Things We Lost to the Water. By Eric Nguyen

Abstract

History is cyclic. And so is the theme of Eric Nguyen’s debut novel that begins and ends with a Vietnamese refugee woman bearing a storm in America. A beautiful, intimate tale of overlapping histories, Things We Lost to the Water mediates on the theme of water to link the disparate colonial histories of place and persons. The story begins with a family of Vietnamese refugees finding their way in the American city of New Orleans in the late 20th century. Hương, the matriarch and protagonist, lost her husband as they were fleeing Vietnam post-Vietnam/American War. She raises two sons in America as a single mother. The main question of this novel is what happened to Hương’s husband, Công, who was left behind in Vietnam during their escape. While trying to make sense of resettlement and figuring out the whereabouts of their father, life goes on for Tuấn and Bình (Ben), sons of Hương. Tuấn finds community in the Southern Boyz, a Vietnamese street gang in New Orleans comprised of teenagers that formed to protect the Vietnamese community from racism and harassment in America. Tuấn is dating Thảo, the unspoken matriarch of the Southern Boyz. She is a Vietnamese American girl that embraces and is prideful in her Vietnamese heritage. Whereas his brother veered towards a life on the streets, Ben found solace in his studies. Ben is a young queer Vietnamese American boy who is finding himself in New Orleans as he looks for his father around the world. His childhood best friend, Adelaide (Addy) Toussaint, is a witty young Haitian immigrant girl from a single-father household.