A review by itsmeamethyst
Sigh, Gone: A Misfit's Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In by Phuc Tran

5.0

This is one of the best books I've read in a long time, a "wow" of a book. Phuc Tran titled each chapter after a book that influenced him. He discusses race and racism, his dehumanizing experiences as a child refugee and the "menace of knowing" that he and his family didn't "belong", finding a subculture to mold himself into (punk rock), trauma and abuse, and connecting to literature. I completely resonated with the way he describes books as universal and capturing the human struggle to belong and strive for love, place, and acceptance. He is an exceptional storyteller and it is a gift that he was vulnerable enough to share these parts of him with the rest of us.