Mãn Quotes

“Anh tặng em
Cuộc đời anh không sống
Giấc mơ anh chỉ mơ
Một tâm hồn để trống
Những đêm trắng mong chờ

Anh tặng em

Bài thơ anh không viết
Nỗi đau anh đi tìm
Màu mây anh chưa biết
Tha thiết của lặng im

I offer you
The life I have not lived
The dream I can but dream
A soul I've left empty
During sleepless nights

As I go to you I hold as an offering
The poem I have not written
The ache towards which I strain
The colour of the cloud I haven't known
The longings of silence.”
― Kim Thúy, Mãn

“Julie m'a fait découvrir un lieu en dehors de mon quotidien afin que je voie l'horizon, afin que je désire l'horizon. Elle voulait que j'apprenne à respirer profondément et non plus seulement suffisamment. (p.65)”
― Kim Thúy, Mãn

“Hon gick oförskräckt framåt och sköt nätterna ifrån sig, tänkte bort slagen och använde kroppen som sköld för att skydda sin dotter mot hotet att bli tillbakaskickad till Vietnam, där hon inte längre tyckte sig ha några hållpunkter. Det var lätt att blunda eftersom de båda enda speglarna i den mörka lägenheten reflekterade hans vredesutbrott snarare än hennes egen gestalt, som framträdde i skärvor. Hon hade glömt hur hon såg ut i ett stycke, ända tills den dag då Julie råkade öppna dörren till badrummet när hon höll på att ta av sig kockjackan och hon såg sig själv i Julies blick.”
― Kim Thúy, Mãn

“J’entendais par contre l’écho de son silence et la charge de tout ce qui ne s’entendait pas.
Je retenais alors ma respiration parce que, sans témoin, la tristesse n’existerait peut-être qu’en fantôme.”
― Kim Thúy, Mãn

“...He called her, at random, Big Sister (Chị), Aunt (Cô) and Great-Aunt (Bác). No one held it against him that he came from elsewhere, from a place where personal pronouns exist so that they can remain impersonal. In the absence of those pronouns, the Vietnamese language imposes a relationship from the very first contact: the younger of the two interlocutors must respect and obey the elder, and conversely, the elder must give advice and protection to the younger. If someone were to listen to a conversation between them, he would be able to guess that, for example, the younger one is the nephew of one of his mother's older brothers. Similarly, if the conversation were taking place between two people with no family ties, it would be possible as well to determine whether the elder is younger than the parents of the other.”
― Kim Thúy, Mãn

“Il n'avait pas encore parlé que, déjà, on entendait sa bonne humeur éclater dans son ventre comme du maïs soufflé. (p.44)”
― Kim Thúy, Mãn

“Elle y est resté aussi pour elle, pour éviter de vivre. Dans ce village, elle n'avait qu'à suivre. (p.30)”
― Kim Thúy, Mãn