From Papayas to Fried Chicken

Inside Out & Back Again has given me the opportunity to experience a new literature style and learn about The Fall of Saigon from an untraditional perspective. It feels as though Tiannah Lai shares her story through glimpses in memory encompassing the physical events along with her inner thoughts, emotions and perceptions throughout. Through her own story, she is able to give the reader an understanding for her native culture. She speaks to the reality of conditions in Saigon, cultural foods, annual celebrations, her relationship with her mother and siblings, and the effects of the war on her life as a whole. Poems in this book implore the complex journey a foreign family must endure to feel safe in their home, and live equally, healthy, and successfully among their American born peers in an American society, so impeccably different from their own.

I enjoy the raw composition of this book. I had to adjust to the title on each page and the short lines, which did not take long. I felt as if poetry form in the text gave an accurate illustration of how one would truly remember an event in memory. Her short phrases engraved powerful messages during my reading…

“People living on

Others’ goodwill

Cannot afford

Political opinions” Pg. 125

—————————————————

“People share

when they know

they have escaped hunger.

Shouldn’t people share

Because there is hunger?” Pg. 93

———————————————————–

“Mostly

I wish

I were

still

smart”

Pg. 159

… to mention a few of the many I underlined and wrote down for myself. This book is a wonderful testament to the age-old saying, less is more.

I would employ this book in my classroom as a means to engage in a multicultural appreciation, history, and humanitarian knowledge. Intended for students of a more mature age group, possibly 8^th grade to different levels in High School; I personally found it to be a piece that would be useful even in college classrooms. The novel gives the reader the ability to step into the life of humans in a culture completely unlike their own. I can envision many activities in different subject areas being linked with this book. For example, I could ask students to first make a list, or consider what is valuable to them in their life. Then contrast by looking for what they believed Kim Há and her family viewed to be most valuable to them. This could lead to an enriching conversation of cultural diversity, appreciation of material assets and opportunity as American’s to utilize our right to equal opportunity.

 

 

Twisted Life

“Our lives will twist inside out”

“No one can

Splash water

For why splash away joy”

“it would be simpler if English

and life were logic”

“my brain was pop-pop-popping”

“why should an

ignorant grown up

imagine that she knows me”

“no one is

heartless enough

to say stop”

 

 

Excerpts from Inside Out & Back Again // Monster // Enchanted Air