An inspiring story about the success of Anh Do, a refugee who became a well known comedian in Australia. The chapters about how his family escaped from post war Vietnam on a fishing boat were especially captivating. His father's leadership and courage were instrumental in getting the family to survive a journey fraught with danger.
Anh Do started the book with feelings of anger against his father who left their family when he was thirteen. There is no doubt he really appreciates how hard his mother had to work to fend for him and his siblings. However, I find that throughout the book, his love and admiration for his father underlies his own outlook on life. Often his life decisions were based on his father's sayings like “There are only two times. Now and too late.” or “Always question your fear, Anh. there's almost never a good reason to be scared.”
Our discussion used the book to launch into the broader problem of racism in this country and the Australian Government's history of handling the influx and method of processing refugees and asylum seekers. We all had our opinions on issues such as offshore vs onshore processing and whether refugees are assimilating into our society. Suffice to say that we agreed to disagree but still remained friends after our meeting!
Thank you to Melissa for telling us about Dr Helen Szoke's talk at the National Press Club on how Australia is tackling racism. As our Race Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Szoke explains how a racial equality agenda should encompass promoting racial equality as well as tackling racism. She said : "The reality is for people who never experienced racism, they don't actually understand what impact and what damage it does".
If you'd like to watch the whole episode, the link is : http://www.abc.net.au/news/programs/national-press-club/
We felt that this was an easy read and rated the book 7.7 out of 10.
Our next book is The Street Sweeper by Elliott Perlman and it will be on Sept 27th Thursday at Lee's place.
I think it's so important for Australians to appreciate personal stories from the refugee experience to gain a more three-dimensional understanding. It is so easy to fall into a 'them and us' zone, where the so-called 'Boat People' are seen as some kind of collective alien group discussed in the news and by politicians but without individual humanity. This book is a great contribution to providing a more intimate understanding and therefore greater compassion.
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ReplyDeleteI loved this book it was an easy read, uplifting and inspiring!!
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