--- product_id: 55427642 title: "The Refugees" price: "€ 23.48" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.at/products/55427642-the-refugees store_origin: AT region: Austria --- # The Refugees **Price:** € 23.48 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Refugees - **How much does it cost?** € 23.48 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.at](https://www.desertcart.at/products/55427642-the-refugees) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description From the author of The Sympathizer , winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, The Refugees is the second piece of fiction from a powerful voice in American letters, praised as “beautiful and heartrending” (Joyce Carol Oates, New Yorker ), “terrific” ( Chicago Tribune ), and “an important and incisive book” ( Washington Post ). Published in hardcover to astounding acclaim, The Refugees is the remarkable debut collection of short stories by Viet Thanh Nguyen, winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel The Sympathizer . In these powerful stories, written over a period of twenty years and set in both Vietnam and America, Nguyen paints a vivid portrait of the experiences of people leading lives between two worlds, the adopted homeland and the country of birth. With the same incisiveness as in The Sympathizer , in The Refugees Viet Thanh Nguyen gives voice to the hopes and expectations of people making life-changing decisions to leave one country for another, and the rifts in identity, loyalties, romantic relationships, and family that accompany relocation. From a young Vietnamese refugee who suffers profound culture shock when he comes to live with two gay men in San Francisco, to a woman whose husband is suffering from dementia and starts to confuse her for a former lover, to a girl living in Ho Chi Minh City whose older half-sister comes back from America having seemingly accomplished everything she never will, the stories are a captivating testament to the dreams and hardships of migration. The second work of fiction by a major new voice in American letters, The Refugees is a beautifully written and sharply observed book about the aspirations of those who leave one country for another, and the relationships and desires for self-fulfillment that define our lives. Review: Hauntingly beautiful, wise stories - I know that short story collections are usually a hard sell, but I'm going out on a limb and saying this one will. Viet Thanh Nguyen's THE REFUGEES is a sterling bunch of stories, eight of them, and not a bad one in the whole barrel. And I'm not surprised, because I've already read Nguyen's novel, THE SYMPATHIZER, which won the Pulitzer. Some of these stories were written ten or more years ago, but they already displayed the writing chops that were so evident in the prize-winning novel. And some of them, like "The War Years," with its widow sewing uniforms in a California barrio for a Vietnamese army that will rise again to defeat the Communists; or the former Vietnamese airborne officer who bullies and dominates his divorced son in "Someone Else Besides You," also show the early seeds that became THE SYMPATHIZER. A favorite of mine is "The Americans," which gives us Carver, a black 69 year-old former B-52 pilot who once bombed North Vietnam, back in Vietnam decades later with his Japanese wife to visit their adult daughter who, Carver feels, will never understand how his life has been. In Carver, "now retired, limping out his sixties," Nguyen captures perfectly the helpless, sometimes bitter feeling of growing old, of accelerating months and years, of "time ruthlessly thinning out the once-dense herd of his memories." But Carver still can remember the wonder of his flying years, how - "Almost everything looked more beautiful from a distance, the earth becoming ever more perfect as one ascended and came closer to seeing the world from God's eyes ... the peaks and valleys of geography fading to become strokes of a paintbrush on a divine sphere." Nguyen also artfully conveys the uglier aspects of poverty too, as Carver travels through the Vietnamese countryside and observes - "... tin-roofed shacks with dirt floors, a man pulling up the leg of his shorts to urinate on a wall... the air thick with blasts of soot from passing trucks, the rot of buffalo dung, the fermentation of the local cuisine that he found briny and nauseating." This is wonderful writing. And Nguyen understands, I think, that writing itself is a kind of reaching for immortality, an idea he expresses perfectly in the closing lines of his opening story of refugee ghosts and ghost writers, "Black-eyed Women" - "Stories are just things we fabricate, nothing more. We search for them in a world besides our own, then leave them here to be found, garments shed by ghosts." These are hauntingly beautiful, wise stories, made to be read and remembered. My highest recommendation. - Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER Review: A great read! - You are in for a real treat! These stories are terrific; well thought out, excellent character development and plot design. How fortunate we all are to have these excellent snapshots by a truly gifted writer! ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #116,686 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #1,222 in Short Stories (Books) #4,545 in Literary Fiction (Books) #7,002 in American Literature (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 2,064 Reviews | ## Images ![The Refugees - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71afHUWDRDL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Hauntingly beautiful, wise stories *by T***T on February 13, 2017* I know that short story collections are usually a hard sell, but I'm going out on a limb and saying this one will. Viet Thanh Nguyen's THE REFUGEES is a sterling bunch of stories, eight of them, and not a bad one in the whole barrel. And I'm not surprised, because I've already read Nguyen's novel, THE SYMPATHIZER, which won the Pulitzer. Some of these stories were written ten or more years ago, but they already displayed the writing chops that were so evident in the prize-winning novel. And some of them, like "The War Years," with its widow sewing uniforms in a California barrio for a Vietnamese army that will rise again to defeat the Communists; or the former Vietnamese airborne officer who bullies and dominates his divorced son in "Someone Else Besides You," also show the early seeds that became THE SYMPATHIZER. A favorite of mine is "The Americans," which gives us Carver, a black 69 year-old former B-52 pilot who once bombed North Vietnam, back in Vietnam decades later with his Japanese wife to visit their adult daughter who, Carver feels, will never understand how his life has been. In Carver, "now retired, limping out his sixties," Nguyen captures perfectly the helpless, sometimes bitter feeling of growing old, of accelerating months and years, of "time ruthlessly thinning out the once-dense herd of his memories." But Carver still can remember the wonder of his flying years, how - "Almost everything looked more beautiful from a distance, the earth becoming ever more perfect as one ascended and came closer to seeing the world from God's eyes ... the peaks and valleys of geography fading to become strokes of a paintbrush on a divine sphere." Nguyen also artfully conveys the uglier aspects of poverty too, as Carver travels through the Vietnamese countryside and observes - "... tin-roofed shacks with dirt floors, a man pulling up the leg of his shorts to urinate on a wall... the air thick with blasts of soot from passing trucks, the rot of buffalo dung, the fermentation of the local cuisine that he found briny and nauseating." This is wonderful writing. And Nguyen understands, I think, that writing itself is a kind of reaching for immortality, an idea he expresses perfectly in the closing lines of his opening story of refugee ghosts and ghost writers, "Black-eyed Women" - "Stories are just things we fabricate, nothing more. We search for them in a world besides our own, then leave them here to be found, garments shed by ghosts." These are hauntingly beautiful, wise stories, made to be read and remembered. My highest recommendation. - Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A great read! *by K***A on June 27, 2024* You are in for a real treat! These stories are terrific; well thought out, excellent character development and plot design. How fortunate we all are to have these excellent snapshots by a truly gifted writer! ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great book! *by D***N on May 12, 2017* “For all refugees, everywhere” – Dedication in The Refugees “In a country where possessions counted for everything, we had no belongings except our stories.” Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Refugees Holy moly! What an incredible, emotional and remarkable book! I am honestly having a hard time coming up with the right words for this review – I feel it deserves so much more than my unsophisticated writing skills. Nguyen is an eloquent, perceptive, brilliant writer and storyteller. The eight stories featured in The Refugees are powerful, compassionate, and moving. Every day, hundreds of individuals are displaced and must flee their homes and countries. Many refugees fear for their lives and must leave without notice, leaving everything they love behind. The Refugees deals with their immigrant experiences, and the risks they endure for a chance of a better future and life. Nguyen brilliantly brings his characters’ triumphs and sorrows to life. One particular story, “The Warriors” is about Nguyen’s own family’s experience, “…the story “Warriors” about the child of refugee shopkeepers and what happens to that family, that is drawn very much from my life and the lives of my parents. And it was a very difficult story to write because I think my parents’ lives are worthy of writing about. I don’t think my life is particularly worthy of writing about.” With the current political climate in the United States, there is an urgent need for books such as The Refugees to be written and read by all. Get yourself a copy of this book from the bookstore or borrow it from the library or friend – just make sure you read it! Side note: I was fortunate to meet and hear Viet at the Central Library in Arlington, Virginia. He is extremely funny, smart and genuine - a great human being! ## Frequently Bought Together - The Refugees - The Things They Carried --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.at/products/55427642-the-refugees](https://www.desertcart.at/products/55427642-the-refugees) --- *Product available on Desertcart Austria* *Store origin: AT* *Last updated: 2026-06-04*