Phong Nha, the Making of an American Smile (Pamphlet Series)

Literary Nonfiction. Asian & Asian American Studies. PHONG NHA, THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN SMILE is a story about a girl who was born missing two of her front teeth and the journey it took to correct this defect. It is also a story about cave formations in Phong Nha, Vietnam; a manmade island called Forest City located along the Strait of Malacca; and the famous tale of three prisoners staring at shadows in a cave. Through a series of short paragraphs that permute repeated words and phrases, Nguyen's narrative moves from her personal life to geological formations to manmade developments and their economic forecasts to Greek philosophy. In doing so, it probes notions of truth and the importance of having a story, whether true or not, to serve as some sort of moral compass.