Cover from publsiher's website, Allen & Unwin
The Happiest Refuge – By Anh Do.
Published 2010 Allen & Unwin
Howdy to all my fellow bookworms;
Today I want to bring to the group ‘The Happiest Refugee’ by Anh Do. In short, this is an autobiography by an Australian comedian and television personality. The longer version: I’ve been looking at this book for the past twelve years, always wanting to read it, given it’s a moniker you often hear so often, and I wanted to be let into the world of this guy. I guess I knew he was happy, and a refugee, but figured there would have to be more to it.
Turns out, there was – and I accessed this autobiography as an audiobook which was read by the author. What a treat! It was wonderful to hear Anh Do delivering his own words and it certainly suited the writer’s voice as the text was written in a particularly conversational manner. To that end, this was not a literary masterpiece, but it was entertaining.
Anh Do takes the reader back to Vietnam, just after the Vietnam war. He paints a picture of how his mother met his father, and positioning them in a large family – noting his unless and cousins and so forth. Funny anecdotes punctuate this work – for instance, he offers that because grandma had so many children, they were simply called ‘One’ or ‘Two’ or ‘Three’ based on their birth order! But then the novel takes a more serious turn, as it outlines the journey that the entire extended family (20 people in total) had to take on a very small, very unsafe vessel which was probably not what you wanted to be on for an ocean voyage – it was a small fishing boat, with limited shelter and no facilities. But, it did what they needed – as they approached international waters they were shot at by the Communist coastguard in Vietnam, and then their vessel was boarded twice by pirates and would you believe it – the good fortune in the story was when their boat started sinking, but fortunately was rescued by a navy vessel before heading to a refugee camp in Malaysia.
The book then turns to the family arriving in Australia and needing to establish themselves. It speaks about their poverty and working class background and the way in which their parents were always positive and encouraging and always seeking to help out those less fortunate than themselves (Despite having very little). It paints a picture of a mother who worked non stop to try and provide for her three children – and indeed, the funny money making schemes that Anh engaged in to try and put in a couple of bucks to help out. There was that catalogue delivery scheme; that time where he was breeding fish until all his home-made tanks burst and flooded the house. And it was these stories which led into his University days, where he set up a crystal store at a markets and turned it into an enterprise. At the same time, he was studying Law, and felt he had a pathway ahead of him which was going to be economically rewarding, but his inner conflict was that it wasn’t what he wanted.
Through all his stories, he constantly came back to his family and the way in which there was a great sense of community around his cousins and grandparents and brother and sister, despite their father having abandoned them. Over time, however, this relationship is mended and he re-gains this relationship too. Anh Do then goes into how he met his wife, who had an Anglo-Australian background and a lot of his stories centred on the cultural differences as two very different families came together. A lot of these involved food, and it was an insight into Vietnamese cuisine.
And then the autobiography comes to a critical point, as Anh Do finalises his University study, and has a law degree and an offer from a large firm. He instead makes the decision to follow his heart and to embark on a stand-up comedy career, which he stumbled into by accident – he only took to the stage initially after one of his friends told him he was funnier than the guy doing comedy at the pub. So he did – and a lot of the narrative details how he built his career and the way he progressed to becoming a bit of a national celebrity (B grade, but a known name!) – marvelling at the way that he, as a refugee, was able to find prosperity despite his incredibly disadvantaged upbringing.
Evaluation:
This was such an uplifting autobiography, and it was well worth the engagement. The book was very much grounded in what was important in life, and that is family. Despite Anh Do’s success, the continual presence in his life is his mother and siblings. His mum spent her life trying to give him every possible chance in life, literally risking death multiple times to escape Vietnam – and in turn, how Anh Do used his success to pay her back. His mum had an important saying in the book, often repeated, ‘Doesn’t matter’ – it was used every time one of her children tried something, and expressed that it didn’t matter if they won or lost, that she was always proud of them. A beautiful sentiment which I’m sure is what has made this book such a valuable addition to the Australian non-fiction landscape. I’m very glad to have engaged with it.
Score:
Ok, so from a writing point of view, you’d give this a 3/10 perhaps. Great literature it was not. From an entertainment point of view, you’d give this a 7 or 8/10. Overall then, maybe this is a 5/10. That said, that scores a bit harsh, as I am very glad to have been able to read this one. Usually I would never recommend a 5/10, but I’d definitely recommend this one!