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Spies, Salons, and Sandra Oh
Dear Hyphenly readers,
Can you believe it’s already been a month since we launched this new adventure?
Thanks for joining us for the 13th edition of Hyphenly! If you have feedback, we’d love to hear from you at [email protected]. And don’t forget—we’re always looking to publish fresh writing on our blog. Share your immigrant experience, family stories, inherited recipes, or anything else meaningful. Send us your pitch!
As we wrap up AAPI Heritage Month, we’re closing with a TV recommendation. What do you get when you mix espionage, exile, forced confessions, and forbidden love?
The Sympathizer, a thrilling HBO miniseries based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, might just be your next weekend binge.
Directed by Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, The Handmaiden) and Don McKellar (Last Night, The Red Violin), the series features new and exciting talent alongside familiar faces—think Sandra Oh and Robert Downey Jr. (who plays four different characters!).
The story follows a North Vietnamese spy embedded in the South Vietnamese army, who flees to America during the Fall of Saigon. Settling into life with a refugee community in the U.S., he secretly continues reporting to the Viet Cong.
Nguyen made it clear that any adaptation of his novel must center Vietnamese people speaking Vietnamese. The result? A majority-Vietnamese cast and crew, and dialogue that is over 50% in Vietnamese—offering a rare, honest portrayal of the Vietnamese refugee experience in the U.S.
This kind of storytelling is a welcome shift for many who feel the Vietnamese experience has long been overlooked in American media. Did you know that Vietnamese Americans make up the fourth-largest Asian origin group in the U.S.? That’s about 2.3 million people across the country!
Want to explore more Vietnamese stories—but war dramas or thrillers aren’t your thing? We’ve got another recommendation for you:
Sunshine Nails by Mai Nguyen is a heartfelt novel about a Vietnamese Canadian family trying to save their beloved nail salon after a high-end competitor opens up next door. It’s a warm, funny, and poignant story that dives into themes of gentrification, generational tension, and the immigrant hustle—but at its core, it’s about the strength of family.
Still, Exciting Times is a sharp, compulsively readable novel and perfect for fans of modern love stories, “situationships,” complicated female friendships, and introspective journeys toward self-acceptance. If you read it, we’d love to hear your thoughts!
Culture Check-In: We want to hear from you!
What can we do to improve your reading experience?As we close off our first month of Hyphenly, we’d love to hear from you. |
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Podcast Pick of the Week
Want to hear more stories about HBO shows? Listen to this conversation between Saadia and Supinder Wraich who plays Aqsa in Sort Of from our Immigrantly podcast!
This newsletter was curated by Suhasini Patni.
Hyphenly curates the latest news, art, and businesses from immigrants around the world. Have a tip or story we should feature? We’d love to hear from you.
We’re currently accepting blog pitches and offer a small honorarium—send your pitch to [email protected]
Visit us at www.immigrantlypod.com.