American Dreamer

I find myself, at the moment, reading more memoirs and biographies than usual which I think is the result of wanting to be inspired by the courage and bravery of others. In a year when so much is uncertain, memoirs such as Tim Tran's highly engaging memoir of his incredible life help me to understand what people are capable of when they are determined. And Tran is one truly determined man. I have noticed that a recurring theme of immigration memoirs is the importance placed on education and the lengths to which families will go in order to try ensure a good education for their children. Tran's father provided this driving force for his son and I loved how Tran then acknowledged the place that books and libraries have played in his life journey.

The chaotic scenes of upheaval as Tran's family relocated from North to South Vietnam in the 1960s provided a taste of the traumas in store once the North Vietnamese army overran the South a few years later, but in the meantime Tran provides readers with an interesting account of his college years in early 1970s America. Such a complete change of culture could have been overwhelming, but Tran explains how his outgoing nature coupled with quiet observation of the people around him and a good sense of humour helped him to make friends and fit in, crossing barriers of race and affluence. I appreciated his demonstrations of how he repeatedly relied on these skills as his life turned into something of a rollercoaster.

I cannot begin to imagine what it must take emotionally to remain positive and hopeful under the circumstances that all the boat people endured. Their sea journey, albeit with different hazards, reminded me of the journey undertaken by Yusra Mardini in Butterfly and, like Yusra and her sister, I realised that although the Trans were effectively destitute upon their second arrival in America, they had been successful people back in Vietnam. There has to be a better solution for refugees to travel globally without losing everything they own, paying vast amounts to be smuggled, and then spending months or even years in camps. It's such a waste of these people's lives and talents.

American Dreamer is a very readable memoir. It does, understandably, visit painful memories of awful situations, but also shows the good side of humanity with various people coming together to help in any way they can. Tran acknowledges how small kindnesses in desperate times were just as valuable to him as grand gestures. I think that is one of the strongest lessons I will take from reading his memoir.