Sigh Gone

Synopsis: Phuc Tran writes a moving and humorous memoir about his childhood. In 1975, when just a toddler, Phuc and his extended family flee the fall of Saigon. They spent time in a refugee camp and, then, thanks to outreach by the Lutheran church, they were relocated to the town of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. There the Trans take on their new collective identity as THE Vietnamese family in town. As Tran writes, “Random strangers had saved us. And random strangers were cruel to us, too.” Tran’s mother found work in an apple orchard, and his father, a lawyer in South Vietnam, was hired at the tire plant. And Tran himself? Well, with a first name like Phuc, you can imagine what middle school was like.

Review: This refreshing memoir is both specific and universal: specific in that most of us don’t have first generation immigrant families or overt racism to contend with, but also universal in the longing to fit in, find your tribe and have clarity of purpose. Tran made a very specific use of literature in his youth as a way to establish his intellectual bone fides. Yet, he also clearly understood at a young age that the beauty of great literature is the commonality of it’s themes of striving and finding meaning in life. He clearly can relate to some of the misfit characters he reads about—Gregor Samsa in The Metamorphosis, anyone? It was funny, sad, hopeful, and everything in between. Punk music is another way he finds a tribe to belong to, but it’s still tough to be a teenager! How do you be true to yourself when you don’t even know who you are? I listened to the author read this on audio, and think it was a rare instance of the author being the perfect person to do the audio book. It took a bit longer on audio than it would to read, because I enjoyed passages so much I kept rewinding to listen again.

Rating: 5/5

Recipe: I guess I just have a thing for meatballs! Bun Cha is a traditional Vietnamese pork dish that’s apparently a common street food. These squished meatballs are served along rice noodles with other vegetables.

Meatball Ingredients:

10 oz ground pork

1 tablespoon fish sauce

2 tsp sugar

1/3 cup minced scallions

1 clove minced garlic

2 tsp finely chopped lemongrass

Sauce:

3 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

2 tablespoons lime juice

1/3 cup water

1 birds eye chili

3 cloves minced garlic

1) Mix all sauce ingredients and set aside

2) Shape meatball ingredients into 6 balls or mini patties

3) Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat and cook meatballs

4) Serve meatballs with rice noodles, sauce, beansprouts and herbs.