Unpolished Gem: My Mother, My Grandmother, and Me

"Poignant, provocative, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, Pung's rollicking tale of two worlds is not to be missed."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

After Alice Pung's family fled to Australia from the killing fields of Cambodia, her father chose Alice as her name because he thought their new country was a Wonderland. In this lyrical, bittersweet debut memoir--already an award-winning bestseller when it was published in Australia--Alice grows up straddling two worlds, East and West, her insular family and the Australia outside. With wisdom beyond her years and a keen eye for comedy in everyday life, she writes of the trials of assimilation and cultural misunderstanding, and of the tender but fraught relationships between three generations of women trying to live the Australian dream without losing themselves.

Unpolished Gem is a moving, vivid journey about identity and the ultimate search for acceptance and healing, delivered by a writer possessed of rare empathy, penetrating insight, and undeniable narrative gifts.

Author: Alice Pung
Publisher: Plume Books
Published: 02/01/2009
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.55lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.30w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9780452290006

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 09/29/2008 pg. 70
Kirkus Reviews 10/15/2008 pg. 1105
Library Journal 11/15/2008 pg. 79
Booklist 12/01/2008 pg. 9

About the Author
ALICE PUNG was born in Australia in 1981, one month after her parents migrated from Cambodia. She is now a Melbourne-based writer and lawyer.