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Reviews tagging 'Racism'
Sigh, Gone: A Misfit's Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In by Phuc Tran
21 reviews
monalyisha's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Quite possibly the best book I’ve read all year!
A memoir by Phuc Tran, Latin teacher & tattoo artist, about growing up as a Vietnamese immigrant in small town, USA. Somehow, he manages to be so punk rock without sacrificing a real & endearing earnestness. His book is a love letter to literature & libraries, music & art, and a double-middle-finger to narrow-minded thinking (even & especially when it’s your own).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Racism
kaitlinlovesbooks's review
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Racism
plantybooklover's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
4.75
Phuc is evacuated from Saigon with his family in 1975 and ends up, surprisingly, in Carlisle, PA. I grew up- shockingly- 11 miles away. we were 3-4 years apart and as far as I can tell, never crossed paths- although I am sure he met my Mom at some point.
Phuc is an excellent story teller and rolls through his life - with it's many challenges- in a funny, but also genuine and clear eyed way. His descriptions of Carlisle, were spot on, and I related my way to tears at some points in the book- his story- while uniquely his, resonated with me- and I am sure it will resonate with anyone who has felt like an outsider.
The only thing that would have made it better, would have been to have some chapters of his time in college- he attended the same college as my sister, so ... I'd love to sit down with him and compare out some notes some day!
I'd recommend the audio book- the author narrates it himself, and I felt like he was just hanging out in the living room, telling stories. Definitely a worth while read.
Phuc is an excellent story teller and rolls through his life - with it's many challenges- in a funny, but also genuine and clear eyed way. His descriptions of Carlisle, were spot on, and I related my way to tears at some points in the book- his story- while uniquely his, resonated with me- and I am sure it will resonate with anyone who has felt like an outsider.
The only thing that would have made it better, would have been to have some chapters of his time in college- he attended the same college as my sister, so ... I'd love to sit down with him and compare out some notes some day!
I'd recommend the audio book- the author narrates it himself, and I felt like he was just hanging out in the living room, telling stories. Definitely a worth while read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Xenophobia
Minor: Drug use, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury
celebrationofbooks's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
I was born in Carlisle in the late 1980s, when Phuc was a student at Carlisle Senior High School and my mother was a teacher at said high school. I spent the first few years of my life there before moving to another small, central Pennsylvania town, but Carlisle is my father’s hometown and his family never left. He returned to it’s picturesque countryside, his wood shop nestled in it’s run-down gridded streets, in the early aughts.
A few times a year I drive the two hours from the Philadelphia suburbs back to the town of my childhood to see my dad, go to the dentist, have my car inspected, and stop by my favorite places in town – the diner, Scalles; the indie bookshop of my youth, Whistlestop Bookshop; and the Kline Center of Dickinson College where my mom played basketball as a co-ed and where I still get to use the pool, the same one she took me to as a small child.
The town has changed a great deal in the last decade and a half since I got my driver’s license and could drive myself through it’s streets, visiting my dad and family, and it’s been nice to see it’s renaissance (there’s a brewery now!) and how it’s reinventing itself. Even though I spent my school years in Gettysburg (and desperately wanted out), I was still a Carlisle girl at heart and it brings joy to my heart to see the town diversify more and more, albeit at a snail’s pace. But despite my father’s requests, I was never moving back to central PA after college in Pittsburgh. The overwhelming desire to “get out” of small town central PA was essential to me, and to Phuc.
We were supposed to host Phuc at the bookstore in early May and, unfortunately, that is no longer happening for obvious reasons. Shortly after I started reading my advance copy of Sigh, Gone, I emailed our rep telling her how much I was enjoying it (it’s my favorite memoir, tied with Lynsey Addario’s It’s What I Do) and what I needed to do to potentially secure a signed copy. Low and behold, next thing I knew I was putting together an author visit.
There were many events that I was disappointed to have to cancel at the store, but this one hurt my heart the most. I love being able to find books that might not show up on everyone’s radar, and feature them at the store. It’s even better when I get to meet or host the author of said book that I admire. I love, even more, getting a different perspective on a town I know so well, but experienced so differently.
I always love getting multiple perspectives on the same time in history, especially microhistories, in this case, Carlisle, Pennsylvania in the 1980s. Phuc was in high school and my parents in their twenties, not too far apart. But the Carlisle experience of my parents was very different than the Carlisle Phuc’s family experienced. I’m a middle class white girl who’s family was well known and well liked in town – both through my mother’s role in the school district and my father’s woodworking business. To be able to read Phuc’s memoir and visualize exactly where he was in Carlisle on each page but to find his experiences so different to mine growing up in small town PA just made me step back and ponder how people could be so cruel. To the everyday circumstances, I could overwhelmingly relate – from my mother having cancer when I was a child, to getting into my top choice college and not being able to go for financial reasons, I found solace in the Clash as a teenager and tried my hand a skateboarding, I thought Tony Hawk and the Dogtown boys were the ultimate rebellious athletes. I often thought I would have fit in just fine with Gen X.
The Carlisle I knew growing up had problems, problems that I knew about as a kid and darker ones that I learned about as an adult. Like most other small towns in central Pennsylvania, racism is entrenched and pervasive (I still see countless confederate flags flying) and college is the only way out, other than the military. Most of the small towns are incredibly conservative and there is a oppressive patriarchy dictating what is socially acceptable.
Despite the cruelties of life, family, and circumstance, Sigh, Gone is filled with great hope and spectacular writing. Arranged chronologically, each chapter covers roughly a year and is framed by the great work of classic literature for which the chapter is named. I flew through every page, getting more and more entrenched in my own unique reading experience (and searching for my mom’s name on every page while Phuc is in high school!). I hope that we can still hold an event in some way with Phuc this spring, and at the very least hope to have him in the store for the paperback release in the spring!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
calicot's review against another edition
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Racism
Moderate: Racial slurs and Violence
Minor: Death, Suicide, and Murder
marie's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Racism, and Violence
Minor: Suicide and Murder
mandkips's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Hate crime, Sexual content, and Violence
rynstagram's review against another edition
challenging
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
A story about a person into punk rock and reading was right up my alley. Phuc's comparison of segments of his life to classic novels was a really effective way of tying different memories/stories together. It adds so much to the reflective tone of the whole novel.
The reason for my star rating is because the metaphors and language are all great, but there were some details that were a bit jarring because they felt like they needed a backstory. It was easy to tell that some stories had been cut when a name or fact about Phuc's life is briefly mentioned in a different story with the assumption that the reader knows about it. Also, it took me a little while to get into.
This is one of those slower paced books that needs to be that way. It's incredibly honest and vulnerable while also being funny and well-written. His story has very little in common with mine, but the way he tells it makes you feel what he's feeling in that moment. He proves his point that literature can connect people.
The reason for my star rating is because the metaphors and language are all great, but there were some details that were a bit jarring because they felt like they needed a backstory. It was easy to tell that some stories had been cut when a name or fact about Phuc's life is briefly mentioned in a different story with the assumption that the reader knows about it. Also, it took me a little while to get into.
This is one of those slower paced books that needs to be that way. It's incredibly honest and vulnerable while also being funny and well-written. His story has very little in common with mine, but the way he tells it makes you feel what he's feeling in that moment. He proves his point that literature can connect people.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Death and Hate crime
Minor: Animal death and Violence
literarylaila's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Racism
jackobotts's review against another edition
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism