Koan Khmer

A Novel

Häftad, Engelska, 2024

399 kr

Beställningsvara. Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar

Fri frakt för medlemmar vid köp för minst 249 kr.

A powerful debut novel about war, immigration, and homeCelebrating the power of literature to rescue a life from despair, Koan Khmer is the story of Samnang Sok, an orphaned child survivor of the Cambodian genocide who sets out to make a new life in America alongside his extended family. Struggling to cope with the traumas of his past, Samnang feels alienated from his American peers at school and disconnected from his aunts, uncles, and cousins at home. Inspired by the books he discovers along the way, Samnang begins piecing together information about the past through stories told by elders, family photographs, and his own memories and dreams. Based loosely on Tuon’s life, the novel traces Samnang’s difficult journey toward an answer to the question, How does one rebuild a life after genocide and displacement and create a home?Koan Khmer gives an unflinching voice to a distinctly Cambodian American sensibility. Tuon creates a refugee space that all Americans can visit in this bildungsroman that breathes life into cultural knowledge disrupted by loss and grief.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2024-08-31
Mått152 x 229 x 20 mm
Vikt354 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor256
FörlagNorthwestern University Press
ISBN9780810147430

Tillhör följande kategorier

Modern och samtida romaner inom Skonlitteratur

PART I: A Cambodian Family PortraitUnder the Tamarind TreeBirthLeaving CambodiaLok-Yeay and Her ChildrenBophaYellow BirdThe Old Man and the MermaidPART II: Surviving in AmericaDust from the SkyLuckyDawnWe Were RefugeesTom and JerryAmerican DreamLok-TaFriendsPu VaesnarEnclosed ParadiseThe Old Woman and Her DogA Simple MisunderstandingThe DoylesA February EveningThe KeysWhere is Samnang?ExposedThe LetterThe Letter # 2RageRat BoyGraduationPART III: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Cambodian AmericanWhat Are You Doing With Your Life?Going West“Ana-herm” StreetA DreamBr_ndon LieuThe Writer’s ClubAnother BeginningA Dream on FireA New FamilyWhy Write?Dear Mr. SokPART IV: Koan KhmerLetter from Koan KhmerEpilogueAcknowledgments

“Koan Khmer takes us to the edges of interbeing. We travel with an orphan child named Samnang Sok, who has survived genocide—as legions of children around the globe do, and do not—as he tries to piece together a story strong enough to hold his life. With the generosity of a poet of witness, Tuon carefully and lovingly opens the space of refugee long enough for us to bear witness to the full brutal and beautiful experiences of Cambodian Americans. I feel like I have a new heart tattoo. I am grateful.” —Lidia Yuknavitch, author of Thrust and The Chronology of Water “Koan Khmer gives light to the Cambodian immigrant/refugee experience, which is unlike any other, and challenges the easy narratives we are fed by mainstream media about the immigrant experience. Transcending the survival narrative, Bunkong Tuon’s debut novel presents to readers a narrator who is not merely the keeper of stories but also the one who seeks, who endeavors, who is more than witness. This is not a book about survival. It is a book about striving.” —Ira Sukrungruang, author of Buddha’s Dog other Meditations