We Should Never Meet: Stories [Paperback]

Aimee Phan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0312322674 | ISBN-13: 978-0312322670

The eight linked stories that comprise Aimee Phan's chilling debut are inspired by "Operation Babylift," the evacuation of thousands of orphans from Vietnam to America weeks before the fall of Saigon. Moving effortlessly between the war-torn homeland and Orange County's "Little Saigon," Phan chronicles the journeys of four such orphans. Passionate and beautifully written, We Should Never Meet is an utterly fresh reconsideration of the Vietnam War for a new generation and heralds the arrival of one of "the very best of the new wave of Asian-American authors" (David Wong Louie).

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The linked stories that make up this dynamic debut are spare in their approach but profoundly observant. One painful narrative thread follows a mother as she sends her daughter off with Operation Babylift, an initiative launched in Vietnam in the mid-1970s to rescue 2,000 babies from a crumbling Saigon. Another traces the tensions between bookish Mai and hoodlumesque Kim, both Operation Babylift orphans living in L.A., now in their teens. Mai studies very hard, while Kim is a thief and a vicarious member of an Asian gang who inadvertently harms someone she wouldn't have purposefully targeted. These stories read quickly, and yet the deliberateness of their word choice and their motion make it evident that they've been planned very carefully, down to the last detail. Phan plays up the intrinsic toughness of L.A and the chaos of present-day and war-era Vietnam to moving effect in this unassuming but hard-edged psychological travelogue, which memorably shows the ways humans bob and weave against ever-present alienation. Max Winter
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"With almost plainsong dialogue and unornamented description that takes you straight to the troubled hearts of these people . . . Phan [builds] an unsentimental, profoundly persuasive portrait of ordinary people making the best of extraordinary, almost inexpressible tragedy."--Elle

 

"Remarkable . . . The stories are indelible yet float past you . . . many complicated issues are brought to life here."--San Francisco Chronicle

"Phan charts [these] journeys with acuity, sensitivity, [and] wisdom."--Los Angeles Times

"Phan accomplishes what only a true artist can: she gives voice to the voiceless and makes them speak for us all. This is a thrillingly important book."--Robert Olen Butler

 

"There is nothing more satisfying for readers than having an author take them to a place they think they know, and then showing them how very little they actually do."--Hartford Courant

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Picador (November 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312322674
• ISBN-13: 978-0312322670
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #300,258 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN INSIDER PERSPECTIVE, September 25, 2005

By 

Megan A. Ady (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: We Should Never Meet: Stories (Hardcover)

Aimee Phan in 'We Should Never Meet' masterfully weaves different chronological moments in time to create a complex insider perspective on what it was like to be a player in the Vietnam-America story. The tangible, earthy images of Vietnam, bare feet in warm soil, conical hats beating off scorching heat, blend with the identity confusion experienced by Vietnamese transported to America after the Vietnam War. Violence and anger and betrayal are presented blatently, yet in such a way as to inspire compassion and understanding for these characters, caught in a bigger story over which they have very little control. At its heart, this brilliant piece of writing is about what it is to be human, the strange tension in each of us between love and hate, anger and trust, rejection and acceptance, identity and confusion.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lovely linked short stories, January 18, 2006

By 

Valerie "Voracious reader" (United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: We Should Never Meet: Stories (Hardcover)

Even though the subtitle of this book indicates that these are a series of discrete short stories they are all interlinked by the theme of separation, loss, and coming together set against the backdrop of Operation Babylift. Although the specifics of the situation would seem to indicate that these stories would only be of interest to Asian Americanists, I think that Phan really hits upon universal human situations and emotions.

It's incredible to think that this Aimee Phan's first published book length work because it is very polished.

If you are interested in this very weird political maneuver (ok, we'll bomb your country to bits, but we'll also help out the orphans), I would also suggest seeing the documentary, "Daughter from Danang."

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worthy read!, April 6, 2005

By 

S. Lee (Frankfurt, Germany) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: We Should Never Meet: Stories (Hardcover)

Great for anyone interested in the relatively unknown story of Vietnamese-Americans, post-war era. Also for lovers of character studies, the human condition, the general plight of life as presented through the angle of immigrants in a politically-charged atmosphere. The short story format enables smooth and easy reading, without being simplistic in subject or prose. Yet the author maintains a common and fluid thread between the varied stories.