Excellent Vietnamese immigration story -- breaks down many complex factors and tells many stories. Sometimes difficult to follow (thank goodness for the careful naming of the main protagonists), because the shifting in time and perspectives can be hard to follow. Nonetheless a heartbreaking and well done personal narrative. ( )

graphic memoir/family history. This got a bit confusing with all of the different storylines of various members of a (large and complicated) family, but it replicates the author's experience of having grown up relatively easily in the Carolinas and then finding out about all these layers of story and struggles and his family's experiences of living/surviving in Vietnam during the years of conflict. It was all extremely complicated, and this story conveys that also. ( )

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 journey detailing the events of his grandmothers' lives, how they impacted the lives of his parents and their eventual decision to escape Vietnam.

Vietnamerica offers an interesting glimpse into the Vietnamese side of events during the mid-20th century. Additionally, Tran's maternal and paternal grandmothers came from fairly different upbringings and engaged in different lifestyles, which further enhances the uniqueness of the storytelling. It was a little difficult keeping some of the story lines separate as Tran utilizes a series of flashbacks to tell the various events of his family members. I think a lot of this was due to my lack of familiarity with the Vietnamese names, but Tran provides a family tree illustrated on the inside cover and adjoining fly leaf which really helped my understanding. At the same time, this mixture of flashbacks makes for a thoroughly engrossing reading experience. Ultimately, I appreciated the variety of Vietnamese perspectives as I've mostly only read American soldiers' accounts in any works on Vietnam. It serves as a sober reminder of the daily struggle endured in the lives of civilians in a war-torn country and that war is never black and white.
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I saw one of my coworkers reading this and decided to pick it up for myself. The format of the graphic novel is particularly powerful in the telling of Tran's family history; he does not insert himself overmuch into the narrative, but allows his family members to tell how it was. Because of the content and the intensity of the story, this will likely appeal to more adults than teens. ( )

Family is complicated. But when your family is fractured by secrets, a violent past, and a grafted future, it's even more complex. G.B. Tran mines this family history in his graphic memoir, a beautifully told and illustrated chronicle of his family's immigration to the United States. ( )