Ru
Ratings28
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings28
Average rating3.9
A runaway bestseller in Quebec, with foreign rights sold to 15 countries around the world, Kim Thuy's Governor General's Literary Award-winning RU is a lullaby for Vietnam and a love letter to a new homeland. In vignettes of exquisite clarity, sharp observation and sly wit, we are carried along on an unforgettable journey from a palatial residence in Saigon to a crowded and muddy Malaysian refugee camp, and onward to a new life in Quebec.
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Reviews with the most likes.
I admire the writing. It's filled with both beautiful and horrific images, sometimes stacked together. (E.g., description of grandmother in beautiful dress, at peaceful Buddhist altar; then, the suggestion that the incense blunts the pain that she feels about her departed son.)
On the other hand, I think the lack of structure put me off. I didn't feel attached to any characters because they come and go so quickly that they leave only impressions.
It's a slim volume that in its spare verse and short chapters bring to mind poetry more than prose, even translated from the original french. It's a series of patchwork vignettes bouncing lightly from Vietnam, to the voyage over, to the immigrant experience in Quebec and back again.
