It's the specificity that makes Funny Ethnics stand out, and the stealth amidst its directness. The humour's welcome too. It presents as an unblinking depiction of second generation Vietnamese migrant working class life in western Sydney and I don't doubt its authenticity; it has the trappings of a coming of age story but there's something undisclosed - resistant - about its narrator Sylvia and a slipperiness to its narrative arc that gives the novel an unusual character.
Thầy Trọng, a monk from the temple near Pizza Hut on Chapel Road, used to come in for Scripture class at Yagoona Public School. One of the first things Thầy Trọng taught us was the prayer 'Nam mô A Di Đà Phật' (Glory to Buddha). Winston Tran had laughed at the monk's mustard robes and said, 'Phật sounds like fuck!' Thầy Trọng quit after that. The Buddhist class got mixed in with the No Religion class and we spent Scripture hour watching Pocahontas.
