Round three of book club and I Love Yous are for White People was brought to us courtesy of Ms. DeHaven. The memoir by Lac Su is the story of his escape from Communist Vietnam when he was 3 to the seedy and gang ridden streets of Hollywood. Lac had a severe man for a father who brought the old world traditions of beatings and humiliation as a form of child rearing with him to this new world.
Lac grew up seeking the approval of his father so severely that when he didn't get it, it caused him to rebel in an equally severe way. He got in with the wrong crowd at a very early age and starting participating in the lively gang culture of the area. He escaped Vietnam under gunfire at 3, saw a man stabbed on this doorstep at 5, and his uncle molest him at 7. He stole from his parents, beat a fellow classmate close to death, got himself beat close to death and really made just about every wrong decision he could when the opportunities presented themselves.
Lac grew up seeking the approval of his father so severely that when he didn't get it, it caused him to rebel in an equally severe way. He got in with the wrong crowd at a very early age and starting participating in the lively gang culture of the area. He escaped Vietnam under gunfire at 3, saw a man stabbed on this doorstep at 5, and his uncle molest him at 7. He stole from his parents, beat a fellow classmate close to death, got himself beat close to death and really made just about every wrong decision he could when the opportunities presented themselves.
His upbringing didn't give him much to lean on but I am a firm believer that at some point you make your own decisions and cannot blame everything on the mistakes or shortcomings of others. He may have had no hands up in early life but he also didn't have anyone making the decision but himself.
As far as book club went I think we all had mixed feelings. We thought the story was lacking in continuity with large chunks of time missing where Lac would mention something about a younger sibling and you couldn't recall ever hearing about one being born. We all agreed the writing quality was not superb but it made for a more conversational type read which made it quick and easy. Several of us felt that the whole point of this story was lost because there was no explanation of Lac's redemption in life. He is currently a respected professional in a large company with a wife and children which is commendable because of how successfully he turned his life around but we didn't get to hear that part of the story. There was no explanation of how he broke free from the violence and gangs and no talk of his relationship with his father now that he is an adult and that ruined the story for us. The build up of the negative created a ripe environment for the positive that is his current life and yet we got to experience none of the triumph and it really turned us off. Overall it was a good pick because there is never a negative to learning about other people's ways of life and where they come from. I don't know what LA gang culture is like first hand but I have no knowledge about them now from reading this book. Anytime we as people can be exposed to new things is always an opportunity for learning and people who love to read get that experience daily.
This was an interesting story of an interesting life. I'm generally not a huge fan of memoirs so it's hard to enthusiastically recommend this one but there is nothing glaringly negative about it. There are better written, just as interesting stories out there though to enjoy.
Fun fact; we did learn what the difference between an auto-biography and a memoir is. An auto-biography tends to be about the person's whole life whereas a memoir deals with a certain period of time of section of their life.
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