Based on the author’s life, Inside Out and Back Again is the story of a little girl, Hà, and her family as they become war refugees and flee Vietnam for the United States, settling in Alabama. It’s about her family’s grief over leaving their M.I.A. father behind. It’s about her older brothers and how they make their way in America. It’s about their mother and the sacrifices she makes for her children to succeed in America. Mostly, though, it’s Hà’s own personal story about how she misses her homeland, copes with a new language and a new school, makes new friends, deals with bullies, and finds her own way. I enjoy reading stories about the immigrant experience, and this one is perhaps even more poignant to me because of time period and the fact that it’s set in Alabama. (My father is a Vietnam veteran, so I relate somehow emotionally to the story more than I might if Hà were from some other place.)
Written in verse form, this novel gives little, succinct snapshots of what their lives are like. Here’s Hà’s description of her mother sewing the packs they will use to carry their belongings away from Saigon:
Hours later
the stitches appear
in slow motion,
the needle a worm
laying tiny eggs
that sink into brown cloth.
The tired worm
reproduces much more slowly
at the end of the day
than at the beginning
when Mother started
the first of five bags. (52-53)
And on her mother’s sacrifice:
Who can go against
a mother
who has become gaunt like bark
from raising four children alone? (54)
On going to a school self-segregated by skin color:
Both laughing, chewing,
as if it never occurred
to them
someone medium
would show up. (143)
On losing one’s identity:
I wish
Father would appear
in my class
speaking beautiful English
as he does French and Chinese
and hold out his hand for mine.
Mostly
I wish
I were
still
smart. (158-59)
And one more, perhaps the most poignant of all:
No one believes me
but at times
I would choose
wartime in Saigon
over
peacetime in Alabama. (195)
Thanhha Lai has written a beautiful and touching story in Inside Out and Back Again that rattled my own safe little world. I will definitely read this book with my children when they’re a little older. Highly, Highly Recommended. (Harper, 2011)
Other books that came to mind while I was reading this one are A Step from Heaven by An Na and Betti on the High Wire by Lisa Railsback (both linked to my reviews) because of their sensitive and thoughtful protrayals of the immigrant experience.
As a side note, I think said something like this almost every review I’ve written of books written in verse form with a statement that goes something like this: “I don’t usually like novels written in verse form. . . ” I need to change that; I must like them better than I think I do. In this case, though, I think it works particularly well. Here are a couple more books in this format that I’ve reviewed:
Do you like novels in verse?
I’m adding this book review to this month’s Award Winning Books database at Gathering Books. 
Novels written in verse form don’t really appeal to me. That aside, this story does sound interesting and I really like the cover art.
With your excellent recommendation, I will read this book. And I also loved An Na’s A Step from Heaven. Thank you.
Hi Amy, I actually love novels-in-verse. Admittedly, I love more than others, but as a whole, it’s a genre that has appealed to me greatly. We had that as our theme sometime November/December and I also reviewed this beautiful book by Thanhha Lai, one of my favorites last year. Thank you so much for adding this to our AWB database.
I loved this one too, it was really beautiful. I was able to read it all in one sitting at a church retreat and it was a really lovely and powerful afternoon.
Wow. This looks like a great read! Thanks for the write-up! Much appreciated! 🙂