Catfish and Mandala is a memoir narrating An X. Pham's bicycle tour through Vietnam, as well as his childhood experiences. Through his journey, Pham grapples with the concepts of individuality, family, and the influence of one's heritage upon one's life. In his travels, Pham meets several Vietnam War veterans, soldiers from both sides of the conflict. In his experiences with these characters, Pham reveals his own ingrained sense of guilt and confusion that he feels when he tries to seperate himself from his Vietnamese heritage.
As Pham's journey through Vietnam progresses, he finds that little remains the way he left it in his exodus from the country as a child. With almost all of the famialiarity washed from his former home, Pham reaches a point at which he has nothing to tie himself to the land. Displaced and mentally transient, he does not feel at home in either of the countries that make up his place in the world. Pham's intense craving for a place to belong fuels him to continue trudging, both across Vietnam and through his memories; searching for himself in the lives of others. Pham's journey unearth's his families tragic past and the difficulties of being a foreigner in the United States.
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