A Man of Two Faces

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

The highly original, blistering, and unconventional memoir by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer, which has now sold over one million copies worldwide

With insight, humor, formal invention, and lyricism, in A Man of Two Faces Viet Thanh Nguyen rewinds the film of his own life. He expands the genre of personal memoir by acknowledging larger stories of refugeehood, colonization, and ideas about Vietnam and America, writing with his trademark sardonic wit and incisive analysis, as well as a deep emotional openness about his life as a father and a son.

At the age of four, Nguyen and his family are forced to flee his hometown of Ban Mê Thuột and come to the USA as refugees. After being removed from his brother and parents and homed with a family on his own, Nguyen is later allowed to resettle into his own family in suburban San José. But there is violence hidden behind the sunny façade of what he calls AMERICATM. One Christmas Eve, when Nguyen is nine, while watching cartoons at home, he learns that his parents have been shot while working at their grocery store, the SàiGòn Mới, a place where he sometimes helps price tins of fruit with a sticker gun. Years later, as a teenager, the blood-stirring drama of the films of the Vietnam War such as Apocalypse Now throw Nguyen into an existential crisis: how can he be both American and Vietnamese, both the killer and the person being killed? When he learns about an adopted sister who has stayed back in Vietnam, and ultimately visits her, he grows to understand just how much his parents have left behind. And as his parents age, he worries increasingly about their comfort and care, and realizes that some of their older wounds are reopening.

Profound in its emotions and brilliant in its thinking about cultural power, A Man of Two Faces explores the necessity of both forgetting and of memory, the promises America so readily makes and breaks, and the exceptional life story of one of the most original and important writers working today.

Author:

Viet Thanh Nguyen was born in Vietnam and raised in America. He is the author of The Committed, which continues the story of The Sympathizer, awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, alongside seven other prizes. He is also the author of the short story collection The Refugees; the nonfiction book Nothing Ever Dies, a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award; the children's book Chicken of the Sea, with his son Ellison and with Thi Bui and Hien Bui-Stafford; and is the editor of an anthology of refugee writing, The Displaced. He is a University Professor and the Aerol Arnold Professor of English and American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California and a recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim and MacArthur foundations. He lives in Los Angeles.

Hurry Up and Wait

By Peggy Wirgau

It might as well be my motto for 2017. Perhaps embroidered and framed, hanging over my desk. Or tattooed on my arm. And if I wait much longer, maybe chiseled into my tombstone.

For the past two years, my husband and I have been looking forward to closing on a Florida vacation home—a modest townhouse—close to the beach, but certainly not a mansion. The reason for the wait? It’s new construction, and many delays have increased the original estimated building time. One year turned into 15 months, then 18 months, then 22 months and counting. We’ve made plans and rearranged them again and again, only to be told to wait.

I’m also playing the waiting game with my first novel, written in 2012. Five years and six revisions later, I now have an agent who has partnered with me on this seemingly endless voyage to publication. She’s submitting it to prospective editors, and some say they’re considering it. And now we wait. The months sail on by, and we keep waiting, scanning the hazy horizon, anxious to land this ship somewhere.

So, what am I doing while I wait for the house to be finished and wait for someone to say YES to my book?

Keep busy. After the last novel revision, I was sure I would never again write more than a grocery list. But I’ve managed to begin research and preliminary plotting on a new novel. There must be life after that book, and having a new project underway gives me something else to contemplate in the middle of the night.

Expand. I’ve read many books during this long wait, a few in genres I don’t love. And I’m pushing myself with some difficult writing exercises. I’m learning new things and growing as a writer.

Stay in touch. Plenty of published writers once thought their wait would never end. I do my best to congratulate them, read their books, leave reviews, and ask questions. There are plenty more who are still waiting. We bond over our writing journeys. It’s good to remember I’m not the only one, and waiting, painful as it is, is part of the process.

Pray. God knows what’s happening in my life, and wants me to trust Him and his timing. Worrying is useless, and I must remind myself of this constantly. I may never know the reasons for the wait, but I pray to know how best to use this time.

Be content. A completed novel being considered by publishers is nothing to sneeze at, and I’m so grateful for this opportunity. I need to count my blessings. And the day will come when the house is done, something will happen with that book, and life will go on.

Are you in waiting mode regarding your writing or another big project? Or have you come through on the other side? I’d love to hear your best waiting tips!

___________________________________________________________________

Peggy Wirgau lives in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and loves bringing history to life for middle grade and young adult readers. Her articles have appeared in Appleseeds, Insight, Learning Through History, and most recently, Peggy contributed to the book, Why? Titanic Moments. Her yet-to-be-published novel is based on the true story of a young Titanic survivor. Her Titanic blog features in-depth stories and her followers include descendants of the ship’s victims and survivors. A graduate of Michigan State University and George Mason University, Peggy is an active member of ACFW and SCBWI, and she’s also a registered nurse. She and her husband have two adult children. Learn more about Peggy and the Titanic at www.peggywirgau.com.