The University Libraries and the Southeast Asian Studies Center of the Jackson School welcome you to a reading and discussion with author Angie Chau.
Quiet As They Come, is a collection of linked short stories about an extended family of Vietnamese boat people who arrive to America, specifically San Francisco, in the early 1980s. The stories explore the themes of exile, of people who have found shelter and yet continually search for home.
Sandra Cisneros has described the collection as “Heartbreaking tales of ordinary people lost between the extraordinary circumstances of history. Bitter and beautiful all at once.” The San Francisco Chronicle described the collection as "a powerful mix of tragedy and kindness, of miscommunications and all-too-painful empathy, which bound together are a resonating homage to many an immigrant." Elle Magazine called the book a "darkly sparkling debut." Publisher's Weekly in a starred review described the book as "serenely stirring stories" in which, "characters radiate dignity and depth, seek freedom but find crushing loneliness."
