There is not much about the country I was visiting but I discovered a whole new universe. However, she is of Lao origin and although she was born in a refugee camp in Thailand, she was raised and lives in Toronto, Canada. I read this book during my trip to Thailand because the author was born there. In a taut, visceral prose style that establishes her as one of the most striking and assured voices of her generation, Thammavongsa interrogates what it means to make a living, to work, and to create meaning. A mother coaches her daughter in the challenging art of worm harvesting. A young woman tries to discern the invisible but immutable social hierarchies at a chicken processing plant. A failed boxer discovers what it truly means to be a champion when he starts painting nails at his sister's salon. The stories that make up How to Pronounce Knife focus on characters struggling to find their bearings in unfamiliar territory, or shuttling between idioms, cultures, and values. Thammavongsa is a master at homing in on moments like this - moments of exposure, dislocation, and messy feeling that push us right up against the limits of language. In the title story of Souvankham Thammavongsa's debut collection, a young girl brings a book home from school and asks her father to help her pronounce a tricky word, a simple exchange with unforgettable consequences. Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780316422130.
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