GB Tran

Born a year after his parents fled the fall of Saigon, G.B. Tran spent his life ignorant to the hardships endured by his family during French-occupied Vietnam and then the American presence that led to the war. He never had much interest in learning his family history despite his parents' coaxing. However, his grandmother has just died and he must return to Vietnam to pay respects. It is this unfortunate event that ignites his curiosity in his family history, and he takes the reader on a visual journey detailing the events of his grandmothers' lives, how they impacted the lives of his parents and their eventual decision to escape Vietnam.

Vietnamerica offers an interesting glimpse into the Vietnamese side of events during the mid-20th century. Additionally, Tran's maternal and paternal grandmothers came from fairly different upbringings and engaged in different lifestyles, which further enhances the uniqueness of the storytelling. It was a little difficult keeping some of the story lines separate as Tran utilizes a series of flashbacks to tell the various events of his family members. I think a lot of this was due to my lack of familiarity with the Vietnamese names, but Tran provides a family tree illustrated on the inside cover and adjoining fly leaf which really helped my understanding. At the same time, this mixture of flashbacks makes for a thoroughly engrossing reading experience. Ultimately, I appreciated the variety of Vietnamese perspectives as I've mostly only read American soldiers' accounts in any works on Vietnam. It serves as a sober reminder of the daily struggle endured in the lives of civilians in a war-torn country and that war is never black and white.
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