Featured Book of the Month

Hao C. Tran - Skinny Woman in a Straw Hat

Hao C. Tran left Vietnam as a young man to go to college in Australia and later settled in the United States. Shortly after he left Saigon, the war ended and he couldn't return for 20 years. Since 1994, he has gone back to his homeland a dozen times, and many of his short stories are based on these journeys. Hao's stories are from the perspective of a Việt Kiều, a Vietnamese living overseas. He writes about his own experience as an immigrant, his family, the people he encountered in his travels, and the heart-breaking changes in a post-war Vietnam.

The Review:

Legacy Author Hao C. Tran - Skinny Woman in a Straw Hat

Release Date: May 21, 2023

Publisher: Autonomous Press

Guest Appearance on Amy's Bookshelf Reviews Podcast:

Reviews to Date: 8/30/2026 @ 6:00 PM EST/EDT

Genre: #Nonfiction #biographies #Cultural

5+ Stars

Hao C. Tran has an incredible talent of writing about his homeland 

In Skinny Woman in a Straw Hat, the reader is brought into Hao Tran's world, his homeland of Vietnam. I read his first book, more than once, and was very excited to read this one as well. His first book prompted me to want to learn more about Vietnam, so I have read a few books on its history, culture and people. I am a fan of Tran now, and enjoy his work so much, that he definitely deserves more than five stars. So, this one is five plus stars. In the introduction, he writes 'Vietnam is a woman, a long suffering mother,' something his history teacher said, pointing to the map of their home. Tran left Vietnam for Australia, and then later settled in the US. He wrote that after the Vietnam war ended, he couldn't return for twenty years. This book, he shares his journeys. He also writes in the introduction, which I find it is important to know 'This book is about a Việt Kiều— a Vietnamese living overseas—looking for his home after twenty years.  A Việt Kiều belongs neither here nor there.  A Việt Kiều is not Vietnamese anymore because he lost his citizenship by leaving.  He also is not a foreigner who is treated with respect and indifference.' These stories are love letters to the skinny woman in a straw hat. If you don't know what that means, read this and you will see. You will also feel. You will want to know more, as I did, and yes, you will read these stories repeatedly, each time, finding something you thought you missed the first few times you read it. And, you learn something about their culture, and why the US didn't win, why South Vietnam didn't win, and how the Vietnamese were sent to reeducation camps. The stories are beautiful, and sad in some ways, and cause that lump in your throat, because the stories are real. The stories are heartfelt & inspirational. It's about a place that is a world away from where we are right now.