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A review by oomilyreads
House of Sticks by Ly Tran
5.0
House of Sticks memoir written by Ly Tran
PUB DATE: June 1, 2021
Ly Tran born by the Mekong River in Vietnam, daughter and youngest of 4 siblings. Her memoir opens with her earliest memory at age 3 in 1993 at a refugee camp in Thailand. House of Sticks is an incredible coming-of-age narrative of immigration, family, mental health, & inherited trauma.
Tran’s life as a young Vietnamese immigrant whose life bisected between two very different cultures. Her family lived in poverty, worked long hours in their living room “sweatshop” sewing clothes. Ironically, I remember this era clearly – my mother and my aunts all did this. The air was full of floating fabric particles coating our throats and noses. Later, my mother became a hairstylist but many of my aunts & cousins became nail technicians.
At age 12, Tran started working long hours at her family’s nail salon but by then she had worsening myopia and couldn’t see both at school & the nails she worked on. She couldn’t even see her own reflection. Her father, a 10 yr POW in the VN war, battled PTSD & paranoia. Refusing her glasses for a decade putting her on the path to severe depression & failure. I can relate, in elementary school, my father would terrorize me when the school sent home letters saying I needed glasses.
Tran’s experiences reminded me of Tara Westover’s memoir, Educated. Both their lives ruled by paranoid men who fear the govt coming for them, men who dominate their households expecting submission, gaslighting their children and wives, and believing daughters to be on the bottom of the hierarchy. Sadly, mothers who will not or cannot stand up for their daughters. Similarly, both authors loved their families but had to forge their own existence, their own path in this world.
“House of sticks” is the translation for the type of home that Tran lived in Vietnam. The construction of the home may be fragile as was her beginnings in life, a foundation that also does not define her. This memoir is a raw & painful exploration of Tran finding her sense of self. Ultimately, a story of hope and resilience.
PUB DATE: June 1, 2021
Ly Tran born by the Mekong River in Vietnam, daughter and youngest of 4 siblings. Her memoir opens with her earliest memory at age 3 in 1993 at a refugee camp in Thailand. House of Sticks is an incredible coming-of-age narrative of immigration, family, mental health, & inherited trauma.
Tran’s life as a young Vietnamese immigrant whose life bisected between two very different cultures. Her family lived in poverty, worked long hours in their living room “sweatshop” sewing clothes. Ironically, I remember this era clearly – my mother and my aunts all did this. The air was full of floating fabric particles coating our throats and noses. Later, my mother became a hairstylist but many of my aunts & cousins became nail technicians.
At age 12, Tran started working long hours at her family’s nail salon but by then she had worsening myopia and couldn’t see both at school & the nails she worked on. She couldn’t even see her own reflection. Her father, a 10 yr POW in the VN war, battled PTSD & paranoia. Refusing her glasses for a decade putting her on the path to severe depression & failure. I can relate, in elementary school, my father would terrorize me when the school sent home letters saying I needed glasses.
Tran’s experiences reminded me of Tara Westover’s memoir, Educated. Both their lives ruled by paranoid men who fear the govt coming for them, men who dominate their households expecting submission, gaslighting their children and wives, and believing daughters to be on the bottom of the hierarchy. Sadly, mothers who will not or cannot stand up for their daughters. Similarly, both authors loved their families but had to forge their own existence, their own path in this world.
“House of sticks” is the translation for the type of home that Tran lived in Vietnam. The construction of the home may be fragile as was her beginnings in life, a foundation that also does not define her. This memoir is a raw & painful exploration of Tran finding her sense of self. Ultimately, a story of hope and resilience.