Things That Both Heal and Harm: Five Question for Eric Nguyen, Author of Things We Lost to the Water — Our May Discover Pick

Viet Thanh Nguyen calls this story about survival, love, and loss a “powerful novel [that] ripples and gleams with the unpredictable flow and surge of love, which, like water, can drown us or sustain us.” Can you talk a bit about water as a metaphor throughout your novel?  
For Vietnamese people, the word for water is the same word for country (nước), so you can see how important water is in Vietnamese culture. But for people who left by boat, water has another meaning: a way to escape an oppressive regime. At the same time, people died while trying to escape by sea. So, water comes to have these two meanings: something essential to survival, and something that can kill you.
For people in New Orleans, and more broadly Louisiana, water has the same meaning: it brings what is needed for survival, be it food or jobs. At the same time, water can also mean destruction for many Louisianans, as the Gulf Coast often experiences hurricanes and flooding.
In a way, it felt natural for a Vietnamese American story to take place in Louisiana, and the state is a natural place to explore the symbolism of water — this thing that can both heal and harm you. But more than that, I wanted that water metaphor to speak to the things that have both of those properties. Like family, for instance, which can definitely nourish you, but which can also unexpectedly hurt you, which I think is the case for my characters.
Huong, Tuan, and Binh. Each of these extraordinary characters sets off on a different path to find their individual identity and their place in America as a family. Was there one character that came to you first as you were writing?   
Huong came first to me. Growing up, my parents never really talked about their history, so in my writing, I was trying to learn more about my parents’ migration from Vietnam. So, it felt natural to start with someone who fled and explore what they’ve lost and what they’ve been through. Eventually, Huong’s sons, Tuan and Binh, felt like they had equally important stories to tell that might even illuminate Huong’s, so I thought it was important to have their voices there as well.
It takes a great deal of strength and sacrifice to ultimately break a cycle of trauma within a family — and that weight often falls on mothers. Huong’s struggles are an act of heroism in a way. Why do you believe it is so important to share these stories?     
It’s important to share these stories — particularly the story of Vietnamese refugees and Vietnamese Americans — because for the longest time in American culture, the experience of the Vietnamese and the war and their exodus have really been ignored. Growing up, most of the stories I read and saw about the Vietnam War were from the American perspective, which is important, but that’s only one part of the story. So, telling these stories are important to broaden that narrative. Beyond that, I think stories about refugees will always be important because as a human race we have a habit of making people refugees and then shunning them. The story of the refugee trying to build a life in a new place will always be relevant.
What surprised you the most when you were writing and researching this book?   
I’m from Washington, DC. Before I wrote the book, what surprised me the most was that there was a Vietnamese community in New Orleans. When you hear of Vietnamese communities in the US, you often hear about San Jose or Houston, but not New Orleans. When I first learned about this community, I was surprised but learning more about them — the strong community they’ve built, the sense of belonging they have to their community and the city of New Orleans, and their resilience — it made sense that they found a home there and that though their community was different from where I grew up, I found I had a lot of similarities with them.
We love to ask: What are you reading and recommending right now?  
I’m really into short stories right now. The two books I’m reading are Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen, which is about contemporary life in China, and A Natural History of Transition by Callum Angus, a magical collection exploring the richness of trans experience.