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The Refugees
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May 2021: Short Stories > The Refugees - Viet Thanh Nguyen

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forsanolim | 526 comments PBT comment: for the purposes of challenge, I'm rating this as three stars, but I don't think it makes sense to dwell on my rating.

I'm really hesitant to give this a rating because I haven't really been in a mental space recently where I think it's that possible for me to take a lot of joy in reading/I've been in a pretty massive reading slump all month. So while this book didn't do all that much for me, I think that that is in every way presumably a reflection of me at this moment and not of the book's merits. I really mainly read it because it was a short book that let me tick off a couple monthly challenges.

So what was this book about? It's a short story collection that centers broadly around Vietnam and the experiences of immigrants. Most of the main characters are Vietnamese, and most of the stories take place in the US. There are definite themes of identity, the experience of immigration, and the repercussions of history.


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NancyJ (nancyjjj) | 11060 comments I hope you find something for Beach Reads that breaks you out of the slump!


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Meli (melihooker) | 4165 comments I second NancyJ's sentiments :(

I have this on my tbr after I fell in love with Nguyen's writing when I read The Sympathizer, but I am not sure when I will get to this.


forsanolim | 526 comments Thanks to both of you, and I'm optimistic for this month! I'm aiming to read mostly really plot-driven books this month (fluffy romance + Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary, if my hold comes in), which should be a good change of pace.


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Meli (melihooker) | 4165 comments I am reading The Kiss Quotient right now for the challenge and it is proving to be the lil jolt of excitement I hoped it would be :)


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