Shadow of the Dragon by Sherry Garland (1993, Paperback)

I first read this book my freshman year in high school and when I first picked it up, I had no idea what kind of treasure this book was. I probably should have found this book later in life to understand it better but even when I was that young, I really valued the words and the story of this book.

First of all, the story is intriguing. It will make you delve into the lives of a Vietnamese household, to Vietnamese religion and culture, and then, inevitably to the racist and ignorant mindset of various white Americans. This book is not just a story of immigration and acculturation but also of a journey to escape the past and the impossibility of that journey. Thorough Danny Vo, the main protagonist, the readers will learn of all the insecurities an immigrant teenager may feel, which is common and abundant in Amy Tan’s novels, but Sang Le, Danny’s cousin, brings an element to the story not found in any of Tan’s novels: the past acting as a force of discrimination. You see, Sang Le is a refugee from Vietnam. This does not work well with Danny’s American school mates, who had their dads fight in Vietnam just a couple of years ago and had suffer losses from Vietnamese guerillas. These kids do not know that South Vietnam supported U.S. and North was against, and so Sang Le is forced into a web of hostilities he can’t get out of. Add to all this intrigue, the teenage “love” story, and you have this novel, a masterpiece.

Although this book is for “young adults” I feel that it is accessible to all kinds of readers. It’s just a great book and it’s a book that deserves to be read by all those who can read it.