- Charlotte D.
- Wednesday, May 05, 2021
“Remember, you're not half of anything, you're twice of everything.”
― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
Growing up, I didn't have a lot of people that looked like me in my school classes or neighborhoods - mixed race, half Vietnamese, with a funny last name no one could pronounce. I didn't know where to look for stories about folks like me as a young child, though my mom, an avid reader, found several books that mirrored or helped me understand my experiences - most notably among those, The Land I Lost by Quang Nhuong Huynh and Angel Child, Dragon Child by Michele Maria Surat. Even through high school, I was still the "token" in most of my classes. I was frustrated and confused that I was the "other" and yet my voice was not one that was encouraged to be heard.
"I realized staying authentic to myself and my feelings was the best thing I could ever do for myself."
It wasn't until I lived one summer with some of my Vietnamese relatives in Boston - which followed an undergrad history class on the relationship between the US and Vietnam since 1945 - when I really felt that I came into my own as a half Vietnamese, fully American girl. I was working at a publishing company, and except for my family, I was alone in Boston - and I did a lot of reading on the MBTA during my long commute. I began to read about Edward Said's theories of Orientalism and the model minority myth, and I realized that my feelings of duality were valid. I could be of Vietnamese descent, I could be of Caucasian descent, I could be everything I was feeling - simply, I could be me, and I realized staying authentic to myself and my feelings was the best thing I could ever do for myself.
I still struggle daily with my identity - especially with the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes up exponentially over the past year and a half. However, finding books about the Vietnamese diaspora and from the Vietnamese-American viewpoint have helped me realize that representation matters. There are some great Vietnamese-American writers out there who can show you different perspectives - or maybe, show you that you're not alone.

She Weeps Each Time You're Born

The Lotus and the Storm


Pioneer Girl

Things We Lost to the Water

The Mountains Sing

The Committed


The Eaves of Heaven
