House of Sticks: A Memoir

"Ly Tran’s memoir House of Sticks is unique among Vietnamese American narratives in the sense that the author’s identity crisis is not about liberating herself from her parents’ past, but her unwillingness to remove herself from their suffering. As an unsentimental yet deeply moving examination of filial bonds, displacement, war trauma, and poverty, the impact of House of Sticks lies in Tran’s nuanced celebration of a family love that withstands the enormous cost of the American dream."