Book Groups
The Center for Ethics and Public Engagement facilitates conversations beyond the classroom to examine assumptions, exchange ideas, and encourage responsible action in our world. Sign-up below to read and discuss the following books (books are provided and are yours to keep).
Current Books
Meeting Time: Thursday, September 21, 9:45-10:45 AM
Location: The CEPE – Olin 214
Number of Participants: 16
The Magic Fish, by Trung Le Nguyen is a graphic novel that follows Tiến as he uses fairy tales, a shared interest between him and his refugee parents who are learning English, to let them know he’s queer. The book is emotionally and visually engaging, as the illustrations switch colors throughout to symbolize when the story is being told in the past, present, or as a fairy tale. The graphic novel has been praised for its mixing of Vietnamese and Western fairy tales, as well as overall storytelling abilities that gets at the nuances of queer and familial love.
The Magic Fish is semi-autobiographical, as Nguyen was born in 1990 in a Vietnamese refugee camp in the Philippines, after which he and his parents moved to the United States in 1992. The family learned English together, with fairy tales being a shared point of interest to help with learning English.
Meeting Time: Thursday, October 19, 9:45-10:45 AM
Location: The CEPE – Olin 214
Number of Participants: 16
A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, a History, a Memorial is a reflection of life as a father, son, refugee, and more by Vietnamese author Viet Thanh Nguyen. Nguyen and his family were displaced from their home in Ban Mê Thuột, Vietnam, and settled in the US in 1975. Identifying as both Vietnamese and American while living in post Vietnam War America, Nguyen wrestles with the concept of being “both the killer and the person being killed.” The book confronts the ideas of refugeehood, colonialism, and framing of both countries he is tied to.
Viet Thanh Nguyen now works as a professor of English, American Studies and Ethnicity, and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California. He has written several books, including the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for fiction winning Sympathizer.