Sigh, Gone: A Misfit's Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In

"As the title implies, Sigh, Gone, with its wistful pun on the erstwhile capital city of his native country, is built around Tran’s devotion to & curiosity about language — the friction between English & Vietnamese, the Western literary canon he fell in love with, the said & the unsaid both within his family and in the wider world. The book powerfully explores themes of assimilation, racism, complex & abusive family dynamics, & the challenge of coming into one’s own. In other words, Sigh, Gone is like all great works of literature — it asks big questions, universal in their specificity." —LA Review of Books

For anyone who has ever felt like they don't belong, Sigh, Gone shares an irreverent, funny, & moving tale of displacement & assimilation woven together with poignant themes from beloved works of classic literature.

In 1975, during the fall of Saigon, Phuc Tran immigrates to America along with his family. By sheer chance they land in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, a small, rural town where the Trans struggle to assimilate into their new life. In this coming-of-age memoir told through the themes of great books such as Metamorphosis, The Scarlett Letter, & The Iliad. Tran navigates the push and pull of finding & accepting himself despite the challenges of immigration, feelings of isolation, teenage rebellion, & assimilation, all while attempting to meet the rigid expectations set by his immigrant parents.

Appealing to fans of coming-of-age memoirs such as Fresh Off the Boat, Running with Scissors, or tales of assimilation like Viet Thanh Nguyen's The Displaced & The Refugees, Sigh, Gone explores one man’s bewildering experiences of abuse, racism, & tragedy & reveals redemption & connection in books & punk rock. Against the hairspray-&-synthesizer backdrop of the ‘80s, he finds solace & kinship in the wisdom of classic literature, & in the subculture of punk rock, he finds affirmation &