My Documents
My Documents
My Documents
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Description
Description
The paths of four family members diverge drastically when the U.S. government begins detaining Vietnamese Americans, in this sharp and touching novel about coming of age at the intersection of ambition and assimilation. "Funny, powerful, and propulsive . . . a moving portrait of the kind of people we become when we are trying to survive."--Cathy Park Hong, New York Times bestselling author of Minor Feelings Ursula, Alvin, Jen, and Duncan grew up as cousins in the sprawling Nguyen family. As young adults, they're on the precipice of new ventures: Ursula as a budding journalist in Manhattan, Alvin as an engineering intern for Google, Jen as a naïve freshman at NYU, and Duncan as a promising newcomer on his high school football team. Their lives are upended when a series of violent, senseless attacks across America creates a national panic, prompting a government policy that pushes Vietnamese Americans into internment camps. Jen and Duncan are sent with their mother to Camp Tacoma while Ursula and Alvin receive exemptions. Cut off entirely from the outside world, forced to work jobs they hate, Jen and Duncan try to withstand long, dusty days in camp and acclimate to life without the internet. That is, until Jen discovers a way to get messages to the outside. Her first instinct is to reach out to Ursula, who sees this connection as a chance to tell the world about the horrors of camp--and as an opportunity to bolster her own reporting career in the process. Informed by real-life events, from Japanese incarceration to the Vietnam War and modern-day immigrant detention, Kevin Nguyen's novel gives us a version of reality only a few degrees away from our own. Moving and finely attuned to both the brutalities and mundanities of racism, Mỹ Documents is a strangely funny and touching portrait of American ambition, fear, and family. The story of the Nguyens is one of resilience and how we return to one another, and to ourselves, after tragedy.
About the Author
About the Author
Kevin Nguyen is the author of the novel New Waves. He is the features editor at The Verge and was previously a senior editor at GQ. He lives in Brooklyn.
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
"As another Trump administration kicks into gear, there may be no better, or scarier, work to consider than Kevin Nguyen's second novel, which sees the U.S. government set up internment camps for Vietnamese Americans."--Rolling Stone, "10 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2025" The word 'Mỹ' is the Vietnamese word for 'America, ' and its messy connection with personal possession and subjectivity isn't lost in this rich, gripping novel that lands squarely as a mirror of our contemporary moral squalor."--Los Angeles Times "Following terrorist attacks, the US government begins interning Vietnamese Americans in Kevin Nguyen's trenchant and quick-witted exploration of racism, ambition, and family ties."--Vanity Fair "With relatable characters and abundant wit, Nguyen draws us into his state-of-the-art labyrinth, the startling sum of our Asian American fears. You'll never think of the acronym AAPI the same way again."--Ed Park, author of Pulitzer Prize finalist Same Bed, Different Dreams " Funny, powerful, and propulsive, [Mỹ Documents] skewers capitalism and the hypocrisies of journalism that lull rather than activate our attention to the vulnerable. But ultimately, Mỹ Documents is a moving portrait of the kind of people we become when we are trying to survive."--Cathy Park Hong, bestselling author of Minor Feelings "Drawing from the past to portray a reality that feels terrifyingly possible, Mỹ Documents enthralls and unsettles with every page. . . . the book lays bare how love, ambition, and ethics often muddle the story--and just how high the stakes are for getting it right."--Jenny Xie, author of Holding Pattern and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree "From an editor at The Verge, Kevin Nguyen's second novel is the timely and satirical Mỹ Documents, a speculative tale of Vietnamese assimilation and ambition."--Our Culture "In Nguyen's second novel, four Vietnamese Americans' lives are upended when violent attacks across America create a national panic . . . What follows is a near future that's all-too-possible . . . this book promises to be both a timely read and reminiscent of this country's not too distant past."--Literary Hub, "Most Anticipated Books of 2025" "Nguyen's intricate, striking and poignant plot is to be admired. Mỹ Documents portrays a vision of the country that is distressing in its realism, a memorable, unsettling reminder that both the conditions we allow and the ways in which we resist are crucial sides of the American story."--BookPage "A disturbing page-turner and a powerful look at American racism."--Kirkus Reviews
"Nguyen draws on the legacy of the U.S. government's internment of Japanese Americans during WWII for this intelligent and chilling novel. . . . This poignant narrative is an emotional roller coaster."--Publishers Weekly
"Nguyen draws on the legacy of the U.S. government's internment of Japanese Americans during WWII for this intelligent and chilling novel. . . . This poignant narrative is an emotional roller coaster."--Publishers Weekly
Publishing Information
Publishing Information
Publisher:
One World
Pub date:
2025-04-08
Length:
352 pages
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