Chapters 8-11 Summary and Analysis

In Chapter 8, "Last-Gamble," the author added another layer to his movement back and forth in time, by reminiscing about a trip when he was nine to the town of his birth in Vietnam, Phan Thiet, "the fish sauce capital." Andrew's step-father, Grandpa Le, made a fortune in fish sauce before he died. The author recounted a family gathering at Grandma Le's house that included Andrew's Auntie Dung and his siblings, Chi, Huy, Tien, and Hien. They feasted during the entire visit. Grandma Le ran a small store that Andrew tended, where he met a poor neighbor girl whom he regularly fed. Grandma Le also had been kind to Chi, whom she had helped to raise. Andrew recalled a leper-boy who had given Chi crackers, which their father had forbidden. When he found out, he beat Chi so severely that...