The Happiest Refugee Full Book Free
Christian Swindler
At the start of chapter two, the Dos and their extended family had saved their money and sold all of their possessions to buy a boat with which they will were leaving Vietnam with. As the 40 or so Vietnamese refugees made their way across the boarder between Vietnam and international waters, they are chased by a communist boat. Thankfully, it turns back just as the second smaller engine of the boat broke. The boat is hot, sticky and desperate. Anh's mum has him and his younger brother, Khoa, under an arm each. Both crying their little heads off.On the second day, a big wave descends upon the ship. Tam sends Hien along with the other women and children below deck to escape the wave. Hien sings her sons a lullaby as she prays for her husband's safety. After it passed, a seventeen year old boy jumps off of the boat and disappears. A few days later, the boat is attacked by pirates. They steal all the money, food, jewelry and the second engine. They didn't, however, see the first broken engine. Tam fixes it and he continues on his way with 39 shaken up and upset refugees. They get attacked again by pirates, this time with nothing left. One of the women, Huong, were taken onto the other boat and a golden bar is found in Khoa;s nappy. Angry that the refugees lied to him, the pirate goes to throw Khoa off of the boat. Tam riles up the 37 refugees left and gets them to fight for the life of Huong and Khoa. As the pirates leave, returning Khoa to Hien and Huong to the boat, a small pirate throws them a gallon of water. With the first engine taken, the refugees drift hopelessly. But finally they are saved by some German men.
by using onomatopoeia Do is able to paint a picture in the mind of a reader and encourages them to experience the fear of bullets racing past their heads, hitting the side of the boat, the only thing that could get them a better life. The screams of the women echo's inside the readers head, emphasising the feeling of terror felt as the peoples lives flash before their eyes. The feeling the people would get after realising that right as they get their ticket out of there,the fear of dying is disappearing, they are going to get killed on their way to freedom.
With humour, warmth and spirit, Anh Do shares his journey from a refugee boat fleeing Vietnam to a successful and well known comedian in Australia. The Happiest Refugee won multiple Australian book awards in 2011 and captured the heart of the nation.
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Anh Do (born 2 June 1977)[2] is a Vietnamese-born Australian author, actor, comedian, and painter.He has appeared on Australian TV shows such as Thank God You're Here and Good News Week, and was runner-up on Dancing with the Stars in 2007. He studied a combined Business Law degree at the University of Technology, Sydney.[3] He is the brother of film director Khoa Do and has acted in several of Khoa's films, including Footy Legends, which he co-wrote and produced. In 2012, his TV show Anh Does Vietnam began airing. He has been four times a finalist in the Archibald Prize and won the 2017 People's Choice Award.[4] From 2016 to 2021, Do hosted Anh's Brush with Fame on ABC TV in which he concurrently interviews and paints a portrait of prominent Australians.
Anh Do and his family fled to Australia as refugees in 1980.[5] In his 2010 autobiography, The Happiest Refugee, Do tells of how his family survived five days in a leaky fishing boat nine and a half metres long and two metres wide. During the trip his family and the rest of the passengers were attacked by two different bands of pirates. The first group stole one of the two engines and the second group of pirates stole the second engine, which had been broken but repaired by Do's father using a piece of rubber from a thong. It was reported that as the second band of pirates left, one of them threw a gallon of water onboard which kept all but one of the refugees alive, until they were finally rescued by a German merchant ship.[6] The boat was packed with 40 Vietnamese refugees fleeing across the Indian Ocean. "We were crammed in like sardines," he said.[7] Do's family settled in the Sydney suburb of Yagoona.[8]
The Happiest Refugee has won awards, including the 2011 Australian Book of the Year, Biography of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, as well as the Indie Book of the Year Award 2011, Non-fiction Indie Book of the Year 2011, and it was shortlisted for the 2011 NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Community Relations Commission Award.[6]
Do attended St Aloysius' College in Milsons Point for his secondary education.[9] When he was 14 he started a small business breeding tropical fish. While studying his first year of law at the University of Technology, Sydney, he owned a stall which sold American Indian artifacts, which he later expanded to four franchised stores. Six months before finishing his combined Business Law degree, law firms offered him jobs which required 60 hours of work a week. He opted to take up stand-up comedy instead.[5] Since 2013 Do has cut back on comedy to focus on painting full-time. He was a finalist in the Archibald Prize in 2014, 2017 and 2019.
From 2016 to 2021, Do hosted Anh's Brush with Fame on ABC-TV.[10][11] In this popular program, Anh Do concurrently interviews and paints a portrait of prominent Australians. He has been criticised for pre-painting the portraits from photographs and enlisting help from his art tutor.[12][13]
Do is married to Suzanne (Suzie) Do and they have three sons and a daughter.[14] Do met Suzie whilst they were both studying at university.[15] His mother, Hien, played the role of Van Nguyen's mother, Kim, in Better Man, a film which was produced by Anh's brother Khoa Do.[16]
The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known informally as the Mo Awards), were annual Australian entertainment industry awards. They recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia from 1975 to 2016. Anh Do won one award in that time.[19].mw-parser-output .awards-table td:last-childtext-align:center
Anh Do travelled to Australia in 1980 on an eight metre fishing boat with 47 other Vietnamese refugees. Sick with dehydration and one person already dead, the journey was the first of many struggles for a young Do, who overcame all manner of difficulties throughout his life to become a lawyer and, in 2008, Australia's Comedian of the Year.
The Happiest Refugee: A Memoir, charts his journey from starving refugee to one of Australia's best-loved entertainers, and was described by Russell Crowe as "the most surprising and inspiring read I have had in years,". It was recently awarded Book of the Year with sales in excess of 450,000.
Do's struggles as a young refugee - his difficulties with English, divorcing parents, being bullied and broke, are brought to life in this hilarious but moving stage show, garnering this happy refugee standing ovations across the country.
The issue of ghostwriting arose in July, when Do's memoir, The Happiest Refugee, was named book of the year at the Australian Book Industry Awards. Do says it is his greatest professional achievement, largely because it compensated for embarrassing memories of growing up as a refugee kid who struggled at school.
''I guess it hurts because it took me back to year 1 when I felt like I was the dumb kid. And even after university and success and awards, it surprised me how quickly I was made to feel like that little kid who struggled.''
Less than four months later, Do is pleased but apprehensive about publication of The Littlest Refugee, a children's version of The Happiest Refugee. Again, it tells the story of his family's journey to Australia from war-torn Vietnam, and features poverty, pirates and ''an old wooden fishing boat that stank of fish''.
It also tells of his mother Hien. After arriving in Sydney and having the sewing machines that provided her livelihood stolen, Hien tells Anh, ''We are so lucky to be alive and living in this beautiful country. There are many people much worse off than us.''
Up until the ghostwriting controversy, Do was a rarity, a good news refugee story to offset the reports of drowned asylum seekers and political stalemates about offshore processing. After arriving in Sydney in 1980, he was put into a special needs class for reading and writing, but ultimately studied business and law at the University of Technology, Sydney. He has three sons and a successful stand-up and public speaking career. His first book, The Happiest Refugee, has sold 123,000 copies and won half-a-dozen prizes. Russell Crowe has optioned the film rights.
Then came the ghostwriting revelations, which Do says were thoroughly misleading. He admits journalist Michael Visontay was hired to supply a manuscript (for which he was thanked in the acknowledgements), but says his manuscript was barely used in the published version.
''I have not sat down to count how much of my original words or structure were published,'' Visontay says. ''I interviewed Anh over an extended period, carried out independent research, wrote and delivered a completed manuscript, which the publisher told me she was happy with.
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