Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora

Mocking his Catholic grandmother's rosary praying, Lam is a whiner from page one. America is bad, it lost the Vietnam War, it's superficial, wasteful and not in favor of open borders. I was looking forward to reading this book on the Vietnamese experience in America but it turned out to be tedious and naive about world affairs. Vietnam still persecutes it's own people today. Catholics are still unable to practice their religion in Vietnam and Vietnam is currently asking for US help to stand militarily against China. This book was written in 2005 and does not stand the test of the intervening years. In fact, it shows how weak of a thinker he is. He is a decent writer, however.
Vietnamese Americans have brought incredible talent and show more patriotism to the US and America would be less had they not have been welcomed here. Luckily, the whole Vietnamese experience is not covered in these essays. Lam does not claim any religion and grudgingly barely even claims his US citizenship. He's confused and will always be so as this seems to be the only role given to him to play out from his white liberal associates. He never seems to have questioned why they want him to play their charity case project. It's a living, I guess, if selling your soul is up for sale.
Richard Rodriguez (Forward) made a name for himself years back with books about antiaffirmative action. Rodriguez gave a well attended lecture at St. John's Seminary, Camarillo, Calif. which I heard.
I would not recommend Lam's book, but I need to find others on the same subject which I would. Southern California has most of the accomplished Vietnamese immigrants living outside of Vietnam. show less

Tremendous & heartfelt writing. And indebted to the passage, "Home is portable if one is in commune with one's soul. ...For mine is a landscape where Saigon, New York, and Paris intersect, where the Perfume River of Hue flows under the Golden Gate Bridge." Astonishing. Outstanding!

Nice read. Similar in some ways to Catfish, but more about life in the USA for a Vietnamese immigrant family.

Great literary essays that open the gate to understanding of refugees plight, not just vietnamese but all who have lost home and must remake elsewhere. great read.