Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam

Title: Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam Author: Andrew X Pham ISBN: 9780312267179 Publisher: Picador Published: 2000 Binding: Paperback Language: English Publisher Description: Winner of the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book PrizeA New York Times Notable Book of the YearWinner of the Whiting Writers' AwardA Seattle Post-Intelligencer Best Book of the Year Catfish and Mandala is the story of an American odyssey--a solo bicycle voyage around the Pacific Rim to Vietnam--made by a young Vietnamese-American man in pursuit of both his adopted homeland and his forsaken fatherland. Intertwined with an often humorous travelogue spanning a year of discovery is a memoir of war, escape, and ultimately, family secrets. Andrew X. Pham was born in Vietnam and raised in California. His father had been a POW of the Vietcong; his family came to America as "boat people." Following the suicide of his sis