"My mother, my grandmother and me...a memoir."

Born just weeks after her family had fled Cambodia and settled in Australia, Alice Pung explains that her father selected the name "Alice" because their new adopted country was a Wonderland compared to the killing fields they left behind.

In this memoir Pung relates what it was like growing up straddling two worlds and cultures. The focus of her story is not just beginning life in a new world, obviously she had no memories of her homeland, but one of relationships between the three generations of women in her household.

While she embraces the new ways of doing things other members of the household find it difficult adjusting to their new lives. Growing up with different gender expectations from her Australian friends and her own brother, coping with the pressure to succeed and having to mediate between two cultures are just some of the challenges Pung faced.

Her strong voice and insightful understanding of the situation she grew up in make Alice Pung's memoir an entertaining read. She has the ability to elicit laughter as well as take her reader to the edge of tears. And it can all happen within a matter of pages in this poignant story.

Reviewed by Bob Walch
Posted June 4, 2009