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!