Ru

Ru

By Kim Thúy
$22.00
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This is one of the millions of stories of migration in this country, the story of a woman migrating from Vietnam to Canada . . . It is harrowing, beautiful, and has compressed, perfect writing. This is the story of the future of Canada.
Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director of the Toronto International Film Festival, defending Ru at Canada Reads 2015

Nominated for Amazon Canada First Novel Award, 2012

Winner of Canada Reads, 2015

Among shortlisted titles for Governor General's Literary Award - Translation, 2012

Among longlisted titles for International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, 2014

Among longlisted titles for Man Asian Literary Prize, 2013

Ru. In Vietnamese it means lullaby; in French it is a small stream, but also signifies a flow--of tears, blood, money. Kim Thúy's Ru is literature at its most crystalline: the flow of a life on the tides of unrest and on to more peaceful waters. In vignettes of exquisite clarity, sharp observation and sly wit, we are carried along on an unforgettable journey from a palatial residence in Saigon to a crowded and muddy Malaysian refugee camp, and onward to a new life in Quebec. There, the young girl feels the embrace of a new community, and revels in the chance to be part of the American Dream. As an adult, the waters become rough again: now a mother of two sons, she must learn to shape her love around the younger boy's autism. Moving seamlessly from past to present, from history to memory and back again, Ru is a book that celebrates life in all its wonder: its moments of beauty and sensuality, brutality and sorrow, comfort and comedy.