American generosity is a chief reason why Tim Tran, whose birth name is Tran Camh Khiem, was ultimately able to resettle and thrive as a Portland business executive after enduring desperation, hunger and brutality in the late 1970s in his native Vietnam, he said. He became an American citizen in 1986.
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Don Noble s review of Southern Voices: A Book of Short Stories by Laura Hunter
The stories are set from the 1930 s to the 1990 s but conditions don t improve much. One family has electricity in the later 30’s. Others are envious.
Life, as in much Southern fiction, is close to the land but this land does not yield much comfort. It is a rough, isolated place.
Family life is about all these people have and that can be rough. The characters in these stories are not as wicked as Faulkner’s Snopeses or as demented and genetically challenged as Erskine Caldwell’s Lesters, but their lives are narrow and there is little margin for error. The men drink, have not explored their feminine side, and tend to be selfish and violent.