Catfish and Mandala by Andrew X. Pham

This is categorized as a memoir by my library, which it is and is not at the same time. I came across it when I was doing what I always do when I am traveling to a new country, which is reading a lot of literature--both non-fiction and fiction--around that trip. I am a lover of the deep dive, and I read this as part of that. This is technically a bike-across-the Pacific-Rim-and-find-yourself book with the added wrinkle that his journey takes him back to the Vietnam his family escaped as boat people when he was 10 years old. As a result of this emotionally complicated aspect, the book progresses in a linear fashion related to his current day journey interspersed with flashbacks back to things that happened to he and his family after they fled. Only by going back, by staring in the face what happened to his family and their country, can he begin to understand what he now is, and what his transsexual sister, Chi, used to be, before she was driven to suicide. It is a memoir with a mission, and I would definitely recommend it if you are thinking of a trip to Vietnam. It is a country with a complex past that is well worth exploring and thinking about, even if you are not sure you want to go there.