Ru
Language: English
Published by VINTAGE CANADA, 2015
- Softcover
- Used

Seller: World of Books (was SecondSale), Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.World of Books (was SecondSale)
AbeBooks seller since December 20, 2007
Condition: Used - Good
£ 4.14
Quantity: 13 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Winner of the Governor General's Literary Award for FictionWinner of 2015 Canada Reads PrizeWinner of Grand Prix litt raire ArchambaultFinalist for the 2012 Soctiabank Giller PrizeFinalist for the 2018 New Academy Prize in Literature Longlisted for the 2014 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the 2012 Man Asian Literary Prize. At ten years old, Kim Th y fled Vietnam on a boat with her family, leaving behind a grand house and the many less tangible riches of their home country: the ponds of lotus blossoms, the songs of soup-vendors. The family arrived in Quebec, where they found clothes at the flea market, and mattresses with actual fleas. Kim learned French and English, and as she grew older, seized what opportunities an immigrant could; she put herself through school picking vegetables and sewing clothes, worked as a lawyer and interpreter, and later as a restaurateur. She was married and a mother when the urge to write struck her, and she found herself scribbling words at every opportunity - pulling out her notebook at stoplights and missing the change to green. The story emerging was one of a Vietnamese migr on a boat to an unknown future: her own story fictionalized and crafted into a stunning novel. The novel's title, Ru, has meaning in both Kim's native and adoptive languages: in Vietnamese, ru is a lullaby; in French, a stream. And it provides the perfect name for this slim yet potent novel. With prose that soothes and sings, Ru weaves through time, flows and transports: a river of sensuous memories gathering power. It's a classic immigrant story told in a breathtaking new way.…
Seller Inventory # 00095184656
- Title
- Ru
- Author
- Thuy Kim
- Publisher
- VINTAGE CANADA
- Publication year
- 2015
- Condition
- Good
- Binding
- Paperback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0345816145
- ISBN 13
- 9780345816146
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.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review
WINNER 2011 - Grand prix littéraire Archambault
WINNER 2011 - Mondello Prize for Multiculturalism
WINNER 2010 - Prix du Grand Public Salon du livre--Essai/Livre pratique
WINNER 2010 - Governor General's Award for Fiction (French-language)
WINNER 2010 - Grand Prix RTL-Lire at the Salon du livre de Paris
Longlisted 2013 - Man Asian Literary Prize
Longlisted 2014 - International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
Nominated 2012 - Amazon.ca First Novel Award
Shortlist 2012 - Scotiabank Giller Prize
Shortlist 2012 - Governor General's Literary Award for Translation
"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 "This is an exemplary autobiographical novel. Never is there the slightest hint of narcissism or self-pity. The major events in the fall of Vietnam are painted in delicate strokes, through the daily existence of a woman who has to reinvent herself elsewhere. A tragic journey described in a keen, sensitive and perfectly understated voice."
--Governor General's Literary Award jury citation "Gloriously, passionately, delicately unique.... A remarkable book; one that has well-earned every note of praise it has received."
--The Chronicle Journal "Powerful and engaging.... In short entries that read lyrically and poetically--but also powerfully, pungently, and yet gently, dispassionately--Ru blends politics and history, celebration and violence within a young girl's imaginative experience.... [I]ts hybrid and enchanted voice conjur[es] a love song out of chaos and pain, singing and rilling its simplicities."
--Winnipeg Free Press "In a series of vignettes which extend from wartime Vietnam to the hospitable precincts of Quebec, Kim Thúy writes with equal delicacy and candor about a childhood marked by horrifying brutality, and the pleasures of ordinary peace. A brave and moving book, bringing lucid insight both to the costs of violence, and elusive processes of psychic survival."
--Eva Hoffman, author of Lost in Translation
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World of Books (was SecondSale)
Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since December 20, 2007
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Founded in 2002, World of Books is a leading online destination for buying and selling both preloved and new books, committed to making sustainable reading accessible to all. With a mission to help people read more and waste less, World of Books offers a huge range of affordable, high-quality books — giving both new and preloved titles a second life. The company also operates World of Books – Sell Your Books, an easy-to-use platform that allows customers to trade in unwanted books for cash, helping to keep books in circulation while promoting sustainability. As a Certified B Corp, World of Books is driven by a vision to become the world’s largest and most sustainable dedicated online bookstore. The company measures its success through the positive environmental impact it creates, the value it provides to customers, and its ability to operate profitably while supporting its sustainable mission …
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