Ru

The word Ru, chosen by Kim Thúy as the title of this beautiful novel, means "nursery rhyme" in Vietnamese, his mother tongue, and "creek" in French, his adopted language. Taking the form of the flow of a stream, the narration navigates the passage through a refugee camp in Malaysia and the beginning of a new immigrant life in Canada. Thúy recreates with great delicacy and light a story that took thirty years to decide to write: his own. Impelled by the duty to remember, the novel does not evade the account of the difficulties that a human being must face, who is facing a process of reinvention imposed by exile. However, its starting point is the serenity and gratitude of those who, despite everything, feel the obligation to be happy.