DNF - This didn't work for me; I couldn't immerse myself in the writing style and pacing, though I'm sure other readers may find their ideal with the plot. Unfortunately, I wasn't the right reader for it.

I had a little trouble at the beginning keeping all the characters straight, but once I felt fully immersed in the story, I was totally hooked and consider it to be an entertaining and powerful read. After all, could there be a more timely book considering recent events and travesties from our current government? This no longer feels improbable and it is scarily easy for the reader to imagine that this could be REAL.
I enjoyed the references to past shameful American history and the deep dive into the characters strengths and weaknesses. This would be an excellent choice for book clubs and I suspect that they'd easily run out of time to fully dig into it. I hope it also finds its place into college reading. For those colleges that do a summer read, this is for you!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. Closer to reality than the author could have predicted, I bet!

In "My Documents", author Kevin Nguyen paints a present-day United States that becomes subject to a series of 7 bombings across key airports - and what follows when the culprits of these attacks are revealed to be of Vietnamese descent. The government immediate sets into motion a nation-wide corralling of Vietnamese Americans into internment camps, including the members of the Nguyen family whose lives are all upended.

Siblings Jen and Duncan Nguyen are assigned to Camp Tacoma with their mother; their home is seized by the government and they're introduced to the disorganized and at times inhumane treatment of individuals. From cramped bunks, little to no privacy, banned Internet or external communication, and correction officers given far too much unchecked power, the family struggles to adapt to their new living situation. In spite of the dismal living conditions, both Jen and Duncan attempt to find their footing and a new community at Camp Tacoma; Jen gets involved with an underground newsletter secretly distributed to other prisoners and Duncan finds his physical stature to be a benefit in athletics. Jen and Duncan's half-siblings, Alvin and Ursula, avoid the summons; as a new intern at Google, Alvin receives an exemption while Ursula's mixed ethnicity means she gets to scrape by. She's able to start a career in journalism and when a secret communication network builds within Camp Tacoma, the four siblings must come together.

The entire dystopian premise of this novel was intriguing from the first page, sending clear allusions to the Japanese internment camps that evolved in the wake of WWII - and hinting just how close to reality this may be, especially given the current political climate. I appreciated as well the details in which the internment camps were thought out, from the individual assignments, the distribution of information, and the secret networks that evolved as a result. I did struggle, however, with the volume of characters featured, especially as all four siblings all had their own backstories and paths during the internment; I wish we had more time and development dedicated to them as it didn't feel complete. The side storyline about Dan also didn't have much focus and also felt incomplete, especially given his relationship to the protagonists.

Overall an intriguing and thought-provoking read that, while I felt had some gaps in the writing, I'd recommend to readers when "My Documents" is published in April 2025!

The setting: imagine Manzanar in the present-day US--substitute Vietnamese-Americans being interred. The camps are a result of terrorist attacks by Vietnamese in the US.

Family--and dysfunction, coming of age, assimilation, ambition, racism, rivalries--El Paquete, and that's just a start!
The diverse Nguyen family [focus on cousins]--some of whose members end up in Camp Tacoma -- and others--narrate the story.

I can't quite put my finger on why this book did not resonate for me. I found it both offputting and disconcerting--because--I looked up--the American Advanced Protections Initiative [the oft-referred to AAPI] does not exist--and because--especially in this current enviornment--it could! This derailed the narrative for me.

Though not named, a character who is definitely John McCain, is in the novel

Story lines I liked:
Descriptions of life in the camp. The tower. The underground communications systems.
Alvin--not in the camp as he got a job at Google--initially.
Duncan, in the camp, striving to be a football hero.
Ursula's and Jen's interactions. Jen, especially,

There is a lot packed into the book--maybe too much?

35, not rounding up. [in the distinct minority].

excellent writing. strong themes. this work tells a cutting tale of a dystopia that feels just around the corner. 5 stars. worth a read by basically anyone.

Thanks to NetGalley and One World for the eARC!

This book was amazing. It really made me think, and I know I'll be thinking about it for a long time to come.
It's an interesting take on how another terrorist attack in the US might be handled. I loved that we got different perspectives - some within the camp, some outside of it. The story revolves around a set of terrorist attacks perpetrated by Vietnamese people. The US reacts by putting almost all Vietnamese Americans in detention camps. There are some exceptions for people who are white passing and for those who have particular jobs (like engineering for Google). We follow a family where some end up in a detention camp and some are on the outside.
Nguyen does an amazing job of exploring the experience of a detention camp from multiple angles. He captured the mundaneness and also the fear and paranoia of camp. He also does a great job of showing what life on the outside might be like for family members of those in camps: the guilt, the desire to help that is also complicated by a desire to make a name for yourself.
I LOVED the name of the book and the meaning behind it. I liked the nods to actual people and situations in the US. I liked this book even more than I thought I would!

I'm surprised I haven't heard more buzz for this book, it was fantastic and unfortunately quite timely. This is the story of four cousins who navigate life through the detention of Vietnamese Americans after a series of terrorist attacks. Ursula is getting her career as a journalist off the ground when her cousin Jen, a NYU freshman is sent to a detention camp. Jen's brother Duncan is finding himself in high school and his passion for football, and Alvin was just hired by Google as an intern. The Nguyen family had different experiences with the camps and their changing country, but this story was gripping and incredibly moving. Of course the US government sending all Vietnamese Americans citizens to live in camps (for years!) while the attacks are investigated sounds far fetched...but these days, does it really?? I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed Real Americans by Rachel Khong, or The Circle by Dave Eggers, very similar vibes.

Loved this one! Not usually a sci -fi person but it was so good! Love the different perspectives that were shown. Seem very close to real life which made it a little eerie at times.

"My Documents" is a great exploration of dysfunctional families, wrapped in the context of xenophobia and responses to terrorism.

Ursula, Alvin, Jen and Duncan are Vietnamese-American siblings, of the same father (who abandoned them all) and different mothers. At the outset, Jen and Ursula are both in NYC, Jen at NYU and Ursula working as a "fashion editor" at a Buzz Feed-type site. Jen repeatedly tries to connect with her older sister, who rebuffs most of her overtures.

As a result of terrorist attacks, the government, reminiscent of Japanese internment in WWII, forces all Vietnamese Americans into detention camps (with a few exclusions). Jen and Duncan are sent, with their mother, to a camp in the desert, while Ursula (a journalist) and Alvin (a computer scientist at Google remain free). Without giving any plot spoilers, Jen becomes a muckraking journalist of a samizdat newspaper, and learns about the inner workings of the camp and its administration, while Duncan finds renown as a football player (HSA allows the detainees to play/watch football as a form of placating the masses (bread and circuses)), Ursula and Jen secretly reconnect and that leads to one of the central questions of the book - what does family mean, and is it truly family if it's only when it's useful to you?

"My Documents" is well worth the read. This honest review was given exchange for an advanced reader copy from #NetGalley and Random House Publishing.

When dystopian books stop feeling quite so dystopian... yikes. To be fair, this book isn't dystopian as it is inspired by the very real Japanese incarceration in America, as well as modern-day immigrant detention. The idea that an entire group of people could be detained and imprisoned because of their race SHOULD be dystopian. Unfortunately, Nguyen's novel doesn't seem so far-fetched in the current state of politics.
This book hit all the notes for me and will be one of my top recommendations for some time.

My Documents is the story of a family of Vietnamese Americans, some of whom are sent to modern day detention camps due to a nationwide terror attack linked to the Vietnamese. This is the story of national racism. It's the story of family and survival. It's the story of social privilege and destitution.

I loved reading this book, but I suppose I was looking forward to a happier ending. I guess that with the horrors of the detention camps, there would not be a resolution that was completely satisfying.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read and review My Documents.

Some books don’t just tell a story—they hold up a mirror to the world around us. My Documents by Kevin Nguyen is one of those books.

In a dystopia that feels uncomfortably possible, the U.S. Government enacts a sweeping, brutal policy: in response to six violent attacks carried out by Vietnamese men, all Vietnamese Americans are forcibly relocated to internment camps. My Documents follows four "cousins"—half-siblings—navigating this horrifying new reality.

Ursula and Alvin, raised by their (white) mother, Pam, grew up mostly disconnected from their Vietnamese roots. Their father, Dan, disappeared early, leaving only sporadic visits to extended family on the West Coast as their tenuous cultural link. Ursula, a journalist, is desperate to prove herself and claw her way out of the fashion and beauty section of her publication. Alvin, a freshly minted Google employee, is still riding the privilege that shields him from consequences. Because of their status and connections, both avoid the camps.

Jen and Duncan aren’t so lucky. Raised by a devout Catholic mother in Indiana, they find themselves on the other side of this new America. Duncan, towering and aimless, drifts through life without a clear direction. Jen, a freshman at NYU, is still figuring out who she is—though one thing is clear: she idolizes Ursula, who keeps her at arm’s length. When the government comes knocking, their mother, Jen, and Duncan are shipped off to Camp Tacoma.

Reading this hit like a punch to the gut. The timing is almost ironic. Just days ago, I was reminded that it was the 33rd anniversary of my 13 Vietnamese relatives arriving in the U.S.—thirteen people I had never met, suddenly living under my roof. My childhood home filled overnight: cousins at my school, aunts, uncles, my bà nội in the living room, in the kitchen, in the backyard. It doesn’t take much to imagine how easily they could be rounded up, labeled as threats, and shipped off to a place like Camp Tacoma. And just as easily, how I wouldn’t be.

The idea of internment camps in America feels like a dystopian nightmare—except that nightmare has already happened. Executive Order 9066 ripped Japanese Americans from their homes, their lives, and their dignity under the pretense of "national security." The trauma endured in places like Manzanar and Tule Lake is well-documented—Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston’s Farewell to Manzanar and Mary Matsuda Gruenewald’s Looking Like the Enemy. And yet, America never really learned.

Because let’s be real—it could happen again. It is happening, in different forms. The government has always found ways to justify xenophobia and racism, draping oppression and rejection in the American flag and calling it patriotism. The Vietnam War, a conflict America had no business in, echoes through history. Look around now—Ukraine, Gaza. Different places, same playbook.

What My Documents does so masterfully is bring this cautionary reality into sharp focus. The narrative hurtles forward, switching between perspectives: Ursula’s ruthless ambition, Alvin’s willful ignorance, Duncan’s surprising success on the football field (sponsored, of course, by Nike…), and Jen’s desperate attempts to expose the truth, no matter the cost.

History doesn’t repeat itself. It just finds new ways to wear the same mask.

Vietnamese, Japanese, Mexican, Cuban—it doesn’t matter.

At the end of the day, all anyone wants is to be seen as human. As equal.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and Kevin Nguyen for the opportunity to read this terrifying tale.

Mỹ Documents follows the lives of four family members of the Nguyen family when their lives are altered in different ways: a domestic terrorist attack sparks a national panic that leads to internment of Vietnamese-Americans reminiscent of the WWII-era Japanese internment camps.

I read this at the end of Feb 2025 which added gravity to this novel - it felt like it could be set tomorrow under the current authoritarian regime. Because of this, it was harder to separate fiction from reality: and that’s exactly what the author wanted. Racism and xenophobia can be as egregious as internment, and as small as the microaggressions in everyday life. It was not lost on me that there were also layers to the racism and xenophobia in Nguyen’s characters: some who ran from the law, some who were protected by capitalism, and some who were white-passing and able to exploit the horrors of their community without experiencing it firsthand.

The author deserves every one of the five stars and more for this compelling and acerbic take on modern-day xenophobia-induced national panic. It’s not an episode of the Twilight Zone, but instead a mirror reflecting the unsettling side of modern day U.S.A.

Reviewed as part of #ARC from #NetGalley. Many thanks to Random House for the opportunity to read and review.

DNF at around the 35% mark - A slow, disjointed near-future dystopian novel. I had a hard time slogging through this book, didn’t connect to any of the characters, and although I found the premise interesting, nothing I read convinced me of its plausibility, and the relative complacency of it all bothered me enough that I just couldn’t finish the book.

Part Farewell to Manzanar, part Man in the High Castle, My Documents is somehow a terrifying and yet, dull look at alternative outcomes from terrorism in the US. I don't mean dull in the sense that the book is unexciting, only that the response to thousands of US citizens being rounded up, stripped of their rights and homes, results in, well, nothing - just silence from the rest of the US. Of course we all know the famous saying - when they came for me there was no one left, and yet, we can see it happening now - everyone is just a little too scared to stand up for someone else or risk losing what little protection and privilege they have.
This would be such an excellent choice for a book club or group read. There are so many off-handed quotable lines and I suspect that different parts and characters will prick people in different ways.
I really enjoyed (and also was annoyed by) the ending and lack of a clear takeaway. I suspect that is the point - what was the point of imprisoning all these people - in this fictional world and also in the real world? What was gained? What was lost?

This book is an interesting look at an alternate future/present where Vietnamese Americans are put in detention camps following a series of terrorist attacks. We follow many members of the same family - some in camps and some who aren't. I really enjoyed this story as we get to see what modern internment camps might look/feel like, along with the technological, and media/journalistic aspects as well. It kept my attention and had enough to interest this reader, however I did feel it had a couple too many point of view, some of which were not necessary. I also did not quite buy in to the inciting incidents that came to cause all of the camps, and not much time was spent setting that up or commenting on that at all, which felt odd. Overall this is definitely worth the read, especially for those familiar with Vietnamese culture.

This is Nguyen's second novel, and it's one of those unfortunately timed books because ahahahahaha we may be on our way to detention camps for minorities again! The character work and looking at how these characters deal with the realities of the camps does feel slightly optimistic, as it pictures a world where journalists aren't craven and are willing to stand up to power. There's also some very interesting opaque commentary towards John McCain. This comes out this spring, and is definitely worth your time.

A compelling exploration of a near future in the U.S. where entire communities are imprisoned and cut off from the world.

Four siblings have radically different experiences after a series of attacks. Alvin is about to start working at Google. Ursula passes as white and uses her mother's maiden name as she tries to make it as a journalist. Jen and Duncan are not as lucky, however, and they are sent to an interment camp.

The writing is clear and sharp and the short chapters add a sense of urgency. It took me a few chapters to get into the story and then I was hooked. I found Jen's chapters and storyline most intriguing and was fascinated by Ursula's determination to succeed.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

Six bombs explode at designated popular locations in the USA. The persons who set off the bombs were Vietnamese Americans. The time is the 21st century. Vietnamese Americans, with few exceptions, are removed from their homes by Homeland Security and taken to detention centers, where they are held indefinitely. In each place of detention is a mysterious black tower straight from Kafka, Orwell, and Aldous Huxley.

A familiar dystopian story, which follows one family, the young biracial woman, who passes for white, starting out on her career as a journalist; her brother who receives a deferment, granted by his big tech employer; and the father who goes off the grid. Life for the family members detained is daily tedium and fear as they struggle to keep their lives as normal as possible.

As American literature, Nguyen’s My Documents continues the tradition of No-No Boy by John Okada, Sinclair Lewis’ It Can’t Happen Here and The Plot Against America by Philip Roth.

Thank you to the publisher, Oneworld, and NetGalley for an advanced readers’ copy.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! This is an excellent book that I will definitely promote on my shelves. I would love to see students read it alongside the YA book Internment by Samira Ahmed to see how a similar theme can be expressed very differently. I deeply appreciate the family layers in this (Ursula---argh) and the examination of trauma reporting and dehumanization. Excellent writing too!