Ma and Me

A Memoir

Ma and Me
Putsata Reang
RRP:
NZ$ 49.99
Our Price:
NZ$ 39.99
Hardback
h208 x 135mm - 400pg
17 May 2022 US
International import eta 7-19 days
9780374279264
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
When Putsata Reang was eleven months old, her family fled war-torn Cambodia, spending twenty-three days on an overcrowded navy vessel before finding sanctuary at an American naval base in the Philippines. Holding what appeared to be a lifeless baby in her arms, Ma resisted the captain' s orders to throw her bundle overboard. Instead, on landing, Ma rushed her baby into the arms of American military nurses and doctors, who saved the child' s life. "I had hope, just a little, you were still alive," Ma would tell Put in an oft-repeated story that became family legend. Over the years, Put lived to please Ma and make her proud, hustling to repay her life debt by becoming the consummate good Cambodian daughter, working steadfastly by Ma' s side in the berry fields each summer and eventually building a successful career as an award-winning journalist. But Put' s adoration and efforts are no match for Ma' s expectations. When she comes out to Ma in her twenties, it' s just a phase. When she fails to bring home a Khmer boyfriend, it' s because she' s not trying hard enough. When, at the age of forty, Put tells Ma she is finally getting married-to a woman-it breaks their bond in two. In her startling memoir, Reang explores the long legacy of inherited trauma and the crushing weight of cultural and filial duty. With rare clarity and lyric wisdom, Ma and Me is a stunning, deeply moving memoir about love, debt, and duty.
Familial ties and the scars of war are exquisitely examined in this luminous debut . . . A nuanced mediation on love, identity, and belonging. This story of survival radiates with resilience and hope. --Publishers Weekly, starred review"This beautiful story of struggling to reconcile love, family, and identity with generational trauma belongs on every queer immigrant' s shelf. For those of us who know how it is to always fall between two worlds, Ma and Me is not heartbreaking but heart-healing. " --Nicola Griffith, author of So LuckyHeartfelt and evocative. --Karla J. Strand, Ms. MagazineMa and Me is an important new entry in the growing body of American refugee and immigrant literature, shining a fearless light on the experiences of queer people whose families have survived the trauma of war. It also stands apart as a work of lyrical beauty, exploring culture, duty, guilt and family with heartbreaking clarity. --BookPage[A] piercing memoir . . . [MA AND ME features] well-wrought vignettes of a complicated mother-daughter bond. --Kirkus"A book as close to perfect as any I have read in many years. Lyrical, emotional, and profoundly moving, Ma and Me is in equal parts a love story between a mother and her daughter, and a family' s tale of survival, war, and the inherited traumas. I read Ma and Me in two days, and that is only because I forced myself to slow down to savor Putsata Reang' s sharp, poetic prose. " --Loung Ung, author of First They Killed My Father "At a time when there are more refugees than ever in history, and borders are places of violence and cruelty, two essential stories of our time converge in Ma and Me: Americanization' s multigenerational costs, and the way this converges with lesbian life. Putsata Reang expands both literatures with this openhearted memoir that grapples emotionally and historically with the profound consequences of displacement on future lives and relationships. A book that opens the door to include queer descendants of war survivors into the growing American library of love. " --Sarah Schulman, author of Let the Record Show
Putsata Reang is an author and a journalist whose writings have appeared in The New York Times, Politico, The Guardian, Ms, and The Seattle Times, among other publications. Born in Cambodia and raised in rural Oregon, Reang has lived and worked in more than a dozen countries, including Cambodia, Afghanistan, and Thailand. She is an alum of residencies at Hedgebrook, Kimmel Harding Nelson, and Mineral School, and she has received fellowships from the Alicia Patterson Foundation and Jack Straw Writers Program. She teaches memoir writing at the University of Washington' s School of Professional & Continuing Education.
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9780374279264
Published: 17 May 2022
Published In: United States
Imprint: Farrar Straus Giroux
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Format: Hardback
Height: 208mm
Width: 135mm
Weight: 300g
Pages: 400

In stock - for items in stock we aim to dispatch the next business day. For delivery in NZ allow 2-5 business days, with rural taking a wee bit longer.

Locally sourced in NZ - stock comes from a NZ supplier with an approximate delivery of 7-15 business days.

International Imports - stock is imported into NZ, depending on air or sea shipping option from the international supplier stock can take 10-30 working days to arrive into NZ. 

Pre-order Titles - delivery will vary depending on where the title is published, if local stock is available in NZ then 5-7 business days, for international imports it can be 10-30 business days. In all cases we will access the quickest supply option.

Delivery Packaging - we ship all items in cardboard sleeves or by box with either packing paper or corn starch chips. (We avoid using plastics bubble bags)

Tracking - Orders are delivered by track and trace courier and are fully insured, tracking information will be sent by email once dispatched.

View our full Order & Delivery information