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Stealing Buddha's Dinner
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19 new or used available from $4.84
Average customer review:
Product Description
As a Vietnamese girl coming of age in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Nguyen is filled with a rapacious hunger for American identity, and in the pre-PC-era Midwest (where the Jennifers and Tiffanys reign supreme), the desire to belong transmutes into a passion for American food. More exotic- seeming than her Buddhist grandmother’s traditional specialties, the campy, preservative-filled “delicacies” of mainstream America capture her imagination.
In Stealing Buddha’s Dinner, the glossy branded allure of Pringles, Kit Kats, and Toll House Cookies becomes an ingenious metaphor for Nguyen’s struggle to become a “real” American, a distinction that brings with it the dream of the perfect school lunch, burgers and Jell- O for dinner, and a visit from the Kool-Aid man. Vivid and viscerally powerful, this remarkable memoir about growing up in the 1980s introduces an original new literary voice and an entirely new spin on the classic assimilation story.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #526987 in Books
- Published on: 2008-01-29
- Format: Bargain Price
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 272 pages
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Relevant not only to anyone who’s ever lusted after the perfect snack . . . but anyone who’s ever felt like an outsider.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“A charming memoir . . . Her prose is engaging, precise, compact.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“Her typical and not-so-typical childhood experiences give her story a universal flavor.”
—USA Today
About the Author
Bich Minh Nguyen (pronounced/Bit Min New-win/) was born in Saigon and grew up in Michigan. Her work has appeared in Gourmet, People, the Chicago Tribune, and numerous anthologies.
From AudioFile
A word to the wise: Don't listen to this memoir on an empty stomach, as its descriptions of international cuisine, and even of American junk food, may send you snacking! Such passages occur often in Nguyen's story of her family's settlement in the U.S. The memoir is delivered clearly by Alice Kennedy. While she might have enhanced her performance by slowing her pace and adding more expression in parts, she narrates with ease and doesn't seem to struggle with Vietnamese pronunciations. The book's many references to pop culture of the eighties are fun. A.E.B. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
Customer Reviews
a Vietnamese childhood in Michigan with Hispanic influences
Very fun memoir of growing up Vietnamese with a Hispanic step-mom in Grand Rapids Michigan. Very readable and insightful book about American culture as seen through a young immigrant's eyes. I wish the author had been willing to "dig deeper" because after I finished the book there were many unanswered questions for me particularly with regard to the author's biological mother and with regard to her relationship with her father. Sometimes it seemed that the author used humor to avoid dealing with the larger issues. Also, the obsession with food becomes a bit silly and redundant.-- I read this for my book club, and it was not something that I would have picked out, but I enjoyed it... very humorous and the author writes beautifully; my 14 year old daughter wants to read it now. --Great book for middle schoolers and young teens.
Metaphor as a weapon
While Ms. Nguyen does an amazing job of crafting a portrait of her childhood experiences, the food symbolism gets a bit heavy-handed by the middle of the book. In fact, by the final chapter, I felt like I had been bludgeoned with it.
While the reader is drawn in to her experience, we are never quite able to sympathize with her.
Bich Minh Nguyen's Stealing Buddha's Dinner Memoir
I totally feel what the author is trying to transmit. IT has made me laugh and cry; think and learn from people who had no choice but to run away from their world and try to fit in a new one.
