Miss Lien

• No distinguishing marks for dialogue (at least in the ebook). It makes the narration and dialogue flow into the same structure almost as if poetry.
• It seems to be going back and forth between the “present” and the “past”, but it does not distinguish which one is which. There is no change in tense.
• There is a parallel between Lien giving birth to a child and how her family accepted the arrival of new children. It seemed more like a gift with her family but a burden to Lien. The child is labeled as the Infant and not her son.
• Even though her immediate family treated her with the same privileges given to the eldest son, the rest of society would not give her the same liberties. If she were to sell her body, it would have been more profitable than trying to work.

We Should Never Meet

• Feeling sorry for mixed race? I guess there’s animosity towards those who are not fully Vietnamese/ South East Asian. In the previous story, it highlighted the benefits of a GI father but not in this story.
• Kim not only wants to square her debt with Vinh but wants to leave and be free from his place. There’s a conflict between wanting to be safe and wanting to be free. Mixed feelings you could say.
• Kim’s height is an anchor point for the success of those around her. While she doesn’t see herself as better, she sees the other around her as worse off in society and those who would never amount to the stature they wanted.
• The bracelet was a sign that Kim thought the Woman at the shop being her mother. But she was only trying to make her feel better. This cross-cultural mistake set things off. The bracelet doesn’t mean the same thing in America, or at least in Kim’s America.

The Delta

• Orphans and orphanages seem to be a common setting in these stories. Are they connected to the previous stories or are they a large part of the generation during the Vietnam war?
• Amerasian babies were more likely the products of rape by American soldiers. They are described as innocent but that shows the disgust towards Americans. This might explain the pity towards Kim.
• Leaving Babies at the door just like the last story. I wonder if there is a connection between Lien and Kim?
• The church is a way to explore the division in Truc’s life with Phoung and how the nation is divided. It reminds me of Korea’s division but not as if it were the same.

Visitors

• Brookhurst Ave. was the street in Vinh’s gang. The stories might be part of a less traditional cycle. The back and forth in the sotries might be reflected in the rest of the book.
• The strategy of avoiding trouble with police is similar to that with Vietnam. It might show similarities between the Vietnamese government and the American government. The previous story hinted at a more united alliance between governments.
• Is Bac a formal title? Similar to the title that characters of Bacho’s Dark Blue Suit would address the older men in their friends and family?
• The viewpoints of generations are fascinating. Bac Nguyen sees America better than the Vietnam he knew, but Vinh sees America as a place that robbed him of his Vietnamese identity. Both individuals have a distaste from their own experiences in life.

Gates of Saigon

• I think that the order of the stories are forwards and backwards every other story. The odd number stories are progressing forward, and the even number stories are progressing backwards in time. Later on, it shows both sets of stories are progressing forward, but the odd stories predate the even ones.
• Mixed race is seen as one betraying Vietnamese heritage. Even though they are seen as innocent in the previous story, they are now seen as lesser children.
• The way Phan describes as “Steven believes he had rescued this child,” points to this understanding that saving a life and keeping one alive are not necessarily the same thing. Reality has detached the emotion towards the children.
• There is a duality that is reoccurring. The idea of not being able to stay but also not being accepted or able to leave. There is pull from both ends of the equation.

Emancipation

• Mai see her journey from being an orphan and her connection to her mother as almost normal to her. However, everyone around her is taking pity. Rejecting pity seems to be a common theme in these stories.
• Even though they grew up together, they were dramatically different lives. Mai stayed closer to the books, while Kim left the academic world for her gang.
• Mai lives with the Reynolds, but she can’t help but worry about what will happen when they get another foster child. She almost feels like a commodity that is only good until she turns 18.
• There is tension between who came out on top and who got stuck with the short end of the stick. Even though they had no control of who was to take care of them, there is still this idea that Mai lucked out and left everyone else behind.

Bound

• There is this back and forth conflict between accepting all the children in need and only being able to safely take care of a certain number of them. Is saving another child’s life worth indirectly killing another?
• Unlike the other stories the timelines seem to be more aligned Ronald’s and Bridget’s perspectives seem to be happening at the same time. This seems to be brining the past and present closer together, where the last story was pulling them apart. After reading the whole story, it was more akin to the first one of both progressing at separate times.
• The outside perspective of the American reporter and Bridget was interesting. While the reporter was complementing Bridget for her service and valor, she saw it as ignorance looking in on without any knowledge of what was going on.
• There is disdain towards Bridget for leaving he loved ones to help those in need. It is like the opposite perspective of leaving a loved one because they couldn’t take care of them. This story is this on-going question of which one the better choice is.

Motherland

• By Huan mentioning Gwen, the reader can infer that Bridget did not get custody of the child, if this is the same Huan. The commonality of a false promise or a misleading sense of hope seems to be a common theme in most of the books.
• Huan doesn’t necessarily want to know his roots. His mother seems to be insistent on doing something he has no interest in and he only sees it as a hassle.
• Vietnamese don’t like overseas Vietnamese. There are similar interactions in other Asian countries as well. In the beginning of the book there was animosity towards the babies as being half American and that seems to remain consistent.
• Emily left him because his mother wouldn’t except a half Asian and half black child man for her daughter. Based on the setting of the stories, I wonder if the riots are a main cause for it. The tensions between blacks and Koreans still affect him even when he is also Vietnamese.