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A review by sgbrux
Where the Wind Leads: A Refugee Family's Miraculous Story of Loss, Rescue, and Redemption by Vinh Chung
5.0
I’ve barely started this book (I’m reading it for Ozark Literacy Council book club), and I’m already sucked into the story.
All I know is that it’s about a Vietnamese family’s harrowing journey fleeing South Vietnam, crossing the South China Sea, and eventually settling down in Arkansas—and what they were able to achieve and give back following their hardships.
I’m a big fantasy reader, and though this is non-fiction, the book is written in a way that captures many of the storytelling elements I love in great fantasy. I’m listening to the audiobook while reading on my Kindle, and I’m just completely engrossed in the history and memories being shared. Some of it is very reminiscent of the stories my mother has told me from growing up in the Philippines.
I’ll update this review when I finish, but definitely pick it up even if you don’t consider yourself a non-fiction reader.
—
93% done but this will be a five-star read all day.
—
Finished.
Excuse me while I go replenish the earth’s seas with my tears.
Joyful tears.
—
Where the Wind Leads is one of my top 5 memoirs to date. It reads like a rich fantasy story, contains several difficult scenes of violence and other trauma—including themes of extreme poverty, political upheavals, suicide, rape and other brutalities, dangers at sea (typhoons, pirates, dehydration, suicide), cultural nuances, racism, discrimination—but it isn't without a hefty foundation of hope and overcoming throughout.
The Vietnam War wasn't that long ago if you think about it, and this memoir drops you into the Chung family's desperate escape to America, specifically Arkansas (about 45min from where I presently live actually), and is written in a way you almost experience the hard journey along with them.
Being a slightly younger person than the author (with a white American father who served and a Filipina mother, there were so many cultural complexities that resonated with my own experiences growing up feeling not exactly American and not Asian enough to claim the Philippines, either. Even the stories my mother has told me share many similarities with those of Vinh Chung. It made his story that much more relatable and special.
There is some mysticism and an undercurrent of Christianity that is significant to the Chungs, but even with not being a Christian myself, I wasn't at all bothered by it.
I found myself highlighting passage after passage, crying, laughing, nodding in understanding. Such a great story, and it implores me to read more non-fiction stories of this kind.
There's even a bit of angsty romance toward the end when Vinh shares how he met his now-wife, Leisle, and swept her off her feet. So much to talk about there. But I loved it all.
I've made some of my nearly 200 notes and highlights visible if you care to take a look!
Definitely recommend.
All I know is that it’s about a Vietnamese family’s harrowing journey fleeing South Vietnam, crossing the South China Sea, and eventually settling down in Arkansas—and what they were able to achieve and give back following their hardships.
I’m a big fantasy reader, and though this is non-fiction, the book is written in a way that captures many of the storytelling elements I love in great fantasy. I’m listening to the audiobook while reading on my Kindle, and I’m just completely engrossed in the history and memories being shared. Some of it is very reminiscent of the stories my mother has told me from growing up in the Philippines.
I’ll update this review when I finish, but definitely pick it up even if you don’t consider yourself a non-fiction reader.
—
93% done but this will be a five-star read all day.
—
Finished.
Excuse me while I go replenish the earth’s seas with my tears.
Joyful tears.
—
Where the Wind Leads is one of my top 5 memoirs to date. It reads like a rich fantasy story, contains several difficult scenes of violence and other trauma—including themes of extreme poverty, political upheavals, suicide, rape and other brutalities, dangers at sea (typhoons, pirates, dehydration, suicide), cultural nuances, racism, discrimination—but it isn't without a hefty foundation of hope and overcoming throughout.
The Vietnam War wasn't that long ago if you think about it, and this memoir drops you into the Chung family's desperate escape to America, specifically Arkansas (about 45min from where I presently live actually), and is written in a way you almost experience the hard journey along with them.
Being a slightly younger person than the author (with a white American father who served and a Filipina mother, there were so many cultural complexities that resonated with my own experiences growing up feeling not exactly American and not Asian enough to claim the Philippines, either. Even the stories my mother has told me share many similarities with those of Vinh Chung. It made his story that much more relatable and special.
There is some mysticism and an undercurrent of Christianity that is significant to the Chungs, but even with not being a Christian myself, I wasn't at all bothered by it.
I found myself highlighting passage after passage, crying, laughing, nodding in understanding. Such a great story, and it implores me to read more non-fiction stories of this kind.
There's even a bit of angsty romance toward the end when Vinh shares how he met his now-wife, Leisle, and swept her off her feet. So much to talk about there. But I loved it all.
I've made some of my nearly 200 notes and highlights visible if you care to take a look!
Definitely recommend.