It’s the freakin weekend and I’m gonna have me some fun. And by fun I mean drink coffee and read books.
In my constant quest to find books that won’t break my back I picked up Vi by Kim Thúy and instead it broke my heart.
Thúy is a master at weaving together noises,smell,scent and sound to a story, painting the picture using the senses. Her books, I’ve read both Vi and Mán but not yet Ru, have a a poetic quality in that every word is chosen with care. Her books are short but they stay with you for a long time.
Vi is the story of a girl born in Vietnam, who grows up in Canada and returns to Vietnam as a woman. It’s the story of coincidences and dreams, of being torn between your own hopes and other’s plans for you. I think there are similarities between both of her books that I have read, they are part of the same narrative so to speak; about the immigrant experience, about having problem finding your place because you are both. I actually don’t want to say more as that would be describing the whole book, and so much is about how you interpret the vignettes that they are made up of.
Someone on IG referred to her books as “fragrant and luminous” and I must agree, but they are also bittersweet.
Speaking of bittersweet I was reminded of this track the other day, the unlikeliest of collaborations back then but they made a great track; it’s old but it still got swing.
-Suss
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