Novelist Le Thi Diem Thuy: Between two worlds
Published: January 2, 2004
Lê Thi Diem Thúy had a remarkable debut with her first novel, The Gangster We Are All Looking For, which garnered critical acclaim from around the country. The New York Times Book Review wrote of it: "The cumulative, almost liturgical effect of the novel is both heartbreaking and exhilarating." Because of her groundbreaking work, Vogue and Book Magazine named Lê as one of the 10 writers to watch in 2003.
In The Gangster We Are All Looking For, the novelist takes as her inspiration the plight of a 6-year-old girl and her father who arrive in San Diego with four other Vietnamese men. While the story may mirror Lê's immigrant experience in a general sense, her account is one of imagination. It's a fictional exploration of very real terrain: the plight of refugees struggling to form identities in the United States while at the same time trying to make sense of the tangled knots of memory that relentlessly haunt them. They must reconcile themselves to loss of home, of family, of self--and struggle to live with their memories of all that they can never return to.
There is much sadness in this tale, but it is sadness sung so sweetly, so softly, as to soothe the reader even as she is swept into the tragedy and beauty of this family's life. Lê spoke to me about her work and writing process from her home in western Massachusetts.
--Posted Jan. 2, 2004
|