Oakland author and illustrator Thi Bui has earned raves for “The Best We Could Do,” a graphic memoir that tells the story of her family’s life in war-torn Vietnam and coming to the U.S. as “boat people” in the 1970s after spending time in Malaysian refugee camps. It delves into themes of immigration, war and intergenerational trauma.
Published in 2017, “The Best We Could Do” was chosen as a 2021-22 National Endowment of the Arts “Big Read Book,” a program that aims to expose readers to aspects of our nation’s history and culture.
Bui is currently at work on “Nowhereland,” a nonfiction account of immigrant detention and deportation.
Q. The NEA honor. Wow. How cool is that?
A. It’s super-cool! I don’t really think about awards, so it came as a surprise. It’s like winning the lottery. And it’s a huge honor to get to see my name alongside some of the classic books I read in college.
Q. In “The Best We Could Do,” you write about how you grew up with a “refugee reflex,” describing it as the “inexplicable need and extraordinary ability to run” when things go south. Is that still ingrained in you?
A. It can be. It’s something I try to work against. I think the idea of “fight or flight” is still very much part of my personality. I keep a “go bag” by the door (with flash lights, a first-aid kit, blankets and other items). And I’m a really good, organized traveler. I can adjust to a lot of different situations. So not all of the refugee reflex is bad.
Q. You also write about how you “feel the weight of your parents’ past.” In the years since the book came out, has that weight lessened at all?
A. It’s not troubling me the way it used to, but the weight will always be there in some form. It might manifest itself in the little hangups I have or in the funny ways we interact. But being aware of it at least helps you to take a step back and handle it a lot easier.
Q. On Twitter, you compared the 2020 election to an “exorcism.” How damaging have the past four years been in regards to immigration issues?
A. We’ve taken a big step backwards. The bar got so low that we actually had a president asking why we would want to take in people from “s—-hole countries” (in reference to Haiti, El Salvador and African nations). It became totally OK to be openly hateful. How can you even think about policy when hate is on the table? I think we have a long way to go. Looking ahead, I think we can be hopeful — and realistic — at the same time. (Bui, a former teacher, is one of the founders of Oakland International High School, the first high school in California for recent immigrants and English learners.)
Q. What do readers get from graphic novels that they might not get from a text-only book?
A. I feel that people, in general, like to dabble in multimedia and different genres. We watch TV and then we talk about it and read about it.
My thing is that I want to get past the perception that a graphic novel is not a “real book.” I also thought that doing something visual might help to counter the negative images and stereotypes of Vietnamese people that come from bad Vietnam War movies. I wanted to replace those images with images of my own making and try to get into readers’ hearts and have them know us as whole human beings.
Q. Tell us a bit about “Nowhereland.” How is that going?
A: It’s my next big non-fiction book. It’s a big, sprawling thing and it will take a while to finish. Like I did for “The Best We Could Do,” I’m talking to a lot of people about their lives and their stories — just not my direct family. It’s mostly Southeast Asians who got into some kind of trouble and spent time behind bars. And because of harsh, unjust laws — and because they weren’t born here — they ended up spending way more time in prison than they should have. And in some cases, they lost their legal status and were deported to a country that they had never stepped foot in.
It’s about what happens to people when they don’t fit into the U.S. concept of “us and we.”
Q. “The Best We Could Do” was developed and created over a 10-year span. You have referred to yourself as the “slowest cartoonist in America.” Do you have stats to back that up?
A. (Laughing) I mostly call myself that so no one else can. It just takes me quite a while to let things simmer or distill. And I don’t think I can get around it.
5 BOOK PICKS FROM BUI
“Paying the Land” by Joe Sacco: Anyone trying to wrap their heads around Thanksgiving myths about Pilgrims and Indians while also acknowledging their role in the occupation of lands stolen from indigenous people and the continued demand for fossil fuels and other resources that has brought us to a state of climate emergency needs to read this incredible work of comics journalism by a masterful researcher, storyteller, and artist.
“Exit West” by Mohsin Hamid: Once in a while, a book manages to take a current event topic — in this case, refugees — and make it timeless and magical, even while investigating the deep pain within. This novel is one.
“The Mountains Sing” by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai: A beautiful and incredibly moving weaving together of the struggles of three generations of a family in north Vietnam, which fills in many of the details of the historic episodes that “The Best We Could Do” referred to, with more insight into experiences from different perspectives.
“Drawing Power” edited by Diane Noomin: An anthology of true stories written and drawn by women cartoonists (several from the Bay Area) about sexual violence. Absolutely necessary and powerful.
“Dear Girls” by Ali Wong: Listen to the audiobook if you can, because Ali Wong, a San Francisco native is the kind of author you want telling you raunchy and hilarious stories while you eat takeout from your favorite Asian restaurants. (Just try not to choke on your food while laughing).
