Learning More About Vietnam, Vietnamese and Vietnamese Americans

Andrew X. Phem does an outstanding job in writing of his life and travels in Catfish and Mandala, a two wheeled voyage through the landscape and memory of Vietnam. He moves through time and space to tell the stories of his early life in Vietnam, his life in California and his travels around Vietnam on a bicycle. We learn of Vietnam when he was there as a youngster during the early '70's; we learn of Vietnam in the late '90's. We learn of the trials of trying to fit into an American society that had very mixed feelings about his countrymen; we learn of his rejection by the people in Vietnam when he returns two decades later and comes back with an American sheen, one that is not so welcome in his birth country. I was touched by his portrait of a very poor country, one which he traveled on the cheap (by design) and in doing so saw maybe more of the underside of that society than what a tourist might see or be exposed to. His travels through Vietnam take up the bulk of his writing but the stories of his family life, and especially the tragedy that was Chi, hold everything together and in the end bring it all back to the starting point. A book of discovery, of opening up.

Heading back to the golf course... Maybe the evening hours will bring a little relief form the day's heat.