At the tender age of ten, Kim Thúy embarked on a journey that would shape the course of her life and eventually inspire her debut novel, Ru. Fleeing Vietnam with her family, they left behind not just a grand house but the intangible riches of their homeland – the ponds adorned with lotus blossoms, the melodies of soup vendors echoing through the air. Their destination was Quebec, a place where flea market clothes and mattresses harboring actual fleas awaited them.
Crafting an Immigrant Narrative
Kim Thúy’s narrative unfolds against the backdrop of an immigrant experience that spans continents and cultures. She navigated the challenges of adapting to a new language and forging a path through the opportunities available to an immigrant. From toiling in fields to sewing clothes, and eventually working as a lawyer, interpreter, and restaurateur, Kim’s journey embodies the resilience and determination of those who seek a better life in a foreign land.
It was in the midst of marriage and motherhood that the urge to write seized Kim Thúy. Fingers itching for a pen, she scribbled words in every available moment, capturing her own story on paper. Ru, with its title resonating in both Vietnamese and French, unfolds as a lyrical tapestry of memories and migration. In Vietnamese, “ru” is a lullaby, while in French, it becomes a stream – a fitting name for a novel that meanders through time, flowing and transporting readers along a river of sensuous memories.
A Comparative Lens: Em vs. Ru
Despite its potency, Ru might not strike the same chord with everyone, especially those who were captivated by Kim Thúy’s later work, Em. The debut novel, while sharing the same lyrical essence, may lack the tight editing that characterized Em. Some readers might find the narrative meandering, making it challenging to connect with the main character’s journey from communist Vietnam to Malaysia and then Canada.
In comparison to Em, Ru may give readers a sense that the characters’ stories are closely intertwined with the author’s own experiences. While this personal touch can be a compelling aspect of storytelling, it might, in this case, distract readers from fully immersing themselves in the fictional world of the characters. The feeling that the characters’ stories are borrowed from the author’s life might detract from the immersive experience that readers seek in a work of fiction.
The Echoes of Reality in Ru
While Ru is a powerful exploration of memory and migration, I cannot help but acknowledge that my personal reading experience fell short of the profound connection I experienced with Em. The infusion of the author’s experiences into the characters’ lives, while not inherently problematic, created a sense that the characters in Ru were not fully liberated from the author’s own history. Unlike the immersive journey into a fictional realm that Em offered, Ru left me feeling as though I had not fully escaped the gravitational pull of the author’s reality.
For those who revel in the intertwining of fiction and autobiography, Ru may still prove a captivating read, but for me, the echoes of the author’s own experiences detracted from the full impact of the novel. As the rivers of memory and migration flow through the pages of Ru, readers are left to navigate the complex currents, deciding whether the blend of reality and fiction enhances or hinders the overall reading experience.
“My parents often remind my brothers and me that they won’t have any money for us to inherit, but I think they’ve already passed on to us the wealth of their memories, allowing us to grasp the beauty of a flowering wisteria, the delicacy of a word, the power of wonder. Even more, they’ve given us feet for walking to our dreams, to infinity. Which may be enough baggage to continue our journey on our own. Otherwise, we would pointlessly clutter our path with possessions to transport, to insure, to take care of.”
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