Stealing Buddha's Dinner

[thebowlerhat.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if anyone already posted about Bich Minh Nguyen's memoir, Stealing Buddha's Dinner, but I thought I'd throw it out there. I was expecting something decent or less, along the lines of Katy Robinson's A Single Square Picture or some other Asian American memoirs out there on the bookshelves, but I was pleasantly surprised. Stealing Buddha's Dinner is a brilliant work of creative nonfiction, many of the chapters able to stand alone as great pieces. Nguyen names each chapter as some type of food that has significant emotional meaning in her life and weaves the theme throughout the chapter without it seeming tiresome, overdone, or trite. Bich and her sister, father, grandmother, and two uncles were Vietnamese refugees in 1975. She explores issues of immigration, refugee status, cultural clashes, family, and language through food and what food has represented in her life growing up in Western Michigan. Having grown up in the same area, I found I could relate to many of her views of growing up Asian in the Grand Rapids area, even a decade later. I definitely recommend it.

Comments

[sa-am.livejournal.com]

oooh sounds good!

[pylduck.livejournal.com]

I really need to read more memoirs. This one sounds cool, especially for people interested in reading about Asian Americans in the Midwest. (Is Michigan considered the Midwest? Ha ha. I'm totally revealing myself as a Californian.) I know a few people interested in how Asian Americans use food to create or sustain a sense of identity and culture, and I'm sure they would find this memoir interesting if they haven't already read it. Anyways, I'm looking forward to reading this one soon.

PS Are you planning on going to the Association for Asian American Studies (http://aaastudies.org) conference in Chicago in April 2008? I think proposals for papers and panels are due in a month or two. Let me know if you're interested in going and want to talk about it!

[thebowlerhat.livejournal.com]

I'm a fan of memoir and autobiography. I'm actually working on an undergraduate thesis (called the Senior Individualized Project at my school) that relates autobiography and theories of identity (specifically Asian American identity) to issues of social justice right now.

And yes, you're totally revealing yourself as a Californian. I'm totally revealing myself as a Midwesterner (and yes, Michigan is considered Midwest) by being so jealous!

P.S. I'd love to go to the conference in April. I'll definitely be there as an attendee. I don't know if I have anything relevant to present right now. I'd feel better if I already had my SIP done. I'd love to talk about it with you though.

[pylduck.livejournal.com]

If you're already working on a thesis, you should go ahead and submit a short abstract to present it at the conference. You should also definitely look into getting your school (maybe the English department, the campus multicultural student services center, or your dean's office) to reimburse you for the travel expenses. I've found most schools are more than willing to do so for undergraduates presenting at or attending national conferences. You'll probably have to provide them with a budget and a brief statement of why you wan to go, but it's worth the hundreds of dollars you could save!

I'd be happy to talk to you more about your project and conference travel. I've taken undergraduates to AAAS in the past, and I hope to take some more students from my new school for next year's conference. Drop me a message anytime at livejournal@pylduck.com. Paul

[thebowlerhat.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice. I'll definitely look into that. And I will email you soon.

[pylduck.livejournal.com]

Oops. I think I disabled the e-mail address I mentioned above. Try shadowy at pylduck dot com instead. :P