{"product_id":"catfish-and-mandala-a-two-wheeled-voyage-through-the-landscape-and-memory-of-vietnam-9780312267179","title":"Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Notable Book of the Year\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the Whiting Writers' Award\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eSeattle Post-Intelligencer\u003c\/i\u003e Best Book of the Year\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eCatfish and Mandala\u003c\/i\u003e 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAndrew 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 sister, Pham quit his job, sold all of his possessions, and embarked on a year-long bicycle journey that took him through the Mexican desert; on a thousand-mile loop from Narita in South Korea to Kyoto in Japan; and, after five months and 2,357 miles, to Saigon, where he finds \"nothing familiar in the bombed-out darkness.\" In Vietnam, he's taken for Japanese or Korean by his countrymen, except, of course, by his relatives, who doubt that as a Vietnamese he has the stamina to complete his journey (\"Only Westerners can do it\"); and in the United States he's considered anything but American. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA vibrant, picaresque memoir written with narrative flair and an eye-opening sense of adventure, \u003ci\u003eCatfish and Mandala\u003c\/i\u003e is an unforgettable search for cultural identity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAndrew X. Pham\u003c\/b\u003e was born in Vietnam in 1967 and moved to California with his family after the war. \u003ci\u003eCatfish and Mandala\u003c\/i\u003e was the winner of the 1999 Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize. Mr. Pham lives in Portland, Oregon\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Picador USA","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50726076121362,"sku":"9780312267179","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_1dca7ac3-31ba-4598-aef9-80cc1dedd057.jpg?v=1734853417","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/catfish-and-mandala-a-two-wheeled-voyage-through-the-landscape-and-memory-of-vietnam-9780312267179","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}