Unpolished Gem: A Memoir
Alice PungWinner- Australian Newcomer of the Year in the 2007 Australian Book Industry Awards
Shortlisted in the Victorian & NSW Premiers’ Literary awards
‘Alice Pung is a gem. Her voice is the real thing.’ — Amy Tan
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This story does not begin on a boat. Nor does it contain any wild swans or falling leaves.
In a wonderland called Footscray, a girl named Alice & her Chinese-Cambodian family pursue the Australian Dream – Asian style. Armed with an ocker accent, Alice dives head- first into schooling, romance & the getting of wisdom. Her mother becomes an Aussie battler – an outworker, that is. Her father embraces the miracle of franchising & opens an electrical-appliance store. And every day her grandmother blesses Father Government for giving old people money.
Unpolished Gem is a book rich in comedy, a loving & irreverent portrait of a family, its everyday struggles & bittersweet triumphs. With it, Australian writing gains an unforgettable new voice.
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Alice was born in Footscray, Victoria, a month after her parents Kuan & Kien arrived in Australia. Alice’s father, Kuan - a survivor of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime - named her after Lewis Carroll’s character because after surviving the Killing Fields, he thought Australia was a Wonderland.
Alice grew up in Footscray & Braybrook, & changed high schools five times - almost once every year! These experiences have shaped her as a writer because they taught her how to pay attention to the quiet children & young adults that others might overlook or miss.