The Reeducation of Cherry Truong

"The Reeducation of Cherry Truong explores the intersection of history and human hearts. With tenderness and wisdom, this intricately woven tale presents a world both mysterious and familiar to readers. Aimee Phan is a keen observer and a beautiful writer."—Yiyun Li, author of The Vagrants and Gold Boy, Emerald Girl

"The Reeducation of Cherry Truong is a powerful debut novel about reverse migration, the new American immigrant story. Cherry Truong's attempt to reconnect to her mother's family reaches around the world, from America to Vietnam to France, and reinvents what she knows of her family's history and her world. And with this novel, Aimee Phan reinvents what we know of ours at the same time."—Alexander Chee, author of Edinburgh: A Novel

"Powerful debut novel . . . Phan's lyrical narrative captures the yearning that one feels in seeking a place to call home and the dichotomy inherent in assimilation and preservation of cultural traditions. Her novel marks a triumphant debut in contemporary Asian-American literature."—Shelf Awareness

"Phan's gifts are considerable, and the novel is at its best in exposing the dark underside of family relationships while simultaneously creating many sympathetic, realistic characters."—Hyphen Magazine

"A story of loyalties, histories, and identities, The Reeducation of Cherry Truong explores multiple generations of the Truong and Vos families. Touching on the events of the Vietnam War, cultural assimilation, reconciliation, forgiveness, and redemption, Phan crafts an epic tale. Through Cherry's eyes, the complex country of Vietnam is lovingly explored in immense, realistic detail. Readers of Maxine Hong Kingston and Gish Jen will enjoy Phan's sensitive, lush prose and recognize similar questions of identity."—Booklist

"Phan traces the difficulties of forming identity and preserving family for Vietnamese refugees on two continents. When Sanh Truong unexpectedly marries Tuyet Vos, neither family is pleased. And Sanh's parents are further disappointed when Sanh goes with his wife and her family to America after the Vietnam War ends, rather than to Paris with them. Both families encounter difficulties as they try to integrate into their new societies. The Vos family finds commonality but also corruption in the Little Saigon neighborhood of Orange County, Calif., while the Truongs—whose Catholic faith provides a ready-made community in Paris—come to realize the limits of their French hosts' hospitality. Sanh and Tuyet's daughter, Cherry, born in the U.S. and coming of age in the late 20th century, is the only one with the potential to develop clarity about both her generation's struggles and her grandparents' failings. Told from the point of view of half a dozen characters from three generations, carefully crafted chapters read—with varying degrees of success—like short stories. "People don't realize how long it takes to heal," Phan writes. Stretching from 1979 to 2002, this deliberately paced novel demonstrates, through more than two decades of the Vietnamese immigrant experience, how true that is."—Publishers Weekly