Great Neck Library Celebrates Lunar New Year with an Author Event: ‘Sigh, Gone’ by Phuc Tran

The Great Neck Library is having an author event to celebrate Lunar New Year on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, at 2 p.m. Join us at the Main Library Community Room, 159 Bayview Ave., Great Neck, NY, or on Zoom for a Q&A with author Phuc (rhymes with Luke) Tran as he visits us virtually on Zoom.

For anyone who has ever felt like they don’t belong, Sigh, Gone shares an irreverent, funny, and moving tale of displacement and assimilation woven together with poignant themes from beloved works of classic literature.

In 1975, during the fall of Saigon, Phuc Tran immigrates to America along with his family. By sheer chance, they land in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, a small town where the Trans struggle to assimilate into their new life. In this coming-of-age memoir told through the themes of great books such as The Metamorphosis, The Scarlet Letter, The Iliad, and more, Tran navigates the push and pull of finding and accepting himself despite the challenges of immigration, feelings of isolation, and teenage rebellion, all while attempting to meet the rigid expectations set by his immigrant parents.

Appealing to fans of coming-of-age memoirs such as Fresh Off the Boat, Running with Scissors, or tales of assimilation like Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Displaced and The Refugees, Sigh, Gone explores one man’s bewildering experiences of abuse, racism, and tragedy and reveals redemption and connection in books and punk rock. Against the hairspray-and-synthesizer backdrop of the ‘80s, he finds solace and kinship in the wisdom of classic literature, and in the subculture of punk rock, he finds affirmation and echoes of his disaffection. In his journey for self-discovery, Tran ultimately finds refuge and inspiration in the art that shapes—and ultimately saves—him.

No registration is required. You can attend in person at the Main Library or tune in on Zoom:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87445675143?pwd=E3XTvbXxAQuouaNdWay5s1FusOwvrI.1

Meeting ID: 874 4567 5143
Passcode: 331311

For more information, please contact Great Neck Library at (516) 466-8055 or email adultprogramming@greatnecklibrary.org.