Things We Lost to the Water by Eric Nguyen

Things We Lost to the Water by Eric Nguyen

*ON PRESIDENT OBAMA'S SUMER 2021 READING LIST*
Named one of the Fifteen Books to Watch for in May by The New York Times

Nguyen's narrative strikes a very elusive balance: vast in scale and ambition, while luscious and inviting -- enchanting, really -- in its intimacy.
--Bryan Washington, The New York Times Book Review

A stunning debut novel about an immigrant Vietnamese family who settles in New Orleans and struggles to remain connected to one another as their lives are inextricably reshaped.

When Huong arrives in New Orleans with her two young sons, she is jobless, homeless, and worried about her husband, Cong, who remains in Vietnam. As she and her boys begin to settle in to life in America, she continues to send letters and tapes back to Cong, hopeful that they will be reunited and her children will grow up with a father.

But with time, Huong realizes she will never see her husband again. While she attempts to come to terms with this loss, her sons, Tuan and Binh, grow up in their absent father's shadow, haunted by a man and a country trapped in their memories and imaginations. As they push forward, the three adapt to life in America in different ways: Huong gets involved with a Vietnamese car salesman who is also new in town; Tuan tries to connect with his heritage by joining a local Vietnamese gang; and Binh, now going by Ben, embraces his adopted homeland and his burgeoning sexuality. Their search for identity--as individuals and as a family--threatens to tear them apart, un­til disaster strikes the city they now call home and they are suddenly forced to find a new way to come together and honor the ties that bind them.

ERIC NGUYEN earned an MFA in Creative Writing from McNeese State University in Louisiana. He has been awarded fellowships from Lambda Literary, Voices of Our Nation Arts (VONA), and the Tin House Writers Workshop. He is the editor in chief of diaCRITICS.org. He lives in Washington, DC. Things We Lost to the Water is his first novel.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780593317952
ISBN 10	0593317955
Title	Things We Lost to the Water
Author	Eric Nguyen
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Alfred A. Knopf
Year published	2021-05-04
Number of pages	304
Prizes	Long-listed for Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction 2022, Long-listed for Aspen Words Literary Prize 2022
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.