Blood Is Thicker Than Water

And if you have a minute, why don’t we go

Talk about it somewhere only we know?

This could be the end of everything

So, why don’t we go somewhere only we know?

Oh, simple thing, where have you gone?

I’m getting old, and I need something to rely on

So, tell me when you’re gonna let me in

I’m getting tired, and I need somewhere to begin

Somewhere Only We Know - Keane

When the pain is all that they offer

Like the kiss from the lips of a monster

You know the famine so well, but never met the feast

When home is the belly of a beast

The ocean is wild and over your head

And the boat beneath you is sinking

Don’t need room for your bags, hope is all that you have

So say the Lord’s Prayer twice, hold your babies tight

Surely someone will reach out a hand

And show you a safe place to land

A Safe Place To Land - Sara Bareilles

Things We Lost To The Water has a story line that makes you want to learn more. Yes it makes you want to learn more about the book itself, but also to dive deeper and to learn the history about which the book was written. Eric Nguyen, the author, told us the story of a woman named Hương and her two sons Tuấn, and Bìhn and how their life went from fleeing their home country of Vietnam as refugees to ending up in New Orleans, LA, USA.

There are five different parts to this book and each part has multiple chapters. Each chapter is narrated first by our main protagonist Hương, and then as the story continues on and as Tuấn, and Bìhn grow up, then there are chapters they narrate as well. This novel spans the years of the 1980s while also moving forward and on with our three protagonists lives.

The novel starts off in 1979 with Hương washing dishes in her New Orleans apartment. There are loud noises that send Hương into a tailspin of emotions because she thinks New Orleans is at war. Hương searches the apartment for both of her sons to make sure they are all stay safe. Hương then takes her one son Bìhn and races with him to the bayou to make their escape, but then the world is silent. It was a hurricane alarm, just a test. Hương of course does not know what that is and she genuinely thought there was a war going on, but an older Vietnamese neighbor of theirs told Hương what was happening and that Hương and her family were safe. Hương finds Tuấn already outside, so she takes both of her boys back into their apartment where they can stay safe. This small but major instance for Hương is what starts off the book and draws the reader in. It puts into perspective that in order for Hương to resort straight to a war going on, it really makes you realize the danger Hương and her family were facing in Vietnam and why they had to leave.

Hương is trying her best to help get herself and her boys used to their new life. Now keep in mind, when Hương escaped Vietnam she is pregnant and has a five-year-old that she now has to care for while being homeless, jobless, and a refugee fleeing her home country. Công, Hương’s husband, was supposed to flee with them, but while they were running through the jungle to get to a boat with other refugees, Công was forgotten/lost in the hustle. Hương noticed that Công was missing once she and Tuấn were already sailing away. This now will add more to her worries while she sails to a new country. Fast forward to Hương and her boys now living in New Orleans, Hương gets a job at a Coke bottling factory and gets an apartment for her and the boys. The apartment complex is called Versailles and everyone else who lives there is also Vietnamese. While living at Versailles, Hương would send letters and tapes back to Vietnam mostly so Công would know that his family is safe and where to find them when he was finally able to leave Vietnam, but Hương was really sending them for her own sanity. Hương had to be discreet though. If she said anything about her and the boys fleeing she was worried the soldiers in Vietnam could have injured or killed Công. Even though each letter was returned unopened over the span of 15 years, Hương continued sending the letters and tapes and would tell people that Công was coming to be with her and her boys one day. Much to Hương’s surprise, a letter was sent back. The letter read to stop contacting Công which was heart breaking for her, but in order to keep up face, Hương told her boys that their father had died because she believed that a lie was kinder than the truth. Tuấn was eleven when he was told his father was dead. This impacted him a great deal. Tuấn was angry, sad, confused, and it was the beginning of his rebellious stage.

Hương ends up dating another Vietnamese man who Tuấn does not approve of and finds quite annoying. This man, Vinh, is portrayed as the reason why Tuấn distances himself from his family. Tuấn makes some friends who are in a street gang called the Southern Boyz who are also kids who fled from Vietnam with their families. Tuấn ends up dating one of the gang members and this adds to Hương’s disapproval of Tuấn distancing himself. Now Tuấn doesn’t remember much about Vietnam, but he knows that he lived there and that he is Vietnamese and he tries to hold onto that while also trying to adapt to the culture in America. As I said before Tuấn distances himself from his family which saddens Hương, but Bìhn’s way of rebellion is a bit more literal to who he is rather than Tuấn. At a young age, Bìhn decides to change his name because he is now an American. He changes it to Ben and that is how he is referred to the remaining of the book. Ben’s story starts off with learning he is a quiet, shy boy, who finds he has a love of literature and he befriends a girl named Addy. Ben and Addy become fast friends because to Ben, Addy is the only person who truly understands him. One summer Ben and Addy spend every single day at the pool where Ben then meets a boy named Howie who takes on the task of teaching Ben how to swim, among other things. Ben starts developing feelings for Howie which makes Ben realize he is in gay. Even though Ben shows that he is proud of himself, it does not go over well with him coming out to his family, which in turn pushes Ben farther away from his them.

Now throughout the book, the boys still believe that their father is dead until Ben finds the hidden letters. Ben confronts his mother and out of anger he drops out of high-school and ends up getting a job cleaning a professor’s house. This particular story line of the novel maybe my favorite. This particular professor learns how incredibly smart Ben is and really takes Ben under his wing. The professor becomes a somewhat guardian for Ben, in turn helping Ben get into University and graduate.

In the midst of Ben leaving his family and trying to find a life for himself, he finds a job after graduation and moves to Paris. Now Công was a literature professor back in Saiong, Vietnam so being in Paris, Ben felt like he was closest with the father he has never met, but much to Ben’s disappointment, Paris was not what Ben thought it would be. With Ben leaving and making a life for himself, as a reader you can’t help but feel sorry for Hương and how Ben left his mother in such an angry way. Of course Ben was upset when he found the letters and found out his father wasn’t in fact dead, but that he never came to find them, it can be very heart breaking. I know as a reader that particular part tore at my heartstrings because the lie of his mother is what started the anger, but the truth about his father is what was the home run.

4.5 out of 5 stars was a perfect rating I think for this book. This novel was a beautifully written piece on how refugees struggle fleeing their home country and trying to make a new home in a completely different area. It also highlights the importance of family and how families struggle with anything and everything, and that can push you away, but it can also bring you closer. The only reason I would say that I bumped my rating down half a point would be that I wanted more. I wanted more of Tuấn and how he redirected his life. I wanted more of Ben and how he struggled or excelled in University. I wanted more of Hương and how she became so reliant on Công and then how she accepted his fate later on in the novel. There were bits and pieces, but I feel like those would have been interesting story lines to develop. I also loved how in depth the history of Asian Pacific culture there was. Whether it was Nguyen using specific Vietnamese language, or showcasing the meals that Vietnamese people ate in Vietnam as well as in New Orleans, as well as Nguyen shining light on the Vietnam war and the after effects of Vietnam residents. I didn’t know much about Vietnamese culture when I picked up this book, and let’s be honest, I still don’t know much, but this book really made me understand how different and how unique Vietnamese culture is. And more importantly, it made me want to learn more.

Both songs I chose speak on Hương and her struggle of leaving Vietnam and building a new life in New Orleans. I think Somewhere Only We Know is a heartfelt letter to Tuấn and Ben. Hương just wants them all safe and together. And if you have a minute, why don’t we go, talk about it somewhere only we know? This lyric specifically is what shows me that yes Tuấn and Ben are making lives for themselves, but especially at the beginning of the story, Hương wants them all to stay in their Versailles apartment, shut off from the new world, and maintain a safeness in their own little circle. Now A Safe Place To Land I think is for Hương personally. The lyrics, when the pain is all that they offer, like the kiss from the lips of a monster, you know the famine so well, but never met the feast, when home is the belly of a beast. This shows me that Hương struggled so much in a new country, but hid it. She tried so hard, in her own way, to build a safe life for herself and her kids, but to her, New Orleans wasn’t home. Home, at one point, was with Công and her boys in Saigon. Towards the end of the book, Hương returns to Saigon and you learn that it is no longer her home either, but New Orleans inevitably takes that title.

For more of an in-depth review, I loved Nguyen’s use of something as simple as water in this novel. As a reader when you hear a title or see a cover of a book you think about it throughout the story trying to piece together why the author chose what they chose. Water signifies a lot in this novel, whether it is being literal or figurative, but some of my favorite water examples are as follows. From the start we have a pregnant Hương and Tuấn fleeing Vietnam on a boat and sailing them to a new country. Then there is the trauma the book starts off with as a test hurricane siren and Hương feeling safe when she goes to escape from the siren into the bayou. There is then the constant leaking in their beat up apartment and Ben’s first sexual awakening with his swim instructor and much more. Even A Safe Place To Land has wonderful water imagery, The ocean is wild and over your head, and the boat beneath you is sinking. The story then ends in 2005 with Hurricane Katrina. Another very literal water experience where Hương and Tuấn are trying to survive and Ben learning of the storm and trying to contact his family.

All in all, this novel showcases a storyline of new beginnings. It makes you want to do research and learn about struggles in other countries. It makes you want to look at your own life and realize how fortunate you really are. It makes you want to appreciate your family and how you got where you are. I hope that anyone who reads this book asks questions about Asian Pacific heritage, as well as your own.