Ma and Me: A Memoir [Paperback]

Winner of the Pacific Northwest Book Award.

A nuanced mediation on love, identity, and belonging. This story of survival radiates with resilience and hope.Publishers Weekly(starred review)

This openhearted memoir . . . opens the door to include queer descendants of war survivors into the growing American library of love. Sarah Schulman, author ofLet the Record Show

When Putsata Reang was eleven months old, her family fled war-torn Cambodia, spending twenty-three days on an overcrowded navy vessel before finding sanctuary at an American naval base in the Philippines. Holding what appeared to be a lifeless baby, Ma resisted the captains orders to throw her bundle overboard. Instead, on landing, Ma rushed her baby into the arms of American military nurses and doctors, who saved the childs life. I had hope, just a little, you were still alive, Ma would tell Putsata in an oft-repeated story that became family legend.

Over the years, Putsata lives to please Ma and make her proud, hustling to repay her life debt by becoming the consummate good Cambodian daughter, working steadfastly by Mas side in the berry fields each summer and eventually building a successful career as an award-winning journalist. But Putsatas adoration and efforts are no match for Mas expectations. When Putsata comes out to Ma in her twenties, Ma tells her its just a phase. When Putsata fails to bring home a Khmer boyfriend, its because shes not trying hard enough. When, at the age of forty, Putsata tells Ma she is finally getting marriedto a womanit breaks their bond in two.

In her startling memoir, Putsata Reang explores the long legacy of inherited trauma and the crushing weight of cultural and filial duty. With rare clarity and lyric wisdom,Ma and Meis a stunning, deeply moving memoir about love, debt, and duty.