoi compared to the US.
August 3, 2015
Dream Street covers a shorter time period than I had expected—Sachs's time in Vietnam amounted to a little over a year, and she always knew (even when she daydreamed about staying) that it was temporary. But she makes smart choices in her memoir, choosing, for example, to skim over the English-teaching and article-writing she did while in Vietnam in favour of more details about the neighbourhood around her and others' lives. There's a shift in her thinking, too, from thinking of Vietnam (and Vietnamese people) largely in terms of the Vietnam War to thinking about it/them more in terms of the present day. (That conversation with the veteran who lost a leg—I wonder how different it would have been if she'd had it later. It read to me as though he wanted to be talked to as an individual rather than an object of guilt.)
We drove past a man carrying a bride on the back of his motorbike. The woman sat sidesaddle, her white dress hiked up to keep the ruffles from dragging through the mud. Her arm was around his waist, and her face was impassive as she stared ahead, up the road. Looking at them through the car window, I remembered a photograph I'd seen once of an image like this one, published in some magazine somewhere in the States. It was supposed to reveal the quintessence of modern Vietnam: the fascination with Western style, the contrast between the novelty of technology and the timelessness of the rice fields, a bride's hope for the future competing against the hopelessness of keeping her wedding gown clean as she passed along this muddy road. The image was perfect, really, but I didn't like the thought of it. Looking out through the window, I could already feel the growing distance between myself and this place I had come to love. It was so easy, from far away, to turn people into symbols, a bride into "Vietnam," the indefinable into apparent truth. (337)
Sachs had a romance in Vietnam, of the sort that's made more complicated because they come from different backgrounds and have different work prospects. Tellingly, perhaps (though of what is a different question), Sachs can imagine the difficulty Phai would have fitting into her American life...but, even as she wishes things could be different between them, she never seriously considers staying in Vietnam. It's not her fate. Still, there's a nice build-up to the romance; there's a will-they-won't-they sense before anything comes to pass.
I particularly enjoyed some of the small details—vegetarian noodle soup as 'noodles without the pilot', for example. I was never entirely sure what drew Sachs to Vietnam in the first place, but she found plenty to keep her there, however temporarily.
No one ever seemed puzzled by the fact that an American woman would abandon the United States, with all its glitzy cities, modern conveniences, and wealth, in order to come live in a country as poor and troubled as Vietnam. I'd often had to explain my actions to people in America, but the Vietnamese didn't even ask. They could understand why I loved their country, because, despite their grudges and gripes about things as fundamental and disparate as the weather, the government, and the economy, they loved it, too. (334)
We drove past a man carrying a bride on the back of his motorbike. The woman sat sidesaddle, her white dress hiked up to keep the ruffles from dragging through the mud. Her arm was around his waist, and her face was impassive as she stared ahead, up the road. Looking at them through the car window, I remembered a photograph I'd seen once of an image like this one, published in some magazine somewhere in the States. It was supposed to reveal the quintessence of modern Vietnam: the fascination with Western style, the contrast between the novelty of technology and the timelessness of the rice fields, a bride's hope for the future competing against the hopelessness of keeping her wedding gown clean as she passed along this muddy road. The image was perfect, really, but I didn't like the thought of it. Looking out through the window, I could already feel the growing distance between myself and this place I had come to love. It was so easy, from far away, to turn people into symbols, a bride into "Vietnam," the indefinable into apparent truth. (337)
Sachs had a romance in Vietnam, of the sort that's made more complicated because they come from different backgrounds and have different work prospects. Tellingly, perhaps (though of what is a different question), Sachs can imagine the difficulty Phai would have fitting into her American life...but, even as she wishes things could be different between them, she never seriously considers staying in Vietnam. It's not her fate. Still, there's a nice build-up to the romance; there's a will-they-won't-they sense before anything comes to pass.
I particularly enjoyed some of the small details—vegetarian noodle soup as 'noodles without the pilot', for example. I was never entirely sure what drew Sachs to Vietnam in the first place, but she found plenty to keep her there, however temporarily.
No one ever seemed puzzled by the fact that an American woman would abandon the United States, with all its glitzy cities, modern conveniences, and wealth, in order to come live in a country as poor and troubled as Vietnam. I'd often had to explain my actions to people in America, but the Vietnamese didn't even ask. They could understand why I loved their country, because, despite their grudges and gripes about things as fundamental and disparate as the weather, the government, and the economy, they loved it, too. (334)
September 30, 2014
This was an interesting read. I have always been fascinated by Vietnam, its people, and its culture--most likely because I grew up in the era of the Vietnam war and that's all I ever heard about it. There was a pervasive fear in the neighborhood I grew up in as we watched neighbors get drafted and head off to war. We never knew who was next.
So, when I spotted this book in the local used book store, I simply could not resist. An American woman living in Vietnam, 20 years post war, alone. Wow!
It takes a lot of strength, guts, and nerve for a young, American woman to move to Vietnam. She did it alone, without knowing the language and just expected to live there and eventually find a way to fit in. What an experience. I like the way she wrote it; warm, humble, sincere, and matter-of-fact.
Her descriptions of the cities, sounds, sites, lakes, people, food, shopping and lifestyle put the reader right there with her.
Most of her time is spent in Hanoi, a bustling, whirlwind of activity. Her trip was timely; she went after war recovery, but before Vietnam becomes more westernized.
This would be a good book club selection.
So, when I spotted this book in the local used book store, I simply could not resist. An American woman living in Vietnam, 20 years post war, alone. Wow!
It takes a lot of strength, guts, and nerve for a young, American woman to move to Vietnam. She did it alone, without knowing the language and just expected to live there and eventually find a way to fit in. What an experience. I like the way she wrote it; warm, humble, sincere, and matter-of-fact.
Her descriptions of the cities, sounds, sites, lakes, people, food, shopping and lifestyle put the reader right there with her.
Most of her time is spent in Hanoi, a bustling, whirlwind of activity. Her trip was timely; she went after war recovery, but before Vietnam becomes more westernized.
This would be a good book club selection.
February 3, 2018
I would give this book more of a 3.5 than a 3; I really did enjoy the premise of the book, and loved the way in which Dana was so open to living in Vietnam. I liked the stories in which she described with all of the people she had encountered, along with the love she felt for Phai, even though she knew that if they were to get married, it wouldn't work. I loved how Dana made an effort to learn Vietnamese, and to fit into the culture by immersing herself in local events, such as the Vietnamese New Year. The few things that I wasn't too keen on were when she explained her time working on the various articles, which I found to be a bit slow. Also, there were a few instances when she spoke of her time in the house during her first stay, which was a bit drawn-out at times. Overall though, a wonderful read about immersing oneself in another culture!
August 20, 2013
I seem to best enjoy travel writing while traveling myself -- it makes me less jealous of the author. Sachs lucked out with a title. I found this book personally interesting because I have also spent time in Southeast Asia, so it was interesting to compare my experiences and reactions with those of Sachs. She gives brief snippets of background information, which I found helpful, but otherwise the scope is narrowed to her personal experience, which I think works. She's not attempting to write about Vietnam -- she's writing about her Vietnam. I think it's a good case of the personal becoming more universal.
October 15, 2009
I was interested to read a book about an American woman living in Vietnam, a country that had fascinated her since her first visit. She lived with a Vietnamese family and immersed herself in their lives and that of their friends. She also falls in love with Phai, one of their friends. For me the most interesting bits were her exploring the city, the shrine, etc., and the least interesting her love affair. I think one gets a good idea of what it was like to live there, hence the four stars.
October 10, 2011
I read this book while living in Viet Nam, in Ho Chi Minh City(Saigon). It gave some fun useful information about things I found strange. And had lots of funny bits that I could totally relate to.
My favorite part was finding out that she named her street 'dream street' because of all the Honda Dream motorbikes.
I would have lived in the house on Alpha Wave street.
I miss my motorbike.
My favorite part was finding out that she named her street 'dream street' because of all the Honda Dream motorbikes.
I would have lived in the house on Alpha Wave street.
I miss my motorbike.
February 9, 2010
Dana Sachs is a San Franciscan who fell in love with Vietnam while on a trip through Asia and returned to live in Hanoi. She writes in great detail about adapting to a remarkably different culture. It makes Vietnam sound like a very daunting place to visit, but also a very rewarding one.
October 22, 2013
I liked the story overall, but disliked the narrator.
November 16, 2013
This is just what I needed to help prepare myself for my trip to Vietnam. No, I am not going to live there, and yes, times have changed a bit since the late 80's, but it was still comforting to slip into someone else's experience with a place I can only imagine. I do not claim to fully understand this country or its people, but I do have a solid first impression--something that I value when setting foot in a country for the first time. The author does not hold back any of the myriad emotions she goes through, good or bad, and takes the reader along as she learns and opens up to this very foreign place. The war is still in the air, but considered so much a part of the past that it is hardly mentioned. The effects of war cannot be understated, of course, and my own knowledge of its impact is expanding. Meanwhile, it was a relief to me to see a personal account of one woman's brave journey deep into the culture of such a beautiful place. My own trip will be very different of course, but I feel I have gotten past the first rung on the ladder. I know a little bit more about the food, religion, climate, attitudes, and political atmosphere of at least a few of the Vietnamese people.
July 8, 2012
In preparation for a trip to Vietnam, I wanted to read a little bit about it. There's plenty of books about the history of the country, and especially about the war, but I wanted something that would tell me more about the people there and what life is like there a little more recently, and what sorts of things I might expect, as an American there, to make an impression on me. This book did a good job of that. The author described her life in two separate stints living in Hanoi (and briefly, some subsequent visits there as well), in terms of the day-to-day hustle and bustle, as well as her relationships with the people there. She often points out cultural differences in the way people interact and the way that language is used, and gave a lot of insight into the ways that Vietnam is both tied to its history but also how it is becoming more Westernized as well.
April 24, 2012
I enjoyed this story of a young woman's journey to Vietnam. She told less about the where and much about the who. Sachs was able to draw the characters as people not totally unlike us. But very unlike us. I have traveled much and understand her love of new home and love of HOME. What I appreciated most was her ability to show her friends as whole people - both good and bad. In reading some reviews, they commented that the love story somehow took away from this book. I could not disagree more. An affair between an American and a third world person, creates many uncomfortable situations. She told her side of this relationship well and made both parties appear loving, hurt and wondering about their futures.
December 25, 2008
The memoir of a young American woman who moved to Vietnam alone in the 1990s. A beautifully written acount of the challenges and joys of creating her life in a foreign country. The author brings alive the people and culture of vietnam, and by the end of the book I felt a kinship to the many characters she lovingly describes. Before I read this book I only associated Vietnam with the war and never had any desire to travel there. Now I would be interested in spending time there, should the opportunity present itself.
April 16, 2015
I would really like to give this book 3.5 stars. I actually didnt start the book until maybe the 2nd of April. But this is the first book that I've read that I wasn't totally obsessed with finishing. Days went by and I didn't bother to pick it up. To explain it simply, it's a story. The beginning was a little slow but never really picked up. There were certain aspects I liked as far as the differences and similarities between cultures and the self reflection while going back and forth between the States and Vietnam but to me it was still, just a story.
December 1, 2014
I felt the author took away a lot suspense by naming her Vietnamese lover in the Prologue. The story could have been more interesting if the reader was left to guess at the identity of the lover. As such, the actual love affair does not begin until halfway into the book, and the story itself was not very well developed. I have a tough time understanding what draw the author to this man. Overall, this was an interesting story and an easy read.
July 3, 2017
I started out really loving this book. It is a memoir, the author is relate-able and the writing vividly paints a picture of Hanoi and the people in Dana Sachs' circle. I even had to pace myself at first so I could stretch the book out. Once Sachs returns to the states though I lost interest. Her subsequent trips to Vietnam were quickly regurgitated and I too, was quickly reading just to finish the book. Though chapter 10 I would give it 5 stars. Chapters 11-13 warrant 2-3 stars.
January 1, 2012
This book was written by a friend of Page's and used for the 'One Book, One Community' selection in January '2005. It is the story of a year that she lived in Vietnam. She learned the language, had a love affair, and met many interesting people. She gives many interesting and vivid descriptions of the life there.
January 29, 2013
I really enjoyed this book.....a young American woman's account of living and working in Vietnaam -the wonderful friends that she made and the changes taking place in a country that used to be defined more by the history of it's war with the US than it's culture and people. An enjoyable easy read that was almost unputdownable.
December 7, 2013
Interesting window into Vietnam. After reading it I felt as though I'd actually been there. Her observations on post-war culture fascinated me because I can't imagine how any people could survive that war, and especially how they can accept the presence of any American in their midst after what we did to them.
I got a little bored toward the end. Enough already.
I got a little bored toward the end. Enough already.
December 22, 2013
I loved this book...maybe because I've spent so many years living in an Asian country.
Ms. Sachs spent a couple of years in Viet Nam and her experiences mirror a lot of the ones I've had living in Korea. She talks about getting stared at and ordering the wrong thing in a restaurant. I don't know if others would enjoy it as much as I did, but it's worth trying!
Ms. Sachs spent a couple of years in Viet Nam and her experiences mirror a lot of the ones I've had living in Korea. She talks about getting stared at and ordering the wrong thing in a restaurant. I don't know if others would enjoy it as much as I did, but it's worth trying!
February 12, 2016
The book's about an experience of an American journalist in Hanoi in 1990s, so it illustrates a corner of life in the city at that time from a Western point of view, which can be interesting for Vietnamese readers too. I was also interested in the "clash" of two cultures pictured through the author's daily life in Hanoi. The book has not been translated into Vietnamese, but it should be.
February 9, 2017
Stories of an American in Hanoi, from back in the day. “Back in the day” here meaning the 90’s, although similar stories, I have to say, are told by most foreigners who have been here any length of time, about how things were so different “back in the day” when they first arrived here, whenever that was. Anyway, it’s a cool story.
August 12, 2017
Anyone who's lived in a developing country will appreciate this book, replete with anecdotes about life as an American woman in Vietnam. I liked the author's authentic portrayal of her romance with a Vietnamese --the ending wasn't what I wished, but she included the reader in her journey so that I felt satisfied with her choice.
July 7, 2009
This is another one I had to read for book club. While it is not my kind of book, it is not bad. It is about a woman who feel in love with Vietnam and lived there for months (sometimes years) at a time in the 1990s and early 2000s. She got a chance to see the country become more western.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews