Ru
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $25.64
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Kim Thúy
-
Written by:
-
Kim Thúy
-
Sheila Fischman
About this listen
Ru. In Vietnamese it means lullaby; in French it is a small stream, but also signifies a flow - of tears, blood, money. Kim Thúy's Ru is literature at its most crystalline: the flow of a life on the tides of unrest and on to more peaceful waters. In vignettes of exquisite clarity, sharp observation, and sly wit, we are carried along on an unforgettable journey from a palatial residence in Saigon to a crowded and muddy Malaysian refugee camp, and onward to a new life in Quebec. There, the young girl feels the embrace of a new community, and revels in the chance to be part of the American Dream.
As an adult, the waters become rough again: now a mother of two sons, she must learn to shape her love around the younger boy's autism. Moving seamlessly from past to present, from history to memory and back again, Ru is a book that celebrates life in all its wonder: its moments of beauty and sensuality, brutality and sorrow, comfort and comedy.
Winner 2015 - Canada Reads
Winner 2011 - Grand prix littéraire Archambault
Winner 2011 - Mondello Prize for Multiculturalism
Winner 2010 - Prix du Grand Public Salon du livre - Essai/Livre pratique
Winner 2010 - Governor General’s Award for Fiction (French-language)
Winner 2010 - Grand Prix RTL-Lire at the Salon du livre de Paris
Longlisted 2013 - Man Asian Literary Prize Longlisted
2014 - International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award Nominated
2012 - Amazon.ca First Novel Award Shortlist
2012 - Scotiabank Giller Prize Shortlist
2012 - Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation
©2012 Kim Thuy; translation Sheila Fischman (P)2018 Penguin Random House CanadaYou may also enjoy...
-
Ru
- Written by: Kim Thúy
- Narrated by: Kim Thúy
- Length: 2 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Écrit sur un ton féminin, sensible et très original, Ru dénote un grand talent dans l'art de raconter, où le souvenir devient prétexte tantôt au jeu, tantôt au recueillement. L'ouvrage est composé de très courts textes liés un peu comme dans une ritournelle, ce qui permet de faire le pont entre tous les événements que la narratrice a connus et qu'elle relate avec beaucoup d'esprit, de finesse : sa naissance au Vietnam pendant la guerre, sa fuite avec les boat people, son accueil dans une petite ville du Québec, ses études,...
-
-
Un baume
- By Anonymous User on 2023-02-24
Written by: Kim Thúy
-
The Orenda
- A Novel
- Written by: Joseph Boyden
- Narrated by: Ali Ahn, Graham Rowat, Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 17 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Christophe has been in the New World only a year when his native guides abandon him to flee their Iroquois pursuers. A Huron warrior and elder named Bird soon takes him prisoner, along with a young Iroquois girl, Snow Falls, whose family he has just killed, and holds them captive in his massive village. Champlain's Iron People have only recently begun trading with the Huron, who mistrust them as well as this Crow who has now trespassed onto their land; and her people, of course, have become the Huron's greatest enemy.
-
-
Incredible story, but wish for indigenous actors
- By Maeve551 on 2018-01-15
Written by: Joseph Boyden
-
We Have Always Been Here
- A Queer Muslim Memoir
- Written by: Samra Habib
- Narrated by: Parmida Vand
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Samra Habib has spent most of their life searching for the safety to be themself. As an Ahmadi Muslim growing up in Pakistan, they faced regular threats from Islamic extremists who believed the small, dynamic sect to be blasphemous. From their parents, they internalized the lesson that revealing their identity could put them in grave danger.
-
-
Captivating Listen
- By Donald on 2020-07-29
Written by: Samra Habib
-
Jonny Appleseed
- A Novel
- Written by: Joshua Whitehead
- Narrated by: Joshua Whitehead
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A tour-de-force debut novel about a Two-Spirit Indigiqueer young man and proud NDN glitter princess who must reckon with his past when he returns home to his reserve. “You're gonna need a rock and a whole lotta medicine” is a mantra that Jonny Appleseed, a young Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer, repeats to himself in this vivid and utterly compelling debut novel by poet Joshua Whitehead.
-
-
Y gay?
- By Anonymous User on 2022-12-14
Written by: Joshua Whitehead
-
Five Little Indians
- A Novel
- Written by: Michelle Good
- Narrated by: Kyla Garcia
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Taken from their families when they are very small and sent to a remote, church-run residential school, Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie and Maisie are barely out of childhood when they are finally released after years of detention. Alone and without any skills, support or families, the teens find their way to the seedy and foreign world of Downtown Eastside Vancouver, where they cling together, striving to find a place of safety and belonging in a world that doesn’t want them.
-
-
great book, needs better narration
- By Tawny McC on 2020-09-15
Written by: Michelle Good
-
Study for Obedience
- A Novel
- Written by: Sarah Bernstein
- Narrated by: Sarah Bernstein
- Length: 3 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A young woman moves from the place of her birth to the remote northern country of her forebears to be housekeeper to her brother, whose wife has recently left him. Soon after her arrival, a series of inexplicable events occurs - collective bovine hysteria; the demise of a ewe and her nearly born lamb; a local dog's phantom pregnancy; a potato blight. She notices that the local suspicion about incomers in general seems to be directed with some intensity at her and she senses a mounting threat that lies 'just beyond the garden gate.'
-
-
Better if a profession had performed it
- By owenca on 2023-11-09
Written by: Sarah Bernstein
-
Ru
- Written by: Kim Thúy
- Narrated by: Kim Thúy
- Length: 2 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Écrit sur un ton féminin, sensible et très original, Ru dénote un grand talent dans l'art de raconter, où le souvenir devient prétexte tantôt au jeu, tantôt au recueillement. L'ouvrage est composé de très courts textes liés un peu comme dans une ritournelle, ce qui permet de faire le pont entre tous les événements que la narratrice a connus et qu'elle relate avec beaucoup d'esprit, de finesse : sa naissance au Vietnam pendant la guerre, sa fuite avec les boat people, son accueil dans une petite ville du Québec, ses études,...
-
-
Un baume
- By Anonymous User on 2023-02-24
Written by: Kim Thúy
-
The Orenda
- A Novel
- Written by: Joseph Boyden
- Narrated by: Ali Ahn, Graham Rowat, Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 17 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Christophe has been in the New World only a year when his native guides abandon him to flee their Iroquois pursuers. A Huron warrior and elder named Bird soon takes him prisoner, along with a young Iroquois girl, Snow Falls, whose family he has just killed, and holds them captive in his massive village. Champlain's Iron People have only recently begun trading with the Huron, who mistrust them as well as this Crow who has now trespassed onto their land; and her people, of course, have become the Huron's greatest enemy.
-
-
Incredible story, but wish for indigenous actors
- By Maeve551 on 2018-01-15
Written by: Joseph Boyden
-
We Have Always Been Here
- A Queer Muslim Memoir
- Written by: Samra Habib
- Narrated by: Parmida Vand
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Samra Habib has spent most of their life searching for the safety to be themself. As an Ahmadi Muslim growing up in Pakistan, they faced regular threats from Islamic extremists who believed the small, dynamic sect to be blasphemous. From their parents, they internalized the lesson that revealing their identity could put them in grave danger.
-
-
Captivating Listen
- By Donald on 2020-07-29
Written by: Samra Habib
-
Jonny Appleseed
- A Novel
- Written by: Joshua Whitehead
- Narrated by: Joshua Whitehead
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A tour-de-force debut novel about a Two-Spirit Indigiqueer young man and proud NDN glitter princess who must reckon with his past when he returns home to his reserve. “You're gonna need a rock and a whole lotta medicine” is a mantra that Jonny Appleseed, a young Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer, repeats to himself in this vivid and utterly compelling debut novel by poet Joshua Whitehead.
-
-
Y gay?
- By Anonymous User on 2022-12-14
Written by: Joshua Whitehead
-
Five Little Indians
- A Novel
- Written by: Michelle Good
- Narrated by: Kyla Garcia
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Taken from their families when they are very small and sent to a remote, church-run residential school, Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie and Maisie are barely out of childhood when they are finally released after years of detention. Alone and without any skills, support or families, the teens find their way to the seedy and foreign world of Downtown Eastside Vancouver, where they cling together, striving to find a place of safety and belonging in a world that doesn’t want them.
-
-
great book, needs better narration
- By Tawny McC on 2020-09-15
Written by: Michelle Good
-
Study for Obedience
- A Novel
- Written by: Sarah Bernstein
- Narrated by: Sarah Bernstein
- Length: 3 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A young woman moves from the place of her birth to the remote northern country of her forebears to be housekeeper to her brother, whose wife has recently left him. Soon after her arrival, a series of inexplicable events occurs - collective bovine hysteria; the demise of a ewe and her nearly born lamb; a local dog's phantom pregnancy; a potato blight. She notices that the local suspicion about incomers in general seems to be directed with some intensity at her and she senses a mounting threat that lies 'just beyond the garden gate.'
-
-
Better if a profession had performed it
- By owenca on 2023-11-09
Written by: Sarah Bernstein
What the critics say
“This is one of the millions of stories of migration in this country, the story of a woman migrating from Vietnam to Canada.... It is harrowing, beautiful, and has compressed, perfect writing. This is the story of the future of Canada.” (Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director of the Toronto International Film Festival, defending Ru at Canada Reads 2015)
"This is an exemplary autobiographical novel. Never is there the slightest hint of narcissism or self-pity. The major events in the fall of Vietnam are painted in delicate strokes, through the daily existence of a woman who has to reinvent herself elsewhere. A tragic journey described in a keen, sensitive and perfectly understated voice." (Governor General's Literary Award jury citation)
“Gloriously, passionately, delicately unique.... A remarkable book; one that has well-earned every note of praise it has received.” (The Chronicle Journal)
“Powerful and engaging.... In short entries that read lyrically and poetically - but also powerfully, pungently, and yet gently, dispassionately - Ru blends politics and history, celebration and violence within a young girl’s imaginative experience.... [I]ts hybrid and enchanted voice conjur[es] a love song out of chaos and pain, singing and rilling its simplicities.” (Winnipeg Free Press)
What listeners say about Ru
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ameli
- 2023-07-14
Lovely
Very happy to have listened to this autobiography read by the author. Can’t wait for Em, her second.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!