Across the Mekong River
4/5
()
About this ebook
In a California courtroom, seventeen-year-old Nou Lee’s mind reels with what she is about to do. What she must do to survive. She reflects on the splintered path that led to this moment, beginning twelve years ago in 1978, when her Hmong family escaped from Laos after the Communist takeover. The story follows the Lees from a squalid refugee camp in Thailand to a new life in Minnesota and eventually California. Family members struggle to survive in a strange foreign land, haunted by the scars of war and loss of family. Across the Mekong River paints a vivid picture of the Hmong immigrant experience, exploring family love, sacrifice, and the resiliency of the human spirit to overcome tragic circumstances.
“Russell aptly integrates the culture clash...The family’s richly drawn tension culminates in a grueling court case that affects all involved. A multifaceted tale of complex characters finding new lives in their new world.”
-Kirkus Reviews
Elaine Russell
Elaine Russell began writing adult and children's fiction over twenty years ago, finding her true vocation at last. She loves traveling and most of her novels are based in part on places she has visited. She enjoys weaving the culture and history of other countries and people into her stories. Her books have won numerous awards. Her latest adult novel (October 14, 2018), In the Company of Like-Minded Women, explores the complexities of bonds between sisters and family at the start of the 20th century when women struggled to determine their future and the "New Woman" demanded an equal voice. Three sisters are reunited in 1901 Denver following a family rift many years before. Each sister faces critical decisions regarding love, work, and the strength of her convictions. The progressive women leaders of Denver and the suffrage movement provide the background for the story as the tale unfolds. The inspiration for her first adult novel, Across the Mekong River, came from her involvement with the Hmong and Lao immigrant community. She visited Laos many times to research her novel and as a member of the nonprofit organization Legacies of War. She has written and lectured extensively on the history of the civil war in Laos, which resulted in the mass exodus of Hmong and other Laotian refugees, many of whom immigrated to the United States. Across the Mekong River won four independent publishing awards in 2013. Her picture book (ages 8 - 12 years), All About Thailand was published in November 2016 with Tuttle Publishing. Elaine is also the author of the middle grade mystery/adventure series with skateboarding heroes Martin and Isabel: Martin McMillan and The Lost Inca City, Martin McMillan and The Secret of the Ruby Elephant, and Martin McMillan and The Sacred Stones released in January 2016. The books are intended as fun reads appealing to both boys and girls, and are appropriate for reluctant readers. Her young adult novel, Montana in A Minor, stems from a love of music, interest in the complexities of modern family life, and her belief that everyone likes a good love story! For more information on Elaine Russell, visit her webpage: http://www.elainerussell.info/ and her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/erussellwrites/?modal=admin_todo_tour
Read more from Elaine Russell
When the Tamarind Tree Blooms Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMontana in A Minor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Martin McMillan and the Secret of the Ruby Elephant Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn the Company of Like-Minded Women Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMartin McMillan and the Sacred Stones Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Across the Mekong River
Related ebooks
Rainbow's End: A Memoir of Childhood, War and an African Farm Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Three Men in a Boat Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDreams of a Saudi Princess: And the Christians Who Believed in Them Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Voices of Heaven Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTears from Kabul Book Set: Tears from Kabul Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLight Of The Desert Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Good Earth Trilogy: The Good Earth, Sons, and A House Divided Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBaby Looking Out and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLetters From Zimbabwe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Rabbi's Wife Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Islam Dreaming: Indigenous Muslims in Australia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHoopoe's Song Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Raid and a Proposal: Behind the Painted Fan, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dancing Girl Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lacquered Curtain of Burma Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShambala Junction Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Under the Palm Trees: Surviving Labor Camps in Cuba Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe mother Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Nine Fold Heaven Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5My Year in Oman Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSketches of Morocco Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Condoms to Cabbages Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIf I Had Two Lives Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5M.G. Vassanji: Essays On His Works Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBread and Rice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRevolutionary Hearts Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Let Me Tell You Something About that Night Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Shrink Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJamaica Dreams: A memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Asian American Fiction For You
The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows: A Reese's Book Club Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fortunes of Jaded Women: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5So Close Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inconvenient Daughter: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Many Daughters of Afong Moy: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lady Tan's Circle of Women: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sympathizer: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wall of Storms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Reading List: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Partner Track: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ghost Bride: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legends & Myths of Hawaii Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCounterfeit: A Reese's Book Club Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5White Ivy: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Girls Burn Brighter: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Snow Falling On Cedars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When the Hibiscus Falls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scarborough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Violets Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Salt: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Honolulu: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chinglish (TCG Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For Today I Am a Boy: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Before She Sleeps: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Denison Avenue Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Across the Mekong River
12 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Laura Lee (Ly Nou) vividly remembers the first few weeks of peace after the Americans left war torn Laos. It wasn't long before that family had fled the cruelty of conquerors , losing one family member after another during their escape to a Thailand refugee camp. This fictionalized tale follows seventeen year old Laura from birth to college, covering the bewilderment of a child caught in a war to a young woman seeking balance between the freedom of American teenagers and the cultural expectations in the Hmong culture. Author Elaine Russell uses flashbacks from Nou (Laura), her mother Yer, and father Pao in this fictionalized account of Hmong refugees.It is unusual for an American juvenile to sue for freedom, let alone a refugee from Cambodia. The characters seem stereotyped without much depth or individuality.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A self published that doesn't disappoint. Really glad I took a chance on this one. The scene when Laura is sick was a touch melodramatic for my tastes. I also didn't care for the happily ever after perfect ending but I can see others liking it. I would recommend this to readers of Picoult.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The story of and extended family from Laos first escaping to Thailand and later ending up in California. It is told in first person by the father, mother and eldest daughter of the family. Each has a totally unique personality as they struggle first with the initial escape and then trying to adapt to the totally alien American culture. What I really loved was how "real" these people are. You feel they are probably out there living their lives. The ending was especially satisfying as Russell takes a direction that I never expected. I recommend this book without pause. It would be great for a book club.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Except for the fact that Elaine Russell is certainly not a Hmong name, and her pictures show her to be very much a strawberry blonde Caucasian, one would think that this was a memoir written primarily by a Laotian young woman. It narrates the experiences of a family that was caught up in the Secret War—the conflict between American- and Communist-backed backed forces in Laos—their escape to a refugee camp in Thailand, and their eventual emigration to the United States. They were members of the Hmong tribes that sided with the United States and then suffered from reprisals when the communist Pathet Lao won.The subject matter alone makes this a rather interesting story. Despite some quarter million Hmong now living in the U.S., it's a relatively unknown conflict here: Vietnam overshadowed so very much and what attention span was left tended to be grabbed by the atrocities the Khmer Rouge committed in Cambodia.The primary story teller in Across the Mekong River is Ly Nou, later known as Nou Lee and, finally, Laura Lee. Her struggles to come to terms with her parents are prologue and epilogue to the novel and her story is the thread that ties everything together. However, hers is not the only voice; both her father and mother have chapters told from their perspective. At first, this round-robin seemed to break the flow and I found myself impatient to hear Nou/Laura speak again. However, by the end of the book, my opinion had changed. Russell's novel has three distinct parts. The first is the flight from Laos. The second is a glimpse into life in the Thai refugee camps. The third, and largest, is the struggle with assimilation once the family reaches this country and the differences that adults and children have with it. Had we only had Nou/Laura's voice, the parents might have come across as two dimensional: hidebound, rigid and unrealistic. However, by letting us see some of the events from their point of view, we can reach a level of...perhaps not agreement...but understanding.It's for Hmong readers to decide the accuracy of the depictions but, for a non-Hmong reader, the story is interesting and illuminating.