…and a San Diego-based book wins! “The Gangster We Are All Looking For” received the most votes in the KPBS’s One Book, One San Diego contest! The novel written by lê thi diem thúy, is a true-
life novel about a Vietnamese refugee family in San Diego, told from the perspective of the family’s daughter, who was only six years old when they arrived.
The narrator and her parents struggle to adapt to life in an unfamiliar land, while simultaneously dealing with a troubled marriage, a father’s mysterious past, and the loss of a brother, in this painful, magical and poetic novel.
ºGangster” was selected by public online voting. This year, a record 2,338 votes were cast, and the race was close: “Gangster” beat out Luis Alberto Urrea’s “Into the Beautiful North” by a mere 27 votes.