An Immigrant's Song: on becoming myself

How do we become who we are, what shapes our identities? Does changing the physical landscape of our lives break the chains that tie us to our past?I grew up under a political system that did not allow citizens to think independently or speak freely. Inside my family, uncomfortable subjects and emotions were avoided. For years I yearned to break away, to leave behind the world based on conformity and lies, and to escape the stifling environment of my family's life. Both wishes became reality when I left my country of birth and my family of origin to come to the United States-to live on my own, to live free. Yet I discovered over the years that the world I had left behind had not entirely left me.This memoir began as an attempt to preserve my family's history, but in the process became much more. A return to the landscapes of memory-both tender and difficult-revealed a deeper meaning to early experiences, and with it, an understanding that not everything needs to be resolved in order to accept the past.An Immigrant's Song is a story of memory, identity, and the long journey toward becoming oneself-across borders, across time, and across the invisible lines that shape our lives.