by Phuc Tran
"Tran's story is an American immigration story, and so much more. His delivery is crisp and engaging, and maintains just the slightest element of whimsy...If you're a fan of memoirs and a fan of literature, this is a must- listen." — AudioFile Magazine
This program is read by the author.
For anyone who has ever felt like they don't belong, Sigh, Gone shares an irreverent, funny, and moving tale of displacement and assimilation woven together with poignant themes from beloved works of classic literature.
In 1975, during the fall of Saigon, Phuc Tran immigrates to America along with his family. By sheer chance they land in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, a small town where the Trans struggle to assimilate into their new life. In this coming-of-age memoir told through the themes of great books such as The Metamorphosis, The Scarlet Letter, The Iliad, and more, Tran navigates the push and pull of finding and accepting himself despite the challenges of immigration, feelings of isolation, and teenage rebellion, all while attempting to meet the rigid expectations set by his immigrant parents.
Appealing to fans of coming-of-age memoirs such as Fresh Off the Boat, Running with Scissors, or tales of assimilation like Viet Thanh Nguyen's The Displaced and The Refugees, Sigh, Gone explores one man's bewildering experiences of abuse, racism, and tragedy and reveals redemption and connection in books and punk rock. Against the hairspray-and-synthesizer backdrop of the '80s, he finds solace and kinship in the wisdom of classic literature, and in the subculture of punk rock, he finds affirmation and echoes of his disaffection. In his journey for self-discovery Tran ultimately finds refuge and inspiration in the art that shapes—and ultimately saves—him.
A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books
"The United States was already a better country because Phuc Tran refused to change his name. Then he went even further in changing this country by giving us this bold, funny, and profane memoir: a portrait of a young punk refugee and of heartland America itself, each of them as defiant and compelling as the other." — Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of the Pulitzer Prize winner The Sympathizer and The Refugees
"...going aural is your recommended medium because Tran also makes his narrating debut—prefaced by an actual drumroll, yes!—with energy, empathy, and plenty of curse words, as he shares his no-holds-barred coming-of-age journey in small-town Carlisle, Pennsylvania" — Booklist, starred review
"Tran's story is an American immigration story, and so much more. His delivery is crisp and engaging, and maintains just the slightest element of whimsy...If you're a fan of memoirs and a fan of literature, this is a must- listen." — AudioFile Magazine
This program is read by the author.
For anyone who has ever felt like they don't belong, Sigh, Gone shares an irreverent, funny, and moving tale of displacement and assimilation woven together with poignant themes from beloved works of classic literature.
In 1975, during the fall of Saigon, Phuc Tran immigrates to America along with his family. By sheer chance they land in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, a small town where the Trans struggle to assimilate into their new life. In this coming-of-age memoir told through the themes of great books such as The Metamorphosis, The Scarlet Letter, The Iliad, and more, Tran navigates the push and pull of finding and accepting himself despite the challenges of immigration, feelings of isolation, and teenage rebellion, all while attempting to meet the rigid expectations set by his immigrant parents.
Appealing to fans of coming-of-age memoirs such as Fresh Off the Boat, Running with Scissors, or tales of assimilation like Viet Thanh Nguyen's The Displaced and The Refugees, Sigh, Gone explores one man's bewildering experiences of abuse, racism, and tragedy and reveals redemption and connection in books and punk rock. Against the hairspray-and-synthesizer backdrop of the '80s, he finds solace and kinship in the wisdom of classic literature, and in the subculture of punk rock, he finds affirmation and echoes of his disaffection. In his journey for self-discovery Tran ultimately finds refuge and inspiration in the art that shapes—and ultimately saves—him.
A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books
"The United States was already a better country because Phuc Tran refused to change his name. Then he went even further in changing this country by giving us this bold, funny, and profane memoir: a portrait of a young punk refugee and of heartland America itself, each of them as defiant and compelling as the other." — Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of the Pulitzer Prize winner The Sympathizer and The Refugees
"...going aural is your recommended medium because Tran also makes his narrating debut—prefaced by an actual drumroll, yes!—with energy, empathy, and plenty of curse words, as he shares his no-holds-barred coming-of-age journey in small-town Carlisle, Pennsylvania" — Booklist, starred review
Reviews-
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Listen to this if you want to hear what should be one of the best reviewed memoirs of 2020. Tran's story is an American immigration story, and so much more. His delivery is crisp and engaging, and maintains just the slightest element of whimsy. The memoir traces the Tran family's remarkable journey from Vietnam to America. It also tells the author's own journey from punk misfit to college-bound scholar. Each chapter is tied to a classic work of literature, and this conceit works well. Sometimes authors who narrate their work end up being too low-key or, worse, overexuberant. Tran succumbs to neither pitfall. If you're a fan of memoirs and a fan of literature, this is a must- listen. J.P.S. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
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November 11, 2019
This high-impact, emotional memoir about growing up in a Vietnamese immigrant family refracts the author’s angry adolescence through a prism of classic literature. Tran, now a high school Latin teacher, escaped the collapse of South Vietnam in 1975. One of the only Asian kids in the blue-collar town of Carlisle, Pa., Tran felt like an outsider. Falling in with “a wolfpack” of punk skaters partially satisfied his desire for belonging. But discovering Clifton Fadiman’s The Lifetime Reading Plan, with its lists of must-read books—Crime and Punishment, Madame Bovary, The Autobiography of Malcolm X—sparked his imagination. Books also provided Tran a refuge from the gap between himself and his parents, who he portrays in colorfully unsparing terms, from his mother’s “muscular, if simple, Catholicism” to his father’s habit of beating him with a metal rod scavenged from the garbage: “American efficiency, meet Vietnamese ingenuity.” Being well-read for Tran signified “the promise of acceptance and connection and prestige,” and by book’s end he enters adulthood as his own person and not just as an immigrant or rebel. Filled with euphoric flights of discovery, this complex and rewarding story of a book-enriched life vividly illustrates how literature can serve as a window to a new life.
