When I interviewed Kim Thúy (author of Ru and Mãn), she referenced Mia Couto’s “The Tuner of Silences” in her interview (“it feels like their organ to dream had been amputated from them.”). I immediately ordered the book. The only reason why is because Thúy wrote so beautifully and saw the beauty in words. I wanted to know what inspired her phenomenal works. This is a story of loss and pain, wandering through emptiness due to regrets and trying to live, yet not live at all because you are scared to face your truths. You will never forget Couto’s work.
Set in an abandoned animal reserve in Africa, Mwanito lives with his father, brother and former soldier. His uncle sometimes visits, bringing them supplies. Mwanito grows up believing that they are the only people left in this world. He is eleven years old before he sees a woman for the first time.
What he doesn’t know is that he is being forced to live in his father’s world…a place to forget and to be forgotten. Why they are there is the question. Are they in prison for something his father did? Or are they in a prison of his father’s own design?
Beautifully written. When we are introduced to the woman, Couto’s writing changes into something much more passionate that will make you sigh at the beauty of his words.
What makes Kim’s works so breathtaking is how she has mastered the craft of telling a story using very few, yet precise words, to illustrate a moment in the most poetic way.
Kim has graciously agreed to do an interview with DoPW. If you have yet to read her works, you’ll understand what makes her books so special as you read through her interview. I sighed throughout the interview from the beauty and truth to her words.
1. Please tell us a little about yourself.
I am 47 years old, female, a bit shy of 5 feet, vacillating between 110 to 115 pounds but I still often think that I am invisible–or could be invisible. I love being on the bench observing others as much as being the one who points out to others the beautiful things existing around us. I spend a lot of time sharing the words I like with friends. Once, I began typing a page I wanted my best friend to read. By the end of the month, she had the whole book emailed to her one bit at a time. However, some photographs would say that I move constantly, making their work impossible sometimes. My publishers worry I might fall off the plane after travelling to 22 cities of 13 countries in 6 months, crossing 18 time zones more than once. Personally, I think I am very still, almost motionless. The numbers contradict with my state of mind due to the fact that I am very slow–slow thinker, slow writer, slow at understanding jokes! So, my mind never gets to follow my body. It remains at the same spot at all time, which helps me not feeling the pace I guess…
2. You’ve worn a lot of hats so far in this lifetime. You’ve been a seamstress, interpreter, lawyer, restaurant owner, as well as an Award-winning author. In Ru, you mention that this has a lot to do with realizing that you can do everything you’ve ever wanted to do after your aunt Six gave you a tin filled with professions she dreamed for you. This allowed you to realize that you could dream your own dreams. What other dreams have you had for yourself? Of the jobs you’ve had already, which was your favorite?
I never thought I could be any of things I’ve done. I simply followed the waves as they came to me. Everything was way beyond my ability, professionally and mentally and physically. But, as an immigrant, every job opportunity is considered to be a gift. And my responsibility is to be worthy of the gift. I have not had any dreams since the refugees camp where I did dreamed for constipation. The open pit was hopelessly horrible… After the camp, everything has been bigger than my imagination could imagine. My dreams have all come to me before I knew how to dream them.
I have loved all my jobs. Without them, I would not have been able to write the things I have written. Without them, I would not have seen all the complexity of life. Without them, I would not have known how to see the essence of things amidst chaos.
3. In your books, you share the stories of the immigrants that have left Vietnam and have settled in Quebec. Each person has their own unique story. Which stories have had their biggest impact on you?
All of them since together, they tell our collective story. Each one is interesting and mostly, important.
4. You have a very unique writing style. You use very few words to tell a story. Each choice of words weaves together a beautiful tale that strikes a person deep within their soul and leaves the reader gasping at the beauty of the words. There is an art in using very few words to tell an entire story. Were there any writers that inspired you to write this way?
The Lover by Marguerite Duras was my first book in French, or more precisely, the book which exposed me to literature. My uncle read it with me sentence by sentence to help me understand why Duras is exceptional and revolutionary. My mom used the book for my dictées from the first to the last page. And finally, I learned it by heart to absorb the musicality of the French language.
5. Be truthful, how long does it take you to write each paragraph?
Each paragraph had 3-4 pages at the beginning. Everyday, I read from the first sentence down. Everyday, I would delete, rewrite, delete and delete some more to take away all excess. And to make everything feels as light as a feather in the wind.
6. In Ru, you wrote about living the American Dream. What does the American Dream mean to you?
It means possibility and freedom and hope.
7. Mãn is a beautiful tale about the different forms of love, including how love is shown through food. Can you tell us what kind of memories different types of food brings back to you?
It is mostly the food from street vendors in Saigon I did not have the right to eat due to the lack of hygiene. Even though I have eaten from the street and on the street once I could decide for myself, these types of food still attract me the most because they carry a lot of forbidden desires.
8. One of the saddest stories in Mãn was the explanation of the dog tags. “Before he left, he’d gone to see her in uniform and given her the plate to offer her “the life he hadn’t lived” and his dream of her that would be eternally a dream if he didn’t come back to retrieve it” (p. 135). Then we discover that he did not choose her in the end. He didn’t come back. What Maman does ‘out of love’ shows great strength even in the greatest of heartbreaks. In the stories you have collected throughout your lifetime, how have these individuals coped after letting go of their dream to be with the person they loved?
I simply LOVE your questions, especially this one. The broken heart people I know have a thing in their gaze–nothing identifiable or tangible but there is a certain void and depth at the same time. As well, I find them ‘man’, not serene as such but there is a calm in them, the calm of sadness maybe…or the calm of someone who no longer struggle, who has given up a part of themselves. Like Mia Couto has written, it feels like their organ to dream had been amputated from them…
9. There are two things your books did for me: 1) They made me very hungry; and 2) I now have a very strong desire to travel around Vietnam. If readers wanted to take a literary journey through Vietnam using your books, what are the places/experiences you would want them to see/try above all?
The markets and more markets. Just sit in the middle of any of them, have a fresh sugar cane juice or a coffee and watch the flow of people in their daily lives.
10. The tale of the Vietnamese immigrant is very humbling. Many came from being well off to all of a sudden being refugees with nothing, scrounging for food, shelter and warmth. I know a lot of immigrants come to North America with a dream. Most times it isn’t for themselves. It’s for their children. They dream of their children having a better life than the ones they had. Growing up, did your parents have dreams of the person they wanted you or your siblings to become?
They wish us choosing medicine or dentistry or pharmacology so that we have a stable salary from a stable profession. They wished a steady life for us. My brothers became a dentist and an actuary. I was a lawyer in one of the top 3 law firms in Canada but got lost somewhere on the way to the office at one point 🙂
11. You’re a mother, too. Do you find yourself in their shoes? Do you also have dreams of your children having a better life than you have? Or do you feel you are the one setting the example of how there are endless possibilities of the person they can become?
I have no specific dreams for my children. I only ask and help them to always make the most out of everything they do and be the most of what they can be. My second son is autistic. So, I often remind my older one to not waste his privilege to be born with no handicaps.
12. What dreams for yourself do you still have on your list of things to be in this lifetime?
I have received too much from this life already. I do not need more. Actually, I feel very guilty for all my privileges–great family, good health, kind friends, generous readers and critics, unexpected love and affection…. I do not deserve this much.
13. What’s upcoming for you? Are there any new projects coming up?
I am writing my next one. Enjoying every single minute, every single word… Writing is bliss.
The summer is starting to wind down. With only three weekends left, many are running off to get that one last vacation in before the fall arrives. For me, June, July and August are my months for vacation, which means taking a bit of a break from writing and the blogs. September is when I’m back in the saddle again. From film festivals to NY Fashion Week, to movie premieres, to NHL training camps, to the start of the Metropolitan Opera season…my working season begins. That means the content on this site will increase.
There will be more interviews from authors, publishers, celebrities, and artists. There will be more reviews, talks about books, films and the arts, a special fashion edition, and a new project unveiling that I’ve been working on over these last couple of months.
If you think content isn’t going up fast enough, as my artist friend Borbay describes the site…the word “Perfectionist” is in the title. That means that the content here is meant to be far superior so it takes a little longer to create it. People will just have to wait.
For now, let’s talk about what reading material is on the radar.
I had the pleasure of meeting Kim Thúy back in May when she was signing copies of her latest book Mãn. I had never read her works before. I just saw the book in the Book Expo newsletter from Random House Canada and knew I wanted to get my hands on it. She signed it “To Michelle, Thank you so much for coming back to me again.” You’ll find out soon on the site why that little inscription is a bit serendipitous {TEASER}.
What I was not expecting fromMãn was how beautifully written the book would be. It’s a quick read, but also the type of book you have to reflect upon as you go from chapter to chapter. Each chapter is only a paragraph or two long. In that one simple paragraph, she can tell an entire story, but she does it so beautifully that you go back and re-read the sentence, stumbling over each word slowly in order for it to sink in.
What makes Kim’s works in both Mãn and Ru: A Novel so unique is that she has perfected the art of storytelling by using very few words to tell an entire story. Each word she has chosen sinks deep into your soul and you are left pondering the words over, letting your tongue roll over each phrase she has chosen in each tale.
Both books are a compilation of stories of Vietnamese immigrants. She weaves each of their stories from one to another, using a choice word in each chapter to connect to the next story. For instance, she uses the word ‘red’ to end a story in one chapter and then uses it again in the following chapter to tell the tale of another immigrant. That one word can create a strong connection from one person to the next. In a way, it’s the same as how people read and connect to her books, no matter where they are from. The term “communism” can create a bond with a person in Eastern Europe because they can understand the struggle the Vietnamese went through, even though their experiences were totally different. That one word means something powerful to them. That one word is a lifetime of stories and struggles, of hunger, fear, anger and upset. Just one word can invoke so much passion in a person…just like a simple word like ‘red.’ That’s what makes Kim Thúy’s books so thought-provoking…one simple word can create a flood of feelings that enables the reader to connect to the book itself.
Her ability to weave these stories together using choice words is also a way of understanding how everyone in the book is essentially linked to each other. They may have in common that they are all Vietnamese immigrants, but there’s more to it. It links their life experiences from how we show love through food to what it means to let go of the person you love. From coming from well to do families to all of a sudden finding themselves as refugees in a foreign land, living as janitors, seamstresses, farm hands, etc. Then there are those who come from poor families who marry up and move to North America through marriage. She opens our eyes to the life of the immigrant in North America. They may have been from rich families or were doctors or professors in Vietnam. They sacrificed who they were to start over again in another country. Some were stripped of everything, others found opportunity. How do they evolve under those circumstances?
The stories are all very humbling. The writing style is unique and beautiful. I will forewarn you that you will be very hungry after you read her books. I have been eating Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai food every single day since I read Mãn. As you’ll discover in the book, the connection with food is about love…the love a mother shows to her child. The love a wife shows to her husband. It’s what bonds a family and friends together.
I highly recommend reading both of her books. You will not regret it. Your soul will thank you for the fresh drink of beauty.
If you’ve read the reviews of Harper Lee’s latest Go Set a Watchman: A Novel, people are really mad. It’s not even a story. It’s just a rant.
SPOILER: Atticus Finch is a racist.
That’s what really has everyone up in arms. But that’s because most of us had no clue when we read To Kill a Mockingbird that Atticus was anything but fair and colorblind. To find out he was a racist?!?!
This is where I want to remind everyone that Go Set a Watchman: A Novel was the first novel written by Harper Lee. It was also rejected by the publishers. They liked the characters, but it needed a stronger story. Go Set a Watchman: A Novel laid the foundation to the setting and the characters, but it needed a story. That’s when Lee came back and gave the publishers a new book entitled To Kill a Mockingbird. That was the book they published and it became a Pulitzer Prize winner.
What makes Go Set a Watchman: A Novel so difficult to digest is that it takes place 20 years after To Kill a Mockingbird. We know the story. We loved Atticus Finch, Scout, Jem, Dill and Calpurnia. How could we all of a sudden be shocked that Atticus was a racist and that Calpurnia didn’t really care for her or Jem?
You have to keep in mind that Go Set a Watchman: A Novel was the first book, not the second book. It was also the book that was originally rejected. When she came back to the publishers with To Kill a Mockingbird, maybe she decided to make Atticus fair and not a racist. Maybe Calpurnia really did care about the kids and didn’t care about the fact there was a black and white barrier. Maybe Harper Lee fixed what was really wrong with Go Set a Watchman: A Novel and made the characters into ones that would be cherished for all eternity when she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird.
Would I recommend it on its own? No. It’s a rant, not a story. BUT, if you’ve read To Kill a Mockingbird, you need to read Go Set a Watchman: A Novel to truly understand the entire context of the times, racism, and Alabama. For those who are writers, it’s actually an interesting look into how you can be rejected from one story, but you can go back and rewrite it based on the same characters and create a masterpiece. Sometimes a complete do over is the key. She learned from her mistakes and came out with one of the best novels of the 20th century. That is a life lesson within itself.
I decided to take a little break from reviewing the tall stack of books I received from publishers so that I can read something without the pressure of it feeling like ‘work.’ I was ordering a couple of books for the Book Club when Amazon recommended this book. It looked like such an interesting story that I decided to order it as my ‘fun’ book (i.e. a book I chose, rather than was chosen for me by someone else).
I always love stories that take place in Paris, but I really love stories that involve books as a means for adventure. Any book lover understands that love of the book itself and what the adventure means. They understand that little happy place. So take a bookshop apothecary that is located on a barge, a bookseller that finally opens up that letter the love of his life left for him when she left him 20 years ago, a bestselling author that is being hounded by crazed fans and you have an adventure of how a bookseller is trying to make amends with the love of his life by setting sail on his bookshop barge to make right where he went wrong.
In all honesty, I kind of want my own Bookshop Apothecary…a bookshop that prescribes the right books to people, rather than selling whatever books people want to buy. Sometimes the latest novel just isn’t the right book for that person during that time in their life. Trust me when I say, I’d like to take back all that time I spent with Gillian Flynn’s “Dark Places.” I put up with it because it was a Book Club book, but damn if I’ll ever read another one of her books willingly. She’s too dark for me. An Apothecary would have stopped me from even purchasing that book, explaining that the book just doesn’t go with my personality.
I will say that I am enjoying this book. I’m now at the part where he embarks on his adventure. It’s really exciting. The author has already used the love of books to charm me into loving the lead character. Can’t wait to find out what happens!
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September is a big month for publishing houses. The majority of new releases come out at that time. Stay tuned for our list of what to read in September.
When I interviewed Kim Thúy (author of Ru and Mãn), she referenced Mia Couto’s “The Tuner of Silences” in her interview (“it feels like their organ to dream had been amputated from them.”). I immediately ordered the book. The only reason why is because Thúy wrote so beautifully and saw the beauty in words. I wanted to know what inspired her phenomenal works. This is a story of loss and pain, wandering through emptiness due to regrets and trying to live, yet not live at all because you are scared to face your truths. You will never forget Couto’s work.
by Marguerite Duras was my first book in French, or more precisely, the book which exposed me to literature. My uncle read it with me sentence by sentence to help me understand why Duras is exceptional and revolutionary. My mom used the book for my dictées from the first to the last page. And finally, I learned it by heart to absorb the musicality of the French language
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2. Harper Lee, 
Currently reading: Nina George,