Saigon Calling: London 1963-75

by Marcelino Truong

Translated by David Homel

Published by: Arsenal Pulp Press

Imprint: Arsenal Pulp Press

Sales Date: 2017-10-01

Paperback

CA$28.95

Published: October 2017

Product Details

Imprint: Arsenal Pulp Press

Page Count: 288 Pages

Dimensions: 6.50 x 9.00

288 Pages, 6.50 x 9.00 x 0.50 in

Paperback

CA$28.95

ISBN: 9781551526898

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A sequel to the acclaimed Such a Lovely Little War: growing up Vietnamese in swinging London as the Vietnam war intensifies.

Marcelino Truong's first book about the early years of the Vietnam war, the graphic memoir Such a Lovely Little War (2016), received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews and was named "one the season's best graphic novels" by the New York Times. In this sequel, young Marco and his family move from Saigon to London in order to escape the war following the assassination of South Vietnamese President Diem, for whom Marcelino's diplomat father was a personal interpreter.

In London, his father struggles to build a new life for his children and his wife, whose bipolar spells are becoming increasingly violent. But for Marco and his siblings, swinging London is an exciting place to be: a new world of hedonists and hippies. At the same time, the news from their grandparents in Vietnam grows ever grimmer as the war intensifies and American involvement becomes increasingly muddied. Young Marco finds himself conflicted between embracing the peace-loving anti-war demonstrators and the strong, nostalgic bond he feels toward a wounded Vietnam, whose conflict is not as simple as the demonstrators make it out to be.

With its audacious imagery and heart-rending text, Saigon Calling is a bold graphic memoir that strikes a remarkable balance between the intimate chronicle of a family undone by mental illness and the large-scale tragedy of a country undone by war.

Marcelino Truong is an illustrator and painter, and the author of the graphic memoir Such a Lovely Little War and its sequel Saigon Calling. Born the son of a Vietnamese diplomat in 1957 in the Philippines, he and his family moved to America (where his father worked for the embassy) and then to Vietnam at the outset of the war. He attended the French Lycee in London, then moved to Paris where he earned degrees in law at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, and English literature at the Sorbonne. He lives in St-Malo, France.

David Homel has translated over 30 books, many by Quebec authors. He won the Governor General's Literary Award in translation in 1995 for Why Must a Black Writer Write About Sex? by Dany Laferriï??re; his translation of Laferriï??re's How to Make Love to a Negro was nominated in 1988; and he won the prize in 2001 with fellow translator Fred A. Reed for Fairy Wing. His novels, which include Sonya & Jack, Electrical Storms, and The Speaking Cure have been published in several languages. Homel lives in Montreal, Quebec.

Like the masterful Such a Lovely Little War, the story benefits from the author's unique perspective, formed by the very different perspectives of his parents (whose marriage seems to be disintegrating), by seeing the war from afar while surrounded by those of different nationalities, and by maturing from childhood through adolescence during a turbulent era ... An excellent combination of personal insight and historical sweep. -Kirkus Reviews (STARRED)

Saigon Calling is an intimate and courageous piece of storytelling. It provides insight into the suffering that Vietnamese expatriates endured, especially those of mixed race heritage, and of the painful bonds forged with their past, present and future. -Shelf Awareness

A complex, finely judged and utterly riveting memoir ... It is an amazing achievement: a familiar story (Vietnam) told from (what was to me) an entirely new point of view, with great wit as well as pathos. -The Guardian

Truong's work is compelling, provoking, and moving. In many ways the latest volume of his graphic memoir, Saigon Calling, is even more fascinating than the first, insofar as it follows not only the war in Vietnam but also the culture shock of Truong's family attempting to readjust to life outside of the war zone, in Europe. -Popmatters.com

This vividly drawn graphic memoir examines how Westerners feverishly debating the Vietnam War neglected the perspective of the Vietnamese people ... More assured than his impressive previous memoir Such a Lovely Little War, this intimate family story is woven into the record of a war that engulfed the world, a history startlingly relevant to the present day. -Publishers Weekly (STARRED)

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Saigon Calling: London 1963-75

Saigon Calling: London 1963-75

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