Research Catalog

Boat people : a novel

Filter by

Item details
Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Request in advance	PS3557.A7142 B63 1995	Off-site

Description

277 pages; 22 cm

Summary

This powerful narrative, winner of the 1993 Associated Writing Programs award for the novel, focuses on Galveston, Texas, and a community of newly arrived Vietnamese. Struggling to maintain a balance between Vietnam and America, they live with one foot in each world.
Close-knit families, now fragmented, dream of the "kingdom of elders left behind"; young girls shoulder responsibility far beyond their years; and homesick professionals, puzzled by American customs, strive to belong while clinging to the rituals that sustain them.
Seared by memories of escape and loss, these people are tough and funny too. There's Trang, obsessed by her mixed parentage and the quest for her American father; spunky little Xan, who acts out with Kung Fu; Linh, whose mother is hospitalized because of "the ghost husband in her head"; and Dr. Nguyen, savvy first-year medical resident but still a stranger.
As this deeply felt novel examines the difficulties and possibilities for connection in a tri-racial culture - Vietnamese, Black, and American - it brims with memorable characters finding their way or easing the way for others. Mary Gardner reminds us of our history: America itself is a country of boat people with ties to more than one world.

Subjects

Genre/Form

Domestic fiction.

ISBN

039303738X

LCCN

94027505

OCLC

ocm30811525

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries