Vietnamerica

Starred review from November 29, 2010
Like Art Spiegelman's Maus, this personal memoir tries to make sense of a shattered family history. Tran was born in America shortly after his family fled Vietnam during the fall of Saigon. However, he sees how deeply his parents still feel connected to their homeland, even as they can't fully admit their dismay at being cut off from it. They have been forced to keep many secrets from others, and learned to keep many secrets from themselves, too. By visiting Vietnam and exploring memories, Tran learns how his grandfather, a lifelong Vietminh supporter, was horrified at the brutal results of the Communist victory and how his father became a glum autocrat after his career as an artist was destroyed. He watches how his parents interact uneasily with the swarm of relatives and friends they left behind. Now Tran tries to make sense of it all. The comic utilizes a dizzying barrage of effects to depict the characters' confusing experience: different lettering styles, realistic action set against full-page government posters, sound effects swirling from panel to panel, action-packed panoramas breaking apart as South Vietnam collapses. The result is disturbing but also uplifting.

Starred review from January 1, 2011

This will be called the Maus for the Vietnam War, and for good reason. Similar premise: clueless American-born son of immigrants confronts the legacy of family pain predating his birth. Says Tran's mom, "We left Vietnam so you would NEVER have to know what it's like"--that is, to be captured and tortured, or abandoned by partners, or to have to flee approaching troops. Similar outcome: a kick-in-the-gut graphic novel. Many in Tran's family each had several marriages or the equivalent: when your wife or husband disappears unexpectedly, you feed the children only by finding someone else, even a foreign officer. For Tran to work out the story of his parents' escape to America, he had to assemble hundreds of fragments from and about more than a dozen people. Thus he purposely fragments the plot, shifting points of view, narrative voices, and settings while the reader--as did Tran--must assemble the pieces to learn how his parents became the people he knew (a family tree mid-book helps). VERDICT Engaging, challenging, and disturbing, Tran's family memoir belongs in all public and academic libraries; older teens and up for occasionally strong language and violence. The swirly, jagged color art fits the story perfectly.--M.C.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.