The Happiest Refugee

As chapter ten opens, life is good for Anh. He’s traveling around Australia performing, and Suzie is on the road with him. Most of the people he encounters are friendly, though there are some dark spots. A racist bouncer at a comedy club nearly denies him entry. Suzie is more outraged than he is, having never experienced overt racism before. She encourages him to pick a fight with the bouncer on the way out, but Anh declines. Anh describes the hardest gig of his entire life, when he was hired to perform a benefit for a crowd of veterans of World War Two, Korea, and Vietnam. Although the MC introduces him with a fake name, the crowd instantly goes dead silent when they see Anh’s face. One man in the crowd even mimes shooting at him, which Anh uses to launch into a routine that shows he is essentially just another Australian kid. He jokes about the ordinary things he encountered in his working-class childhood, and eventually wins them over. Anh says he’s never encountered an audience scarier than that, and that it has prepared him for every future gig. Anh’s father continues to help him on the road. One day, they go back to his father’s place and drink wine. Anh’s father starts reminiscing about his childhood, and finally tells the story of Uncle One, who was murdered. Anh’s father says that he was the oldest and kindest of the family. They worked together to buy the boat to leave Vietnam. They met with a trio of men to inspect a boat. The men insisted on only taking one of them, so they split the money between them and Uncle One, or Uncle Binh, went with the men. He never came back, and his body was found the next day, murdered in a robbery. Anh’s father always blamed himself for not going with him. The next day, Anh asks his father about his health, and about how he managed to make it through his crazy life without being scared. Anh’s father admits he was terrified, and Anh’s respect and love for his father grow.

In Chapter 11, Anh reminisces about how his father taught him to handle animals as a child, and how this led to his first major TV role. The show, “Don’t Blame Me,” cast him as a park ranger. As Anh’s career takes off, he and Khoa volunteer at a charity for at-risk street youth. They teach drama, and the kids make an amateur film on a budget of just over five thousand dollars. The film is critically acclaimed. After hearing how Khoa, in particular, inspired some of the kids, Anh nominates him for Young Australian of the Year, and Khoa becomes a finalist. Although Khoa is skeptical about being in the spotlight, Anh encourages him, and soon the whole family is in the nation’s capital for the ceremony. Khoa wins, and Anh’s mother later says it is the greatest moment of her life.

As Anh’s current role ends, he decides to write a screenplay that becomes the film Footy Legends, which he finishes with help from Khoa and Suzie. The whole family participates in making the film, a feel-good tale about a local rugby league. Footy Legends is the turning point in Anh’s career; he goes from up-and-coming comic to star. He is soon getting plenty of calls for roles. He is invited to be on Dancing with the Stars, but there is a problem—he can’t dance. He trains intensively with his partner, Luda Kroitor, a champion dancer, and slowly improves. He outlasts half his fellow contestants on the show, and is able to raise a lot of money and attention for his charity. His finds his visits to the local children’s hospital deeply moving. This motivates him to work harder in dance practice, and he is shocked to make it to the grand finale. He falls short against a better dancer in the finals, but has done his family and the whole country proud. His mother got extremely into his run on the show and held huge parties to watch every week. His father and grandmother got into it as well.

Soon after leaving Dancing With the Stars, Anh runs into Uncle Six again, the uncle whom he was closest to. Talking to his grandmother, Anh finds out that Uncle Six is not actually her adopted child, but the child of a woman her husband had an affair with. She raised him as her own despite this. Anh states that much of his extended family still doesn’t know about this chapter of the family history, and will only find out when they read his book. 

Anh appears on Celebrity Deal or No Deal, where he wins two hundred thousand dollars, which he donates to a deserving family. He visits China to cover the Beijing Olympics, hosts a sports quiz show, and appears on Top Gear Australia. His career is successful beyond belief. He ends the chapter thinking about his sons, Xavier and Luc. He encourages them to pursue their dreams, just as his father had encouraged him. Above all else, he is deeply grateful for his friends and family.

In Chapter 12, Anh reflects on his trips back to Vietnam. The first was when he was dating Suzie. He and the rest of the family saved money to take his mother back to Vietnam. They’re shocked by the poverty they see, and Anh’s mother gives a lot of her money to people they meet. Anh is struck when he sees a boy that looks like him. He realizes that he could have easily been that boy if things had gone differently. They visit the place where they left Vietnam on their boat, and take a tour on a mini-bus. When the bus driver refuses to go further in a flood, Anh takes over the bus and gets a local truck driver to tow them to safety.

Anh’s mother is retired now, spending her time looking after her grandchildren and studying English. She has become a speaker on the corporate speaking circuit as well, inspiring people with her story and teaching them her old cooking tricks. Anh relates the memorable story when her English class played Anh and Khoa’s film, and she appeared on screen. However, not all members of the family fare so well. Uncle Two falls on hard times, ending up in a mental institution. Anh and Uncle Two’s son Joe become closer after this, and at Joe’s wedding, Anh’s father asks about his ex-wife, Anh’s mother. Anh is eventually able to convince Khoa and Tran to visit their father. Soon afterwards, Anh’s father tells Anh that he is apparently healthy again, his tumor being benign and responding to treatment. He credits his recovery to seeing his children again. The one person who never reconciles with Anh’s father, however, is his mother. She still sees him as the bastard she knew back then. As the book ends, Anh goes fishing with his older sons, while Suzie is on the pier with baby Leon. Anh reflects on how lucky he is to have the life he has.