Of Monkey Bridges and Bánh Mì Sandwiches
From Sài Gòn to Texas
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Narrated by:
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Oanh Ngo Usadi
About this listen
In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, a young girl and her family were exiled from city-living in Saigon to the countryside of Vietnam and, ultimately, escaped to a small town in Texas. Part travelogue and part family drama, this quietly affecting immigrant memoir will make you laugh, cry, and hunger for more, all at the same time. Through each traumatic transition, Oanh Ngo Usadi retains her optimism as she and her family adapt to new environments and cultures in their journey to become Americans.
©2018 Oanh Ngo Usadi (P)2019 Oanh Ngo UsadiListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
In a remote corner of the world, forgotten for nearly 3,000 years, lived an enclave of Kurdish Jews so isolated that they still spoke Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Mostly illiterate, they were self-made mystics and gifted storytellers and humble peddlers who dwelt in harmony with their Muslim and Christian neighbors in the mountains of northern Iraq. To these descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Yona Sabar was born.
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Great story, poorly narrated
- By Oren Kessler on 09-10-24
By: Ariel Sabar
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Last Boat Out of Shanghai
- The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution
- By: Helen Zia
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 17 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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The dramatic real-life stories of four young people caught up in the mass exodus of Shanghai in the wake of China's 1949 Communist revolution. Benny must decide either to escape to Hong Kong or navigate the intricacies of a newly Communist China. Annuo, forced to flee with her father, a defeated Nationalist official, becomes an unwelcome exile in Taiwan. The financially strapped Ho fights deportation from the US in order to continue his studies while his family struggles at home. Bing, given away by her poor parents, faces the prospect of a new life among strangers in America.
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Great book, poor performance
- By Helpful Buyer on 07-02-19
By: Helen Zia
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Out of the Gobi
- My Story of China and America
- By: Weijian Shan, Janet Yellen - foreword
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 17 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Weijian Shan's Out of the Gobi is a powerful memoir and commentary that will be one of the most important books on China of our time, one with the potential to re-shape how Americans view China, and how the Chinese view life in America. Shan, a former hard laborer who is now one of Asia's best-known financiers, is thoughtful, observant, eloquent, and brutally honest, making him well-positioned to tell the story of a life that is a microcosm of modern China, and of how, improbably, that life became intertwined with America.
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Must read for anyone!
- By Alice654 on 06-19-19
By: Weijian Shan, and others
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What Storm, What Thunder
- By: Myriam J.A. Chancy
- Narrated by: Ella Turenne
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
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The Earth had buckled, and, in that movement, all that was not in its place fell upon the Earth’s children, upon the blameless as well as the guilty, without discrimination. At the end of a long sweltering day, as markets and businesses begin to close for the evening, an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude shakes the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. Award-winning author Myriam J. A. Chancy masterfully charts the inner lives of the characters affected by the disaster
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We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.
- By AuthorAnnaBella on 03-15-22
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The First Man
- By: Albert Camus
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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In The First Man, Albert Camus tells the story of Jacques Cormery, a boy who lived a life much like his own. Camus summons up the sights, sounds, and textures of a childhood circumscribed by poverty and a father's death yet redeemed by the austere beauty of Algeria and the boy's attachment to his nearly deaf-mute mother. The result is a moving journey through the lost landscape of youth that also discloses the wellsprings of Camus's aesthetic powers and moral vision.
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Great Narration by Jefferson Mays
- By Sean Patrick Stevens on 07-31-21
By: Albert Camus
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Come On Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All
- A New Zealand Story
- By: Christina Thompson
- Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All is the story of the cultural collision between Westerners and the Maoris of New Zealand, told partly as a history of the complex and bloody period of contact between Europeans and the Maoris in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and partly as the story of Christina Thompson's marriage to a Maori man.
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a beautiful story
- By Pumpkin99 on 12-24-22
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The Library of Legends
- A Novel
- By: Janie Chang
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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China, 1937: When Japanese bombs begin falling on the city of Nanking, 19-year-old Hu Lian and her classmates at Minghua University are ordered to flee. Lian and a convoy of more than 100 students, faculty, and staff must walk 1,000 miles to the safety of China’s western provinces, a journey marred by hunger, cold, and the constant threat of aerial attack. And it is not just the student refugees who are at risk: Lian and her classmates have been entrusted with a priceless treasure, a 500-year-old collection of myths and folklore known as the Library of Legends.
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Wonderful and Umique!
- By D. Fields on 02-18-22
By: Janie Chang
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Nine Continents
- A Memoir In and Out of China
- By: Xiaolu Guo
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Xiaolu Guo has traveled further than most to become who she needed to be. Now, as she experiences the birth of her daughter in a London maternity ward surrounded by women from all over the world, she looks back on that journey. It begins in the fishing village shack on the East China Sea where her illiterate grandparents raised her, and brings her to a rapidly changing Beijing, full of contradictions: a thriving underground art scene amid mass censorship, curious Westerners who held out affection only to disappear back home.
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must read
- By Jeff Darlington on 10-22-17
By: Xiaolu Guo
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Into the Forest
- A Holocaust Story of Survival, Triumph, and Love
- By: Rebecca Frankel
- Narrated by: Natalie Pela
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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In the summer of 1942, the Rabinowitz family narrowly escaped the Nazi ghetto in their Polish town by fleeing to the forbidding Bialowieza Forest. They miraculously survived two years in the woods—through brutal winters, Typhus outbreaks, and merciless Nazi raids—until they were liberated by the Red Army in 1944. After the war, they trekked across the Alps into Italy, where they settled as refugees before eventually immigrating to the United States.
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Great story with an added benefit
- By Scottsville Stu on 12-30-21
By: Rebecca Frankel
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Nothing to Envy
- Ordinary Lives in North Korea
- By: Barbara Demick
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Barbara Demick's Nothing to Envy follows the lives of six North Koreans over fifteen years - a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung and the unchallenged rise to power of his son, Kim Jong-il, and the devastation of a far-ranging famine that killed one-fifth of the population. Taking us into a landscape never before seen, Demick brings to life what it means to be an average Korean citizen, living under the most repressive totalitarian regime today.
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The man who wants to be GOD
- By Gohar on 05-08-10
By: Barbara Demick
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My Family's Survival
- The True Story of How the Shwartz Family Escaped the Nazis and Survived the Holocaust
- By: Aviva Gat
- Narrated by: Callie Beaulieu, Neil Hellegers
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1937, the Shwartz family lived a calm life in their small village in Poland. Fifteen-year-old Rachel liked to sing and go out dancing at a local night club, while her older brother David was busy running a farm and raising a family with his wife Hinda. But all that changed when the war reached Butla. First, the Russians came and kicked them out of their house. Then, the Nazis came to cart them off. But the Shwartz family resisted. David decided that no matter what, his family would not be taken captive. Instead, he snuck his family out of their village and into Hungary.
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One of the best!
- By Ian on 08-11-20
By: Aviva Gat
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A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea
- One Refugee's Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival
- By: Melissa Fleming
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Doaa Al Zamel was once an average Syrian girl growing up in a crowded house in a bustling city near the Jordanian border. But in 2011 her life was upended. Inspired by the events of the Arab Spring, Syrians began to stand up against their own oppressive regime. When the army was sent to take control of Doaa's hometown, strict curfews, power outages, water shortages, air raids, and violence disrupted everyday life.
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One woman's story
- By msrae on 07-06-17
By: Melissa Fleming
What listeners say about Of Monkey Bridges and Bánh Mì Sandwiches
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- G C
- 01-07-20
EXCELLENT READ!
I absolutely loved it! This book caught my attention from the very beginning and held it throughout the entire book. The narration was excellent. It will keep you entertained! The author did an amazing job with her story! look forward to reading more books from this author! I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
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- S. Del Rio Rancho
- 08-21-20
Just having been to Vietnam
I loved this book after having traveled the Mekong Delta in a small passenger boat. We stopped and visited such villages. Learning the life from resident point of view was fascinating! The difficulty escaping from the country and the political reasons why were eye opening.
However, I had a difficult time understanding her though the pronunciation of names were crucial. I could not take the sounds of the narrator swallowing and turning pages. I chose to buy the digital print and follow along.
This book and many of its sort are important to create empathy and foster tolerance.
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- Jeff and Sabrena
- 01-07-20
Interesting and enlightening
I found this memoir very interesting and enlightening. I learned a lot about Vietnamese culture and customs. The narration by the author was obviously amateur but necessary given all the Vietnamese language and names present in the audiobook. Also, it seemed quite appropriate for the subject of the memoir to narrate her own story. Although her accent was detectable, I had no trouble understanding her narration. My only complaint is that I felt the story ended too abruptly with a few loose ends -- mainly, what happened to her parents and their business? Other than that, I enjoyed this memoir very much.
Note: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
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- Anonymous User
- 07-13-21
Fantastic and Inspiring
Highly recommend this title! Really makes you appreciate everything you take for granted. The author's account of what happened to her family and how they overcame their situation and started a new life in America is an inspiration and a reminder of how much the promise of freedom means.
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- LMG
- 04-07-20
Meaningful, touching and beautifully written
I was initially dismayed that the author opted to read the work herself, rather than utilizing a professional narrator. Not long into the book, I recognized the importance of the story being told in the author’s own authentic voice. By the end, her voice felt like that of a close friend, and I was sorry we had to part. I learned a great deal from listening to this memoir, and hope to hear much more from Oanh Ngo Usadi.
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- J. de Castro
- 07-08-20
Touching story, well told and not to miss!
This book, read by author herself, is a wonderful story of resiliency and strength of character despite hardships dreams can come true.
I prefer audiobooks bc I can enjoy them while working out/walking or resting my eyes, driving etc. I especially enjoyed this one because the author was the reader! What a wonderful story. It brought tears to my eyes, when she talked about her brother leaving the house and she was left alone. After living with so many siblings all her life and now none. A beautifully told story of how to make an American dream come true with hard work.
Recommending to all my friends.
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- Ian King
- 04-23-21
I loved this book! I listened to it twice!
I learned so much about Vietnam and communism and how it takes over everything. I learned about surviving against the odds and yet, still having a positive dispensation through it all.
Oanh, and her family are incredible examples of rising out of the ashes and I'd so love to meet them in person, one day. They certainly are visionaries and rooted in good family values.
The first part of the book is about life in Vietnam. Much of their daily lives and milestones are talked about. Then the North begins invading the south with an unwanted war of total takeover. I can see much of what happened then, happening again in our lifetime and it makes me step daily forward with my eyes and ears open, and to the ground, alert. I now know how things change in an oppressed society, so very quickly.
Through the war years we see how Oanh and her family are forced out of their familiar life and into a total paradigm shift. I can see how the north causes their very core values and families to be challenged and how their every decision and action plays out (or, not - by default).
The second part is about that new life they have to make contrary to what they have always know.
The third part of this is about their escape from Vietnam and the time they spent in refugee camps. And finally the fourth part is about their new life in America and how, even though so much had changed in their life and should have destroyed them, yet they are still strong and kind to ne and all. I am going to try one of these famous Bahn Mi Sandwiches, when I find somewhere that makes them... Maybe I should open up a shop here in my own town!
Oanh narrates her own biography and does an exceptional job, even though English is a second language to her. Her written, oral and descriptions in her second language, are very refined and easy to read/listen to. She has gone on to make English a high priority in her life and has received (I believe) a degree in this second language.
This book/audiobook would be in my short, 'highly recommended' list, for sure!
I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
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- Daryl
- 01-28-20
shades of beauty
this book is an excellent choice for a cold and quiet evening. It's unlike many coming of age immigrant stories, and yet it doesn't stand out particularly well. there are shades of beauty here, a few moments that made me stop and reflect and then keep listening. however, by the end I wasn't as captivated with the story. The narration is good, but definitely unprofessional. but I am also glad that the author chose to write and tell her own story.
I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
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1 person found this helpful