Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
49th out of 83 books
—
52 voters
Vietnamerica: A Family's Journey
by
GB Tran
A superb new graphic memoir in which an inspired artist/storyteller reveals the road that brought his family to where they are today: Vietnamerica
GB Tran is a young Vietnamese American artist who grew up distant from (and largely indifferent to) his family’s history. Born and raised in South Carolina as a son of immigrants, he knew that his parents had fled Vietnam durin...more
GB Tran is a young Vietnamese American artist who grew up distant from (and largely indifferent to) his family’s history. Born and raised in South Carolina as a son of immigrants, he knew that his parents had fled Vietnam durin...more
Hardcover, 288 pages
Published
January 25th 2011
by Villard
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
881)
Easily one of the more interesting aspects of Art Spiegelman's Maus (at least narratively speaking) is the interaction between the author's character and a past he knows little of. Spiegelman tries to understand his father's place in historical events from a place divorced locationally, culturally, and historically from the world in which his father formerly lived. In Vietnamerica, GB Tran unveils his own association with a family history of which he was almost entirely ignorant. His work seems...more
http://andalittlewine.blogspot.com/2012/07/vietnamerica-by-gb-tran-book-review.h...
I read graphic novels in hopes of finding ones as good as GB Tran's Vietnamerica.
Vietnamerica is not an easy read, visually nor narratively. I suspect that is why it didn't win the Eisner Award it was nominated for at Comic-Con earlier this week.
Tran's drawing style is broad, really
too universal. In Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud argues that drawn characters fall on a matrix ranging from the universal (think...more
I read graphic novels in hopes of finding ones as good as GB Tran's Vietnamerica.
Vietnamerica is not an easy read, visually nor narratively. I suspect that is why it didn't win the Eisner Award it was nominated for at Comic-Con earlier this week.
Tran's drawing style is broad, really
too universal. In Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud argues that drawn characters fall on a matrix ranging from the universal (think...more
This visually stunning and honest graphic novel is partly a memoir of the author/illustrator's own reconnection with his cultural roots in Vietnam. Essentially, this is the often-complicated and not easily understood saga of his parents and their ancestors. Tri Huu Tran, his father, grew up with artistic ambitions that were discouraged by his mother and resulted in his becoming a teacher while Dzung Chung Tran, his mother, grew up in a small village where she fell in love with her teacher. Knowi...more
Books like this certainly take a lot of courage to write and I was certainly impressed it it. In fact, I sat and read it all in one afternoon--not because the plot pulled me in, but because the intensity was so strong I knew I wouldn't be able to stop thinking about it if I did put it down.
There is no doubt that GB is an artist because he is able to provide the reader with important ideas without words. On the other hand, I had a very difficult time following it because it was all over the place...more
There is no doubt that GB is an artist because he is able to provide the reader with important ideas without words. On the other hand, I had a very difficult time following it because it was all over the place...more
This graphic memoir tackles one of the crucial themes of the American immigrant experience: the tension between the first generation immigrants' struggle to get to America and their children's relative lack of interest in that struggle and their cultural heritage. The family story being told here is that of Gia-Bao ("GB") Tran, who was born in South Carolina to parents who escaped Vietnam hours before the fall of Saigon in 1975. While he touches upon the problems of cultural assimilation experie...more
I think I enjoyed the art the most - which would make sense considering this is a graphic novel. The color themes are great, switching from story to story. But the triumph of Tran's book are the illustrations that end each chapter - the full panels are clever and touching, some sentimental and some astute repurposing of communist propaganda.
I didn't warm to the actual storytelling immediately. It took me a while to figure out that the author was leading me on the same unveiling of his family st...more
I didn't warm to the actual storytelling immediately. It took me a while to figure out that the author was leading me on the same unveiling of his family st...more
G.B. is a second-generation Vietnamese American who is disinterested with his past until he takes a trip to Viet Nam with his parents to visit the gravesites of his father's father and his mother's mother. This trip allows G.B. to meet his extended family and starts this dialogue with his parents about the war. There are a number of story arcs that tell about the history of his grandparents' generation, of his parents' generation and how their family's lives were in the United States. The tale i...more
Really enjoyed this book! Only my second graphic novel, but I'm getting hooked on the format after two great reads!
I'm a bedtime reader - but with this book (and perhaps all graphic novels) I noticed that it was better to read the book in full light during instead of with just my reading lamp - the colors and artwork were much easier to appreciate in full light! I also liked how GB Tran used different graphic cues (font, text, colors) to identify the various speakers and time periods of the memo...more
I'm a bedtime reader - but with this book (and perhaps all graphic novels) I noticed that it was better to read the book in full light during instead of with just my reading lamp - the colors and artwork were much easier to appreciate in full light! I also liked how GB Tran used different graphic cues (font, text, colors) to identify the various speakers and time periods of the memo...more
I enjoyed this graphic novel because there were some genuinely moving images in its pages. At one point I turned the page and literally gasped at the surprise Mr. Tran had waiting on the next page.
At first, the narrative structure of it really bothered me because I at first did not see the logic of it. As the book unfolded though, I understood the choices he was making and appreciated why he was telling the story in what at first seems a disjointed fashion.
My only real difficulty was the 2nd c...more
At first, the narrative structure of it really bothered me because I at first did not see the logic of it. As the book unfolded though, I understood the choices he was making and appreciated why he was telling the story in what at first seems a disjointed fashion.
My only real difficulty was the 2nd c...more
Really beautiful personal story about the creator's family's history in Vietnam. I haven't read many stories about what it was like to be a citizen of Vietnam during the war. Tran traces his family lineage, talking about his grandparents and his parents. The illustrations are just stunning and there's also a page or two of photographs of his family. He uses lots of different styles of panels, including some absolutely amazing full-pagers that you want to frame and put up in your house. One sligh...more
Even though this book was sometimes confusing because of all of GB's different relatives, it was definitely a moving story about loving a country that tears itself apart and how an escape is often more bitter than sweet.
GB was born in the United States. He did not show much interest in his Vietnamese heritage until he was in college. Both his parents left Vietnam as Americans pulled out of the war. This story is more about what forced GB's family out of Vietnam than the struggles they had in th...more
GB was born in the United States. He did not show much interest in his Vietnamese heritage until he was in college. Both his parents left Vietnam as Americans pulled out of the war. This story is more about what forced GB's family out of Vietnam than the struggles they had in th...more
view all 3 comments
The graphic novel Vietnamerica is the family story of GB Tran whose parents fled Vietnam in 1975 after the fall of Saigon when the American’s gave up the war and the tanks rolled in from North Vietnam. The author was born in 1976 in South Carolina in the USA. Growing up in the US his life is much different to their past experiences and he is not really interested in his family history. This changes when he visits Vietnam after the death of his grandparents who died within months of each other. T...more
1)Craig Thompson-esque, to the point of being derivative. Except for some cool propoganda-like dot-y brightly colored pages, and the pace/layout. The brush-strokeyness of it all was too much like Craig Thompson, but not good enough. Great coloring though, at points.
2)Gloriously uneven. It was supposed to have a non-linear storyline told by different members of the family. But it was not skillfully or deliberately done enough, and I would say, assumed too much of the readers knowledge of the Viet...more
2)Gloriously uneven. It was supposed to have a non-linear storyline told by different members of the family. But it was not skillfully or deliberately done enough, and I would say, assumed too much of the readers knowledge of the Viet...more
I am almost too emotional right now to write this review. This is because I am also a second-generation Vietnamese American who has been largely indifferent to my parents' history until recently. GB's family saga holds personal significance to me, because it brings into stark relief the generational and cultural divide that separates my own family. However, I believe that other readers without a similar background to the author will also be drawn to this visceral graphic memoir.
Tran's family jo...more
Tran's family jo...more
This is my very first graphic novel, a genre that takes time to get used to as there is so much to "see" and in this case, the story went awol sometime...who' s is telling me what now....
I regret that the author didn't go deeper in the first years of the family in America, it must have been soooo difficult for them. although , when you are in a safe country, you don't tend to complain about the different life style, and maybe you try to hang on to a little bit of the old country.
It's very inter...more
I regret that the author didn't go deeper in the first years of the family in America, it must have been soooo difficult for them. although , when you are in a safe country, you don't tend to complain about the different life style, and maybe you try to hang on to a little bit of the old country.
It's very inter...more
Jan 26, 2011
Kristen
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Seth Hahne
Recommended to Kristen by:
Amazon Vine
I have a limited exposure to graphic novels and memoirs, but I was particularly moved by Persepolis and I wanted to like Vietnamerica. On many levels, I did. The art was good, and I only had a black and white ARC. I am sure it will be better with color. The story was interesting and I think readers will enjoy and learn from this book.
However, I found it confusing on many levels. The story follows Vietnam through a number of geo-political shifts which were explained in brief but could have been e...more
However, I found it confusing on many levels. The story follows Vietnam through a number of geo-political shifts which were explained in brief but could have been e...more
2 likes · like · see review
GB Tran's exploration of the history of his family in Vietnam during the war is complex and engrossing. The art work really portrays the chaos of the area during this time. This graphic novel provides a well-deserved look into the lives of the Vietnamese during their struggles against foreign invaders, including the Japanese, French, and Americans and the complex relationships between these groups. GB Tran's representation of his own ambivelence toward his heritage and his naivete with regard to...more
Feb 18, 2012
Jenny
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommended to Jenny by:
Chester
Shelves:
character,
subject-matter
Vietamerica is a narrative exploration through which GB Tran works through his complicated family histories and it's his attempt to understand his enigmatic father and mother. Tran shows he was pretty much indifferent to his parent’s story during his adolescence and this book was the impetus in his adulthood to map out that history and to maybe make up for his previous asshole-ness.
As a work of art, Vietamerica is amazing. The art is dynamic, inventive, varied, and the coloring sets the mood for...more
As a work of art, Vietamerica is amazing. The art is dynamic, inventive, varied, and the coloring sets the mood for...more
Amazing book! GB Tran takes the complex histories of his family and reveals the beauty and terror of homeland and war through multilayered graphic storytelling. Some awesome breakouts into family photos and propaganda-style printmaking display GB's prolific artistry alongside his frank humility. Vietnamerica also made me wonder at my own family history and what similar things my ancestors faced a century earlier: the Danish-Prussian War, hunger in Ireland, pogroms in Russia/Ukraine, Partition in...more
It doesn't matter what race or nationality you are, this book will make you think about your family and your roots. This book shows the struggle of first generation immigrants to get to America and fit in. But it also shows how the second generation doesn't show much interest of their roots until it's almost too late. There are some really moving images that GB Tran illustrated. The words that are said stay in the mind and really make you reflect on your own life. I highly recommend this. I actu...more
I enjoyed Tran's tale of getting to know his family as well as there experiences in their homeland, especially during the Vietnam War. Tran, like many American children of immigrants, isn't interested in learning about his family's history or about Vietnam, his family's homeland, but then, at age 30, he decides to go with his parents to Vietnam. Vietnamerica is the story of that trip and all that he learned. His story and art are so powerful. Highly recommend this book for adults and teens, espe...more
A most impressive graphic memoir, reminiscent of Maus and Persepolis in its intertwining of personal stories and tumultuous history. The multi-linear narrative and poetic visual storytelling is virtuosic. I like a graphic novel that challenges me to pause and consider each image and the layout of visuals across each page spread, rather than rush me from text box to text box. Maus' subtitle, "My Father Bleeds History," is appropriately applied here, too. A haunting meditation on inhumanity, famil...more
Another graphic novel I've acquired for a State Department article on contemporary book publishing.
Vietnamerica is G.B. Tran's ode to his family, particularly his parents, who escaped from Vietnam in the last wave of evacuations in 1975 and made a new life in America.
Tran's dense detailed drawings balance the historical context, which a new generation may be relatively unfamiliar with, against what he calls "the smallest story possible," his father, mother, and extended family.
Tran is now a ca...more
Vietnamerica is G.B. Tran's ode to his family, particularly his parents, who escaped from Vietnam in the last wave of evacuations in 1975 and made a new life in America.
Tran's dense detailed drawings balance the historical context, which a new generation may be relatively unfamiliar with, against what he calls "the smallest story possible," his father, mother, and extended family.
Tran is now a ca...more
Fairly straight-forward "roots" story in which a young Vietnamese American (born in South Carolina shortly after the war) returns to Vietnam, somewhat reluctantly and uncovers his family's tangled history. In some ways it's a fairly staightforward immigrant story enlivened by an effective graphic novel presentation. Some interesting details, especially the portrait of middle class Vietnamese life during the war in Vungtau, an area which was spared direct combat, highly atypical. Good to have the...more
A really good book about the author's parents and their journey to America, about how he learns gradually to appreciate his history. My only complaint is that the cast of character list appears on the inside front cover, which I looked right past when I started reading. If it had been in the intro pages of the book itself, I would have found it easier to keep certain characters straight, becayse the narrative jumps between time periods and locations can really be confusing at times. But the book...more
An interesting look at a family of Vietnamese immigrants in America from the perspective of a son who was born in America. Also a great history lesson and alternative perspective on the history of the Vietnam war. Some of the panels were recycled later in the book which seemed lazy to me. Also, the major theme of the book was for the son to get back to his roots and ended with him understanding and embracing his own families history but didn't get deep into how it affected his identity or the co...more
Five stars! GB Tran's work is a brilliant portrayal of the struggles and discontinuities of his family/ancestral history--he gives us exactly what history should be: always fluid, polymorphous and made up of varying scopes/angles. VIETNAMERICA is GB Tran, son of Vietnam immigrants, exploration of his parent's past and the conflicted homeland they left behind. Along the way Tran is constantly asking: What do I care? It's in the past. In a note Gia-Bao-Tran, his father quotes Confucius, "a man wit...more
This book is beautifully drawn and illuminates a complex family history but I had difficulty keeping all the storylines straight and understanding the relationship between various characters. There were many leaps in times and from character to character, that I found myself lost. I appreciated the depiction of the American-born author within the narrative - on his trip to Viet Nam and in his interactions with his family, but ultimately I could not find the threads to tie the different narrative...more
Like so many other reviewers here on goodreads, I had some difficulties following Tran's narrative; there are continual shifts in voice that have little in the way of indicators for the reader to pick up on (some characters have a special script, but others do not. Also there are many characters and it is somewhat difficult to keep all the names straight as you read owing to the pace of Tran's story-telling and to a lack of familiarity with Vietnamese names). But for me this was part of what mad...more
Born a year after his parents fled the fall of Saigon, G.B. Tran spent his life ignorant to the hardships endured by his family during French-occupied Vietnam and then the American presence that led to the war. He never had much interest in learning his family history despite his parents' coaxing. However, his grandmother has just died and he must return to Vietnam to pay respects. It is this unfortunate event that ignites his curiosity in his family history, and he takes the reader on a visual...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wild Things: YA G...: Vietnamerica | 2 | 40 | Jul 17, 2012 08:40pm |
