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Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam Paperback – September 2, 2000
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Winner of the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year
Winner of the Whiting Writers' Award
A Seattle Post-Intelligencer Best Book of the Year
Catfish and Mandala is the story of an American odyssey―a solo bicycle voyage around the Pacific Rim to Vietnam―made by a young Vietnamese-American man in pursuit of both his adopted homeland and his forsaken fatherland. Intertwined with an often humorous travelogue spanning a year of discovery is a memoir of war, escape, and ultimately, family secrets.
Andrew X. Pham was born in Vietnam and raised in California. His father had been a POW of the Vietcong; his family came to America as "boat people." Following the suicide of his sister, Pham quit his job, sold all of his possessions, and embarked on a year-long bicycle journey that took him through the Mexican desert; on a thousand-mile loop from Narita in South Korea to Kyoto in Japan; and, after five months and 2,357 miles, to Saigon, where he finds "nothing familiar in the bombed-out darkness." In Vietnam, he's taken for Japanese or Korean by his countrymen, except, of course, by his relatives, who doubt that as a Vietnamese he has the stamina to complete his journey ("Only Westerners can do it"); and in the United States he's considered anything but American.
A vibrant, picaresque memoir written with narrative flair and an eye-opening sense of adventure, Catfish and Mandala is an unforgettable search for cultural identity.
- Print length352 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateSeptember 2, 2000
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.88 x 8.25 inches
- ISBN-100312267177
- ISBN-13978-0312267179
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Thoreau, Theroux, Kerouac, Steinbeck, Mark Twain and William Least Heat-Moon--the roster of those who have turned to their travels for inspiration includes some of America's most noted scribes. Now add Andrew X. Pham to the list . . . Catfish and Mandala records a remarkable odyssey across landscape and into memory.” ―The Seattle Times
“An engaging and vigorously told story . . . a fresh and original look at how proud Vietnamese on the war's losing side reconciled having their identity abruptly hyphenated to Vietnamese-American.” ―Gavin Scott, Chicago Tribune
“A modern Plutarch might pair Pham's story with that of Chris McCandless, the uncompromising young man whose spiritual quest led him to a forlorn death in Alaska. Pham, instead of seeking out remote places where he could explore fantasies of self-sufficiency, instictively understood that self-knowledge emerges from engagement with others. In his passionate telling, his travelogue acquires the universality of a bildungsroman.” ―The New Yorker
“A trip so necessary and so noble makes others seem like mere jaunts or stunts.” ―The New York Times Book Review
“Part memoir, part travelogue . . . Catfish and Mandala [is] a visceral, funny and tender look at modern-day Vietnam, interwoven with the saga of Pham's refugee family.” ―Annie Nakao, San Francisco Examiner
“Far more than a travelogue . . . Catfish and Mandala is a seamlessly constructed work deftly combining literary techniques with careful, evenhanded reportage . . . A gifted writer . . . Pham opens readers to the full sadness of the human condition on both sides of the world, marveling at spiritual resilience amid irreconcilable facts.” ―Roland Kelts, The Philadelphia Inquirer
“No small achievement . . . Scenes of [Pham's] wild road adventure [are] worthy of Jack Kerouac.” ―The San Francisco Chronicle
“Stunning . . . A brilliantly written memoir in which a young Vietnamese-American uses a bicycle journey in his homeland as a vehicle to tell his eventful life story . . . Pham (born Pham Xuan An) fled Vietnam with his family in 1977 at age ten. Raised in California, he worked hard, went to UCLA, and landed a good engineering job. A few years ago, rebelling against family pressures to succeed and a patronizing, if not racist, work environment, Pham quit his job. Much to his parents' displeasure, he set off on bicycle excursions through Mexico, Japan, and, finally, Vietnam. 'I have to do something unethnic,' he says. 'I have to go. Make my pilgrimage.' In his first book, Pham details his solo cycling journeys, mixing in stories of his and his family's life before and after leaving Vietnam. The most riveting sections are Pham's exceptional evocations of his father's time in a postwar communist reeducation (read: concentration) camp and the family's near miraculous escape by sea from their homeland . . . An insightful, creatively written report on Vietnam today and on the fate of a Vietnamese family in America.” ―Kirkus Reviews
“[Pham] fuels his memoir and travelogue, full of both comic and painful adventures, with a broad appreciation of the variety and vividness of creation. The people, the landscapes, the poverty and grime of Vietnam live for us through him, a man full of sadness and unrequited longing and love . . . a powerful memoir of grief and a doomed search for cultural identity.” ―Vince Passaro, Elle
“In narrating his search for his roots, Vietnamese-American and first-time author Pham alternates between two story lines. The first, which begins in war-torn Vietnam, chronicles the author's hair-raising escape to the U.S. as an adolescent in 1977 and his family's subsequent and somewhat troubled life in California. The second recounts his return to Vietnam almost two decades later as an Americanized but culturally confused young man. Uncertain if his trip is a 'pilgrimage or a farce,' Pham pedals his bike the length of his native country, all the while confronting the guilt he feels as a successful Viet-kieu (Vietnamese expatriate) and as a survivor of his older sister Chai, whose isolation in America and eventual suicide he did little to prevent. Flipping between the two story lines, Pham elucidates his main dilemma: he's an outsider in both America and Vietnam--in the former for being Vietnamese, and the latter for being Viet-kieu . . . In writing a sensitive, revealing book about cultural identity, Pham also succeeds in creating an exciting adventure story.” ―Publishers Weekly
“Perhaps the most American writing theme is the road trip as search for identity. Pham has written a memoir (and, in the process, a travelogue) that will be widely appealing. His family immigrated to the U.S. after escaping from Vietnam, where his father had been held in a communist 're-education camp' after the war. Once in the U.S., his parents worked grueling hours to afford to educate their children. During those years Pham's sister ran away after being beaten by her father, and when she returned years later, she had become a transsexual. Eventually, she commited suicide, and her death was a dark, unspoken family secret. Pham, who had become an engineer, had an identity crisis and left his career to bicycle through the U.S., Mexico, Japan, and, eventually, Vietnam, to examine his roots. Seeing his native country through Americanized eyes, he finds it both attractive and repellent. Ultimately, he must reconcile to being an outsider in all cultures.” ―Eric Robbins, Booklist
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Picador; 1st edition (September 2, 2000)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 352 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0312267177
- ISBN-13 : 978-0312267179
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.88 x 8.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #340,079 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #43 in Vietnam Travel Guides
- #242 in Asian & Asian American Biographies
- #9,497 in Memoirs (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Andrew X. Pham trained and graduated from UCLA as an aerospace engineer. He worked at United Airlines as an aircraft engineer before switching career to become a writer while pursuing dual graduate degrees, M.B.A and M.S. in Aerospace Engineering, specializing in orbital debris. His brother's suicide was the catalyst in his pivotal life changing decision.
He writes and lives on the Thai-Laos border in a traditional wooden farm bungalow he built on the Mekong River. He teaches writing and occassionally lead bicycle tours in Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. He has launched a culinary project on Kickstarter.com, titled A Southeast Asian Love Affair: My Cookbook Diary of Travels, Flavors and Memories, a literary work that tells the stories of his life in Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. He can be found at andrewxpham.com
He is the author of Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam (1999) and The Eaves of Heaven: A Life in Three Wars (2009). He is also the translator of Last Night I Dreamed of Peace (2008).
Catfish and Mandala won the 1999 Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize, QPB Nonfiction Prize, and the Oregon Literature Prize. It was also a Guardian Shortlist Finalist, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, a Barnes & Noble Discovery Book, a Border's Original Voices Selection
The Eaves of Heaven was a National Book Critic Circle Finalist and a Asian Pacific American Librarian Association Honorary Book of the Year. It was also the Honor Book of the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association and named as One of the Ten Best Books of the Year by Washington Post Book World, One of the Ten Best Books of the Year by Portland Oregonian, One of the Los Angeles Times' Favorite Books of the Year, and One of the Best Books of the Year by Bookmarks Magazine
Andrew X. Pham also won a Whiting Writer Award, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Montalvo Fellowship.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book engaging and interesting. They praise the writing style as skillful and poetic. The journey is described as interesting, truthful, and a tale of self-discovery. Readers appreciate the author's honesty, empathy, and detailed imagery. Overall, they describe the book as an authentic and beautiful look at Vietnam and its people.
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Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They say it's a must-read for Americans to appreciate life along the way. The book provides a keen, poetic insight into the author's family's struggles. Readers find the journey with Andrew an unforgettable experience and educational.
"...an extremely skilled and gifted writer, so he makes both absolutely fascinating to read...." Read more
"...It maintained my interest throughout and gave me a different take on Vietnamese life/culture (although not an optimistic outlook as I have)..." Read more
"...Catfish and Mandala is a wonderful book for anyone to read who is interested in the Vietnam War and its aftermath...." Read more
"...It's worth a read for Vietnamese people, especially Vietnamese-American, if they have the mentality cause it's brutal, just so they can see...." Read more
Customers find the story engaging and memorable. They appreciate the authentic writing style that captures the journey and emotions. The premise is interesting and the flashbacks are appreciated. Readers find the book part adventure story, part tale of self-discovery, with remarkable experiences.
"...It's really just a well written story of an interesting individual, and his time traveling up the western coast of the US, around the main island..." Read more
"...his view is rather pessimistic, he gives a very thorough/descriptive account of his travels. You almost feel as if you are there...." Read more
"...I'm so glad I did. This is a very interesting story and the book is very well-written, almost poetic in places...." Read more
"...It captivates and challenges, a story of tenacious survival and painful loss. Pham tasks himself with biking from Saigon to Hanoi...." Read more
Customers enjoy the writing style. They find the memoir well-written and detailed, with a poetic narrative that transports them to another world. The book is described as one of the finest memoirs ever written, with its poetic, sad, funny, and enlightening content.
"...Pham is an extremely skilled and gifted writer, so he makes both absolutely fascinating to read...." Read more
"...I'm so glad I did. This is a very interesting story and the book is very well-written, almost poetic in places...." Read more
"...Read this book if you love exquisite, dazzling prose. Read this book if you have lost someone close and your heart swims in grief...." Read more
"...It's well written for the most part and there are some really good passages in the book...." Read more
Customers enjoy the book's journey. They find it interesting to read about Vietnam through the author's eyes. The book provides a fantastic perspective on the complexities of the country and its people. Readers also mention that the book is thought-provoking and enjoyable.
"...It's really just a well written story of an interesting individual, and his time traveling up the western coast of the US, around the main island..." Read more
"...Simple and often deeply personal, they charm as well as challenge. “His (Chi`s) ashes were scattered on the sea he never finished crossing...." Read more
"...Which he is. It also touches on Vietnamese history via the history of his own family and the history of those he meets who stayed behind...." Read more
"...refugee family and its tragic American Odyssey, and finally it is a travelogue and a book for cyclists (like me) to admire...." Read more
Customers find the book insightful and honest. They appreciate the author's perspective from Vietnam, describing his experiences accurately in detail. The book provides valuable insights and wisdom along the way.
"...This book was a wonderful read through and through. An honest testament to the author's life journey and struggles...." Read more
"...It was very authentic, at times raw, but a touching compelling story. Definitely work reading." Read more
"...master prose stylist whose sentences sparkle with originality and ornate metaphors...." Read more
"...Andrew Pham makes this very real and unsettling at times...." Read more
Customers find the book's empathy evocative and honest. They describe the family's experiences as personal and deep, with humor and angst as cultures collide. The book chronicles the struggles of a Vietnamese refugee family and its tragic American Odyssey. It explores life, love, and family through the lens of friendship, etiquette, and entrepreneurship.
"...It captivates and challenges, a story of tenacious survival and painful loss. Pham tasks himself with biking from Saigon to Hanoi...." Read more
"...Andrew Pham makes this very real and unsettling at times...." Read more
"...Traveling with Andrew is an unforgettable experience! He makes you crack up in one scene, then has you drying a tear in another...." Read more
"...He is almost totally devoid of empathy, is constantly whingeing, and never seems to connect his attitude with some bad treatment he almost certainly..." Read more
Customers enjoy the book's authentic writing style and vivid imagery. They find it an engaging look at Vietnam and its people, with detailed descriptions that make them feel like they are there. The author paints a vivid picture of his experiences, making the journey enjoyable.
"...Vietnam is a beautiful, bustling, confusing and contradictory place. The soul of the Vietnamese emigrant returning, even more so...." Read more
"...an understanding of the traumatic postwar period in this sad and beautiful country...." Read more
"Beautiful writer...." Read more
"...recently traveled throughout Vietnam (2014) and can say what a gorgeous country it is, full of wonderful food, friendly people and interesting..." Read more
Customers find the book humorous with a sense of local culture. They find it thought-provoking and amusing.
"...The term sad-funny does not apply here. There's also a hint of mockery and humour...." Read more
"...There is humor, adventure, and sometimes a touch of danger as those around him see him as an outsider. Which he is...." Read more
"...Andrew also has a tremendous sense of humour, which saves and enlightens him as he makes the spiritual journey back to his homeland...." Read more
"...Pham weaves his life story with that perfect blend of humor-sadness-humor that has the reader laughing one moment and choking down tears the next...." Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2024In this book, Andrew Pham alternates between biography and his two wheeled voyage, which works well. I have several cycling buddies who were boat people, so I knew it was for most an extremely harrowing and dangerous experience - one they were all lucky to survive, so Pham's writing in that chapter really hit home.
The trip takes place in the 90's, so it was before Vietnam's more recent economic renaissance. As a result, Pham's trip was both full of peril, but also of great connections, in very unexpected places, since he was traveling more like a local than a tourist. However, he also was caught between nationalities, since he was an American immigrant, but also someone with strong memories of his time in Vietnam - fluent in the language, but visibly different after 20 years in the US. In Vietnam, he was often mistaken for Korean or Japanese, and even when they found he was not, he was still stigmatized as being Viet-Kieu - someone who had escaped and then returned, which did not endear him to many of the locals.
In the book, Pham alternates between his two wheeled travel and his biography, as a Vietnamese immigrant growing up in San Jose. Pham is an extremely skilled and gifted writer, so he makes both absolutely fascinating to read.
A big thumbs up for a book that may be cycling related, but requires no cycling knowledge to appreciate. It's really just a well written story of an interesting individual, and his time traveling up the western coast of the US, around the main island in Japan, and from Saigon to Hanoi, along the coast, chronicling his experiences, was well as those of the highly diverse people he meets on his journey.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2007I mainly bought this book to see another Vietnamese person's view of Vietnam and the struggle that one faces as a Vietnamese American (in terms of merging two cultures together). Although his view is rather pessimistic, he gives a very thorough/descriptive account of his travels. You almost feel as if you are there. He mixes in the stories from his childhood and present together. This book was a wonderful read through and through. An honest testament to the author's life journey and struggles. It maintained my interest throughout and gave me a different take on Vietnamese life/culture (although not an optimistic outlook as I have) although I think his pessimistic view on Vietnam changes near the end of the book.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2024I was hesitant to read this book because of some of the negative reviews. But I was traveling to Vietnam and wanted a book related to my travels so I gave it a try. I'm so glad I did. This is a very interesting story and the book is very well-written, almost poetic in places. I tend to be a tough critic yet I don't agree with the negative reviews. This is one man's experience of going back to his homeland and what it was like for him. It was very authentic, at times raw, but a touching compelling story. Definitely work reading.
- Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2018Andrew X. Pham's personal quest for identity and healing, ‘Catfish and Mandala’ is about as good a memoir you will ever read. A cathartic journey of healing and adventure wonderously crafted, ‘Catfish and Mandala’ is a rare treat indeed.
Pham, a Vietnamese-American, sets out to cycle the home he was forced to flee after the fall of Saigon. It's a profound and unsettling voyage into family dynamics and the American immigrant experience. More than anything, ‘Catfish and Mandala,’ is the author's moving requiem for his transgendered sibling, Chi. It captivates and challenges, a story of tenacious survival and painful loss.
Pham tasks himself with biking from Saigon to Hanoi. Though family and friends warn of the dangers, Pham is not to be dissuaded. His observations of a country in transition are spot-on. “Saigon traffic is Vietnamese life, a continuous charade of posturing, bluffing, fast moves, tenacity and surrenders.” Often times his descriptions touch the lyrical. “Saigon was thick with almsfolk, every market, every street corner maggoty with misshapen men and women hawking their open sores and pus yellow faces for pennies.” Other times Pham crafts aphoristic sentences to be savored and remembered. “Vietnam is a country of food, a country of skinny people obsessed with eating.”
Pham manages to survive his trek, but just barely. He endures dysentery, ravaged roads, avaricious relatives and drunken yokels. As the adventures and privations pile up, Pham works through his troubled family past arriving at a tenuous self-forgiveness. Pham artfully weaves vignettes of his travels with tortured flashbacks from his immigrant past
“Her death left a silent dark hole in our family like an extinguished hearth no one could relight. We talk around her history, unknowingly lacing her secret and our shameful failures deeper into ourselves.”
Pham dissects his difficult relationship with his father, a man burdened with surviving in a new land and providing for a wife and six children. Pham pays homage to man brought up with different values struggling to re-calibrate in his new universe. “Chi…I shouldn`t have beat her like that ….My father beat me. I didn`t know any other way.” Pham writes with awe and sadness of a man with whom he couldn't quite connect. “He was a worrier, a planner, a schemer, his brain an algorithm with too many variables which frequently crashed and never yielded the optimal solution.”
‘Catfish and Mandala’ reads as a poem to the emotional pitfalls of straddling cultures, of leaving something behind and yet not finding something to replace the past completely. “I move through your world, a careful visitor, respectful and mindful, hoping for but not believing in the day when I become native.”
Andrew Pham is a master prose stylist whose sentences sparkle with originality and ornate metaphors. “Happiness, sorrow, and abuse were mixed up like vegetables in a soup.” Simple and often deeply personal, they charm as well as challenge. “His (Chi`s) ashes were scattered on the sea he never finished crossing. At times Pham's artistry models the very best of traditional Japanese haiku. “Morning brings a drizzle as fine as fish bones.” “Like striking vipers, the canes blurred through the air.”
Despite his discomfort with lingering in the limbo between his old and new homes, Pham knows both places better than most. His description of Vietnam could easily fit his newly adopted home as well. “We are, by our own closed admissions, a fractious, untrusting tribe unified only because we are besieged by larger forces.”
Read this book if you love exquisite, dazzling prose. Read this book if you have lost someone close and your heart swims in grief. And read this book if that bewitching jewel, Vietnam herself, has enraptured you. “A little girl, barefoot in mud, clutches a wooden doll, her eyes stabbing mine, wonders on her face.”
- Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2012My husband and I just returned from a tour of Vietnam and Cambodia. Our wonderful guide in Vietnam highly recommended we read this book. I wish I would have read it before our trip, but I am so glad he recommended it. Catfish and Mandala is a wonderful book for anyone to read who is interested in the Vietnam War and its aftermath. I had never thought what it would be like for a Vietnamese person who left Vietnam after the war and then returned as a Vietnamese American. Andrew Pham makes this very real and unsettling at times. His bicycle travels troughout the country bring to life many of the places that I had just visited in a completely different way. I highly recommend it.
- Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2024I bought this again to read. His other books are good but this one was very interesting on his bike ride back home. It really made me think about things.
Top reviews from other countries
- Amazon CustomerReviewed in Canada on December 31, 2022
5.0 out of 5 stars Great true story.
I enjoyed the author's writing style. Both of my parents also read the book and were engaged to the end. I also learned a lot.
- AllanReviewed in the United Kingdom on May 26, 2022
5.0 out of 5 stars A journey of a Vietnamese boy moving to America trying to make sense of all the trauma in his life
In this book you get into the mind of this Vietnamese-American as his story flip flops into and out of his family journey from Vietnam to refugee life in America and his epic journey of discovery and memory of his homeland. Pham's story is gripping and vivid in equal measure and makes for a book that is hard to put down.
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Jane A.Reviewed in Italy on January 14, 2018
2.0 out of 5 stars cumbersome read
I read this book because I am about to travel to Vietnam (after various other trips to the area).
It describes the author's journey across the country on a bike, with frequent and long digressions about his past as a Vietnamese refugee in the United States with his highly disfunctional family (where they eventually become naturalized).
A lot of belly-gazing is involved but in the end the impression one gains is that the author rather enjoys moaning about things, including bouts of dysentery described in great detail.
Vietnam as a country, seen through his eyes, seems to be a place populated by a poor, corrupt, greedy and altogether unlikeable population and, were one to believe the author, one would be put off from the idea of visiting.
Altogether everybody in the book is rather nasty and unkind: the violent father, the thugs encountered on the road, the corrupt officials, the people ingratiating themselves with sad stories and lies in order to rip him off.
In the end he goes back the United States and the only lesson he seems to have learnt is: "I want to be a better American". Not a big deal, it seems, after a year on the road.
If you are looking for an interesting travelogue about Vietnam you may be disappointed: the author gives little information, historical or otherwise, apart from a few obvious (and always overly emotionally laden) references to the Vietnam war, the only period he has any (patchy and biased) knowledge of. For someone criticizing the Vietnamese for their tendency to use the war topic in order to gain sympathy, he seems to to the same rather a lot, without being able to bring any real compassion or understanding to the subject, and without having done any in-depht research (historical, cultural, personal). Everything starts and ends with his own and his family's experience and his point of view is dangerously ignorant, black and white and biased by the typical American tunnel-vision (rich=good, success=good, culture=overrated, history=rubble, ruins=boring, coca cola=only drink worth drinking in the whole world, even if the most expensive (why not drink tea, one wonders?), Communism=very very bad, ambiguity=intollerable).
All in all an immature book, a post-teenage outburst about psychological and family problems, written more for the family to read than to make any real sense of what has happened, historically and psychologically, to said family, and with a rather embarrassing american patriotism which somehow fails to mention the war crimes committed and the absurdity of the havoc wrought, while at the same time implying it was inevitable, like an earthquake or a tsunami.
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Amazon カスタマーReviewed in Japan on November 23, 2016
4.0 out of 5 stars アメリカに住むベトナム人の書いた小説
英会話学校の先生に勧められて読みました。英会話の本には出てこない小説英語の表現がとても参考になりました。
アメリカに住むベトナム人が日本の成田空港から京都へ自転車旅行した様子やベトナム人から見た日本についても書かれています。
- JReviewed in the United Kingdom on August 26, 2024
4.0 out of 5 stars Exciting and Poetic
Really enjoyed this read, the Author has quite a way with words and got me thoroughly engrossed reading chapter after chapter, quite sad it's finished now. Not much travel literature on Vietnam so I definetly recommend to read this one if you get the chance. Only downside was the way he talked about Vietnamese was very negative in many ways and could put alot of travellers off visiting the country.