70 pages • 2 hours read
Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam
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Summary and Study Guide
Overview
Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam is a 1999 nonfiction book by Andrew X. Pham. Pham’s other books include The Eaves of Heaven: A Life in Three Wars and The Theory of Flight. He is a recipient of the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Award, the Whiting Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Plot Summary
Pham, an American citizen, decides to take a cycling trip to Vietnam in a search for identity. It will be the first time he has returned to the country of his birth since his family fled in 1977. He first describes a shorter bike trip to Mexico, where he meets a Vietnam war veteran named Tyle, whose story sticks with him throughout his longer journey. After a brief stay with his parents in California, Pham hits the road again, biking up the coast to Seattle before crossing the Pacific to Japan and then Vietnam.
Pham begins in Saigon, then makes his way up the coast to Hanoi and back over a number of months. His grandmother’s cousin-in-law, whom he calls Grandaunt, and her family welcome him in Saigon. They all discourage him from riding his bike through the country, however.
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