The award-winning "Catfish and Mandala" is the poignant, lyrical tale of an American odyssey--a solo bicycle voyage around the Pacific Rim to Vietnam made by a young Vietnamese-American man in pursuit of both his adopted homeland and his forsaken fatherland.

Reviews

As our country becomes more multicultural, our travel experiences become more multidimensional and complex, as reflected in books like this one by a Vietnamese American who searches, often painfully, for his identity in both countries. As a boy, he witnessed the collapse of South Vietnam and fled Vietnam, with his family, in a boat; later, he graduated from UCLA with a degree in engineering. But his is not the stereotypical immigrant success story, nor is this a conventional travel account. Haunted by the suicide of his transsexual sister and childhood beatings by his father Äand facing discrimination in both countriesÄhe sells his posessions and takes off for a bicyclye trip across two continents. His account is not, however, the stuff of travel brochures. His writing is poignant and confessional, revealing much about both cultures and the often-confused relationship between them. Pham is a major new writing talent. His book is both excellent preparation for all serious visitors to Vietnam and a fine contribution to the growing body of Asian American writing. Recommended for both public and academic libraries.ÄHarold M. Otness, Southern Oregon Univ. Lib., Ashland Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

In narrating his search for his roots, Vietnamese-American and first-time author Pham alternates between two story lines. The first, which begins in war-torn Vietnam, chronicles the author's hair-raising escape to the U.S. as an adolescent in 1977 and his family's subsequent and somewhat troubled life in California. The second recounts his return to Vietnam almost two decades later as an Americanized but culturally confused young man. Uncertain if his trip is a "pilgrimage or a farce," Pham pedals his bike the length of his native country, all the while confronting the guilt he feels as a successful Viet-kieu (Vietnamese expatriate) and as a survivor of his older sister Chai, whose isolation in America and eventual suicide he did little to prevent. Flipping between the two story lines, Pham elucidates his main dilemma: he's an outsider in both America and VietnamÄin the former for being Vietnamese, and the latter for being Viet-kieu. Aside from a weakness for hyphenated compounds like "people-thick" and "passion-rich," Pham's prose is fluid and fast, navigating deftly through time and space. Wonderful passages describe the magical qualities of catfish stew, the gruesome preparation of "gaping fish" (a fish is seared briefly in oil with its head sticking out, but is supposedly still alive when served), the furious flow of traffic in Ho Chi Minh City and his exasperating confrontations with gangsters, drunken soldiers and corrupt bureaucrats. In writing a sensitive, revealing book about cultural identity, Pham also succeeds in creating an exciting adventure story. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

"Thoreau, Theroux, Kerouac, Steinbeck, Mark Twain and William Least Heat-Moon--the roster of those who have turned to their travels for inspiration includes some of America's most noted scribes. Now add Andrew X. Pham to the list . . . "Catfish and Mandala" records a remarkable odyssey across landscape and into memory."--"The Seattle Times"
"An engaging and vigorously told story . . . a fresh and original look at how proud Vietnamese on the war's losing side reconciled having their identity abruptly hyphenated to Vietnamese-American."--Gavin Scott, "Chicago Tribune"""
"A modern Plutarch might pair Pham's story with that of Chris McCandless, the uncompromising young man whose spiritual quest led him to a forlorn death in Alaska. Pham, instead of seeking out remote places where he could explore fantasies of self-sufficiency, instictively understood that self-knowledge emerges from engagement with others. In his passionate telling, his travelogue acquires the universality of a bildungsroman."--"The New Yorker"
"A trip so necessary and so noble makes others seem like mere jaunts or stunts.""--The New York Times Book Review"
"Part memoir, part travelogue . . . "Catfish and Mandala" [is] a visceral, funny and tender look at modern-day Vietnam, interwoven with the saga of Pham's refugee family."--Annie Nakao, "San Francisco Examiner "
"Far more than a travelogue . . . "Catfish and Mandala" is a seamlessly constructed work deftly combining literary techniques with careful, evenhanded reportage . . . A gifted writer . . . Pham opens readers to the full sadness of the human condition on both sides of the world, marveling at spiritual resilience amid irreconcilable facts."--Roland Kelts, "The Philadelphia Inquirer"
"No small achievement . . . Scenes of [Pham's] wild road adventure [are] worthy of Jack Kerouac."--"The San Francisco Chronicle"
"Stunning . . . A brilliantly written memoir in which a young Vietnamese-American uses a