<div>“Much will be made—and rightly so—of the eloquent commentary [Lam’s] essays provide on Vietnam and the Vietnamese . . . a fascinating and important book.” —Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize–winning author A PEN American Beyond Margins Award winner In his long-overdue first collection of essays, noted journalist and NPR commentator Andrew Lam explores his lifelong struggle for identity as a Viet Kieu, or a Vietnamese national living abroad. At age eleven, Lam, the son of a South Vietnamese general, came to California on the eve of the fall of Saigon to communist forces. He traded his Vietnamese name for a more American one and immersed himself in the allure of the American dream: something not clearly defined for him or his family. Reflecting on the meanings of the Vietnam War to the Vietnamese people themselves—particularly to those in exile—Lam picks with searing honesty at the roots of his doubleness and his parents’ longing for a homeland that no longer exists. “Lam shatters the assumptions of readers who have encountered the Vietnam experience only through American pop culture . . . He writes with the delicacy and intensity of a poet.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review “Andrew Lam writes with the honesty of a true journalist and the feeling of a born storyteller. On his many journeys between Vietnam and the U.S., he sees first-hand the global consequences of war. Perfume Dreams is a meaningful book for our times.” —Maxine Hong Kingston, national bestselling author of The Woman Warrior “Lam’s insights into Asian American life are reflected in candid, witty anecdotes that reveal much about the difficulties of living in two cultures.” —Audrey Magazine</div>

Perfume Dreams

<div>“Includes some of Lam’s most memorable writings, about cuisine, self-esteem, sex and kung fu, all seen from a two-hemisphere perspective.” —SFGate East Eats West shines new light on the bridges and crossroads where two global regions meld into one worldwide “immigrant nation.” In this new nation, with its amalgamation of divergent ideas, tastes, and styles, today’s bold fusion becomes tomorrow’s classic. But while the space between East and West continues to shrink in this age of globalization, some cultural gaps remain. In this collection of twenty-one personal essays, Andrew Lam, the award-winning author of Perfume Dreams, continues to explore the Vietnamese diaspora, this time concentrating not only on how the East and West have changed but how they are changing each other. Lively and engaging, East Eats West searches for meaning in nebulous territory charted by very few. Part memoir, part meditation, and part cultural anthropology, East Eats West is about thriving in the West with one foot still in the East. “In these lovely, wise, probing essays, Andrew Lam not only illuminates the crucial twenty-first-century issues of immigration and cultural identity but the greater, enduring issues of what it means to be human . . . a compelling book.” —Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize–winning author “Andrew Lam is an expert time-traveler, collapsing childhood and adulthood; years of war and peace; and the evolution of language in his own life, time, and mind. To read Andrew’s work is a joy and a profound journey.” —Farai Chideya, author of The Episodic Career “One of the best American essayists of his generation.” —Wayne Karlin, author of A Wolf by the Ears</div>

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East Eats West

<div>From the award-winning author of Perfume Dreams, a collection of thirteen short stories following Vietnamese immigrants new to the United States. The thirteen stories in Birds of Paradise Lost shimmer with humor and pathos as they chronicle the anguish and joy and bravery of America&rsquo;s newest Americans, the troubled lives of those who fled Vietnam and remade themselves in the San Francisco Bay Area. The past&mdash;memories of war and its aftermath, of murder, arrest, re-education camps and new economic zones, of escape and shipwreck and atrocity&mdash;is ever present in these wise and compassionate stories. It plays itself out in surprising ways in the lives of people who thought they had moved beyond the nightmares of war and exodus. It comes back on TV in the form of a confession from a cannibal; it enters the Vietnamese restaurant as a Vietnam Vet with a shameful secret; it articulates itself in the peculiar tics of a man with Tourette&rsquo;s Syndrome who struggles to deal with a profound tragedy. Birds of Paradise Lost is an emotional tour de force, intricately rendering the false starts and revelations in the struggle for integration, and in so doing, the human heart. *Finalist for the California Book Award* &ldquo;His stories are elegant and humane and funny and sad. Lam has instantly established himself as one of our finest fiction writers.&rdquo; &mdash;Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize&ndash;winning author of Perfume Mountain &ldquo;Read Andrew Lam, and bask in his love of language, and his compassion for people, both those here and those far away.&rdquo; &mdash;Maxine Hong Kingston, award-winning author of The Woman Warrior</div>

Birds of Paradise Lost

<div>&ldquo;Compelling . . . Gritty in its historical detail . . . An eye-opening novel about a little known story at the far side of World War II&rdquo; (Anita Shreve, New York Times&ndash;bestselling author of The Pilot&rsquo;s Wife). Inspired by true events, Two Sons of China is a sweeping historical saga from a forgotten theater of World War II, an action-packed tale about an unlikely friendship between two soldiers&mdash;one American, the other, Communist Chinese&mdash;and the powerful forces that threaten to tear them apart. In 1944, American troops have arrived in China to help fight the Japanese. Lt. David Parker loathes his assignment to isolated Chungking. The war there is stalled because Chiang Kai-shek&rsquo;s Nationalist government is corrupt and unwilling to fight. So when Parker hears of a special American mission venturing north to assist Mao Zedong&rsquo;s Communist forces, he is desperate to join them. Rumors have spread that the Communists are fighting the Japanese with heroic zeal. Lin Yuen, a reclusive and skilled Communist guerilla leader, can scarcely hide his annoyance when Lieutenant Parker is assigned to join his next dangerous mission behind enemy lines. Both men have deeply held, clashing convictions, but the battles they fight, the horrors they witness, and the brotherhood they forge ultimately transform them both. As the end of World War II forces America to take sides in an impending Nationalist-Communist civil war, Parker and Yuen find their loyalties tested. Together, they must confront a final trial&mdash;one that imperils the honor they cherish and the people they love. &ldquo;Two Sons of China takes you to WWII China, introduces you to a fascinating cast of characters, and spins a terrific tale of adventure and romance. If you love historical fiction, or any fiction, don&rsquo;t miss it. A superb debut.&rdquo; &mdash;William Martin, New York Times&ndash;bestselling author of Back Bay and The Lincoln Letter</div>

Andrew Lam
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Books By Andrew Lam (4 Books)

Perfume Dreams

East Eats West

Birds of Paradise Lost

Two Sons of China

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Andrew LamFollow this author

Books By Andrew Lam (4 Books)

Perfume Dreams

East Eats West

Birds of Paradise Lost

Two Sons of China

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© 2024 OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA

Andrew Lam
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