What We All Long For

A Novel

Hardcover, 336 pages

English language

Published April 15, 2008 by Thomas Dunne Books.

ISBN:
978-0-312-37771-7
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OCLC Number:
1036972762

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Dionne Brand powerfully delves into uncharted aspects of urban life, the bittersweetness of youth, and secrets families try to hide. Tuyen is an aspiring artist and the daughter of Vietnamese parents who've never recovered from losing one of their children while in the rush to flee Vietnam in the 1970s. She rejects her immigrant family's hard-won lifestyle, and instead lives in a rundown apartment with friends—each of whom is grappling with their own familial complexities and heartache.

3 editions

Review of 'What We All Long For' on 'Storygraph'

This was a pretty intense story. I had to take a break for a bit as it touched on the emotional aftermath Tuyen's parents suffered after losing their little boy during the immigration process. As a mom, I can't help but feel their pain and desperation over the years.

The ending also doesn't have quite the solid resolution I'm used to reading....fitting with the rather grungy realistic tone the story has over all. These are just a collection of people trying to get by. They were getting by before the story begins, and they clearly will after this story ends. There are no Cinderellas here. There is no "happily ever after". There's just....after. Life goes on.

Subjects

  • General
  • Fiction / General
  • Fiction
  • Fiction - General