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House of Sticks

A Memoir

by Ly Tran
ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
New York City Book Awards Hornblower Award Winner

One of Vogue and NPR's Best Books of the Year

This beautifully written "masterclass in memoir" (Elle) recounts a young girl's journey from war-torn Vietnam to Queens, New York, "showcas[ing] the tremendous power we have to alter the fates of others, step into their lives and shift the odds in favor of greater opportunity" (Star Tribune, Minneapolis).
Ly Tran is just a toddler in 1993 when she and her family immigrate from a small town along the Mekong river in Vietnam to a two-bedroom railroad apartment in Queens. Ly's father, a former lieutenant in the South Vietnamese army, spent nearly a decade as a POW, and their resettlement is made possible through a humanitarian program run by the US government. Soon after they arrive, Ly joins her parents and three older brothers sewing ties and cummerbunds piece-meal on their living room floor to make ends meet.

As they navigate this new landscape, Ly finds herself torn between two worlds. She knows she must honor her parents' Buddhist faith and contribute to the family livelihood, working long hours at home and eventually as a manicurist alongside her mother at a nail salon in Brooklyn that her parents take over. But at school, Ly feels the mounting pressure to blend in.

A growing inability to see the blackboard presents new challenges, especially when her father forbids her from getting glasses, calling her diagnosis of poor vision a government conspiracy. His frightening temper and paranoia leave a mark on Ly's sense of self. Who is she outside of everything her family expects of her?

An "unsentimental yet deeply moving examination of filial bond, displacement, war trauma, and poverty" (NPR), House of Sticks is a timely and powerful portrait of one girl's coming-of-age and struggle to find her voice amid clashing cultural expectations.
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    • Library Journal

      January 1, 2021

      Host of the popular advice column "�Hola Papi!" on Substack, Brammer offers a memoir-in-essays, tracking what it's like to grow up as a queer, mixed-race Chicano kid in America's heartlands (75,000-copy first printing). In The Profession, originally scheduled for fall 2020 and written with Turnaround coauthor Knobler, Bratton tracks a career that led to his being police commissioner in New York City. Burns proclaims Where You Are Is Not Who You Are, sharing where she's been and what she's learned as the first Black female CEO of a Fortune 500 company (75,000-copy first printing). Former teen model Diamond (Naked Rome) reveals a childhood both wacky and cliff-hanging in Nowhere Girl; on the run with an outlaw family, she lived in more than a dozen countries, on five continents, under six assumed identities, by age nine (50,000-copy first printing). Twitter-famous Henderson offers The Ugly Cry to tell us about being raised Black in a mostly white community by tough grandparents after her mother abandoned her. Today show news anchor Melvin uses Pops to explore issues of race and fatherhood while recalling his own dad (100,000-copy first printing). Founder of Chicago's Dreamcatcher Foundation, which assists young people in disadvantaged areas, Myers-Powell recalls a childhood fractured by her mother's death and a life of pimps and parties before finally Leaving Breezy Street (75,000-copy first printing). Growing up scary smart if poor and emotionally unsupported, James Edward Plummer renamed himself Hakeem Muata Oluseyi to honor his African heritage and now leads A Quantum Life as a NASA physicist. In House of Sticks, Tran recalls leaving Vietnam as a toddler in 1993 and growing up in Queens, helping her mom as a manicurist and eventually graduating from Columbia (100,000-copy first printing). In As a Woman, Williams, a celebrated speaker on gender equity and LGTBQ+ issues, describes the decision to transition from male to female as a 60-year-old husband, father, and pastor (60,000-copy first printing).

      Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Kirkus

      April 15, 2021
      A moving coming-of-age memoir by a young Vietnamese American girl growing up in New York City. "We arrive in the blizzard of 1993, coming from rice paddies, mango trees, and the sun to February in the Empire State," writes Tran in the opening passage, recounting how she came to the U.S. with her parents and three siblings. With very little English and almost no money, as well as a father who suffered from PTSD due to his time as a prisoner of war, the family had limited prospects. As she chronicles the significant obstacles her family faced, Tran also shows their grit and determination to survive and thrive in their new home of Ridgewood, Queens. In her vivid depictions, the author spares no detail of harsh winters, malnutrition, and acute poverty. Progressing from their rough times during the "sweatshop days," the family moved on to own a nail salon, and the children dedicated themselves to their education while also working to support the family in their spare time. As the only daughter, Tran describes her troubled relationships with her siblings and parents as well as the trauma of her father's PTSD. Because he believed that wearing glasses meant admitting failure, Tran suffered unnecessarily from severe visual impairment. Her parents also imparted to her a stoic Buddhism, which emphasizes fate and endurance. Occasionally reminiscent of Ocean Vuong's novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous (2019), especially in its sharp examination of the unique cultural and social issues facing immigrants from Southeast Asia, the narrative also speaks to the hardships that non-White women endure under the double yoke of sexism and racism. Particularly difficult to read are the sections in which Tran outlines her mental fragility and the failure of the educational system to sustain her. However, with dedication and the support of friends, the author graduated from Columbia with a degree in creative writing and linguistics. A brutally honest, ultimately hopeful narrative of family, immigration, and resilience.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Booklist

      May 15, 2021
      Tracing the paths of immigration and poverty, Tran's moving and exceptionally readable memoir is at once heartbreaking, shocking, and hopeful. Young Ly and her family arrive in Queens in 1993 through a humanitarian resettlement program made possible because her father, a former lieutenant for the South Vietnamese army, spent 10 years as a POW. His PTSD and paranoia manifest as anger and violence, his only way of protecting his family. Their tiny, roach-infested apartment transforms into a family-run sweatshop; when that work dries up, they buy a rundown nail salon where only-daughter Ly works weekends starting at age 12. While education is important in her family, Ly struggles in school because her father thinks her much-needed glasses are a government conspiracy. Left at home when her brothers move away, unable to engage with a world she cannot see, Ly retreats into herself, sliding into depression. It takes nothing short of a village to get Ly back on track, but finding her voice is something she must do on her own. Tran is exceptional at telling her story with honesty and without judgment. Readers who loved Tara Westover's Educated (2018) will find a similarly compelling memoir of resilience in a not-often-seen America.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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