The Autobiography of H. Lan Thao Lam

Taking inspiration from Gertrude Stein’s The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, filmmaker Lin debuts with a bold “memoir” in which she narrates her partner’s life story from her partner’s point of view. In a meditative register, Lin (as Lam) recalls the pair’s first meeting in New York City, then plunges further back into Lam’s adolescence in Vancouver after fleeing from Vietnam at the end of the Vietnam War. The couple’s joys and challenges get equal airtime, with odes to their creative chemistry bumping against harrowing recollections of Lin’s breast cancer treatment. Lin is particularly accomplished when writing about nature, conjuring vivid descriptions of Turtle Island after the fall of Saigon and evoking the serene landscape surrounding her and Lam’s Connecticut home. (A heron on their pond “combines the extremes of comic and regal like nothing else I’ve seen.”) “Together Lana and I make our world,” Lin writes toward the end of the book. “We are interwoven, interdependent, speaking to one another in a language only we can understand.” Miraculously, Lin makes it legible to readers, too. Lyrical prose, palpable love, and formal audacity coalesce to make this a must-read. (Oct.)

Correction: An earlier version of this review misattributed some aspects of the author’s biography to her partner.