Hello all, I am glad to share a review which I read before. So this book is about the war and its impact on common dwellers. When the author is writing a letter to his illiterate mother to share his thoughts. He was writing to his mother to spill his thoughts. “I was trying to break free” by Ocean Voung. He was just trying to share his life with his mom. The author and his family a Vietnamese settled in America. They were treated as an outsider. They felt like left alone in a new city. His grandma lan and his mom rose don't know to speak English. Because of the impact of the war his mother was suffering from PTSD and his grandma got schizophrenia. During their childhood days relationship with their mother is not so smooth. He would like to hear stories from his grandma, so lan and the author developed a good bond. The storyline will not have any sequence. He would just flow down his consciousness. Actually, Ocean Voung in his school was mocked and scrutinized to fun in his school. Though they are doing some basic jobs to survive. Voung went to work in a tobacco barn there he had a gay relationship with his co-worker who is American who's name is Trevor. Trevor whose family is scattered and has no details about their mother in this novel. His father who always rude and loud towards him. Trevor and Voung spend time together in the barn and Trevor was a heroin addict. At last, he would because of the overdose of drugs. The novel was written in an epistolary format. The novel speaks about how the impact of war and migration, loss of identity, no order in life and discipline makes people involved in drugs. They had a mentality of no fear of death. 

The trauma they had faced throughout their life. Each character in this novel had a heart wrecking story which pulls them into distress throughout their life. The gay relationship here focused on the backdrop of war times. When Voung returns from the war to his home. Trevor would be no more. At last, he would cry in the arms of his mother recalling his life. They are subtly portrayed as a vagrant. Their identity here in the new land and their adaptation to the new environment after such a long journey. During war times they escaped and settled in America. But they don't feel it is their home, particularly his Grandma. During her last birth, she would crave the rice of her land. It tells the hardships and how they differentiate themselves from a foreign land. 

I would recommend you all read this novel to undertand the depth and feel the essence of it.

Thank you.