Ru by Kim Thúy
Our protagonist, whose name is never said, begins her life in Vietnam in the 1960s, where she recounts the traumas of war. She and her family are forced to leave and then travel by boat to Malaysia, where they end up living in a refugee camp. Eventually the family moves to Quebec where she must start life anew and is forced to navigate her way between clinging to her Vietnamese heritage and her new Canadian identity.
Ru in Vietnamese means lullaby and in French means stream, which I felt was the perfect way to describe the poetic and reflective way in which this book was written. I love how the story went back and forth in time, weaving a very rich and meaningful narrative of human resilience.
Kim Thúy is a Vietnamese born Canadian writer. She has worked as a lawyer, seamstress, interpreter and restaurant owner. Ru was her first book which garnered her several awards including the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Canada Reads award from the CBC. Reaching bestseller status, it has been translated into 15 languages.
In 2023 a film adaptation of the novel was released. Check out the trailer here:
