Nothing Follows

by Lan P Duong

The title of this debut collection, Nothing Follows , is reappropriated from a government document establishing the beginning of a refugee family’s time in the United States. At every coordinate of their lives, the refugee family provides affidavits, letters, and reams of paperwork as they work to beseech those in power to grant them “family reunification” visas for those they had to leave behind in 1975 after the fall of Saigon. Nothing Follows draws from the genres of memoir and poetry. Written from a young girl’s perspective, the center of this world is a military father, an absent mother, sisters who come and go, broken brothers, and friends she meets in San José. With each place the book travels through—from Butler, Pennsylvania, to San José, California—we see that racism, objectification, and sexual violence permeate the realities of the narrator and those close to her. In marking the journey, Lan Duong recreates the portraits of the girl’s friends and family and maps out refugee girlhoods. Spiked with violence, pleasure, and longing, these refuges are questionable sanctuaries for those refugee girls who have grown up during the 1980s in the aftermath of war.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Hardcover

Published April 5, 2023

Reviews

[Shawn Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been reading a lot of Vietnamese-American literature, mainly because I own so many and I need to go through them before I buy more. Nevertheless, I notice that my collection is primarily made up of poetry from a variety of authors with varying experiences that make each work different and unique.

Nothing Follows details a girlhood that is violent, ugly, and a little bit nasty (as in attitude). As a Viet girl who grew up on the east coast in my own little ethnic enclave of hustlers, questionable father figures, and girls who both fought and stood up for each other, I am thankful for this story of Viet girlhood into womanhood.

Many of the works I’ve read have focused on family and this book is no exception. There’s still a delicate air around even the critique that seeps through the poems. Our parents are flawed but they are ours for as long as they are here. Definitely will reread to see what else I take from it.

Highlights:
- In This House
- CLOUD ANCHOR HOUSE
- Roman Holiday
- Fragmented Reason
- We Refugee
- Babyface
- What We Say When We Talk About Việt Nam