The Refugees

Paperback, 224 pages

English language

Published Jan. 4, 2018 by Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated.

ISBN:
978-0-8021-2736-5
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4 stars (2 reviews)

The second piece of fiction from the 2016 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, The Refugees is a collection of powerful stories written over a period of twenty years, set in Vietnam and America. In The Refugees Nguyen gives voice to the hopes and expectations of people forced to leave one country for another, and the rifts in identity, loyalties, romantic relationships, and family ties that accompany relocation. From the culture shock of a young Vietnamese man transported to bohemian San Francisco, to the heartache of a woman whose dementia-suffering husband starts to confuse her with a former lover, the stories vividly capture the fierce emotions and numerous hardships of migration. Beautifully written and sharply observed, The Refugees is a modern classic from one of America's most brilliant contemporary writers.

3 editions

Review of 'Refugees' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Dette er en fin samling noveller fra forfatteren bak The Sympathizer hvor alle har til felles en berøring med det å komme fra en flyktninhebakgrunn i Vietnam. Jeg kjenner litt til et vietnamesisk miljø i Stavanger, og jeg har hele tiden dette i miljøet i tankene mens jeg leser The Refugees. Noe kan jeg tro jeg kjenner meg igjen i som unikt vietnamesisk, noe er universelt, sårt, rørende og morsomt, og spesielt historien om kvinnen som opplever at mannen er i ferd med å bli dement - eller er det virkelig mannen som er den demente (...) er gripende (I Love you to Want me - tittelen etter en sang av Lobo), eller om Phuong som vender tilbake til Saigon for å møte sin far som ble igjen i Vietnam og sin halvsøster som også heter Phuong.

Ikke alle historiene er like engasjerende, men de beste er strålende novellekunst.

Review of 'Refugees' on Goodreads

3 stars

Complicated short stories of immigration and belonging. At the end is a re-print of this essay, which is as good as any of the stories: vietnguyen.info/2017/viet-thanh-nguyen-refugee-american-human

"I
came to understand that in the United States, land of the fabled American dream, it is un-American to be a refugee. The refugee embodies fear, failure, and flight. Americans of all kinds believe that it is impossible for an American to become a refugee, although it is possible for refugees to become Americans and in that way be elevated one step closer to heaven."

Subjects

  • Fiction, short stories (single author)

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