![]() ![]() ![]() ''You can't be so disrespectful of the terrible things that happened in Cambodia.'' When she began her second book, Pung at first thought she would use the same sassy first-person voice that had been so successful in Unpolished Gem. She went on to edit a book of other peoples' stories, Growing Up Asian in Australia. ![]() But it subverted the conventional migrant misery story and made it funny. Sure, it had its dark side: Pung wrote graphically about the nervous breakdown she suffered in her teens. Her memoir of a girl high on education and achievement but low on self-esteem, growing up in a Chinese-Cambodian family in Braybrook, won the Australian Book Industry newcomer of the year award and was shortlisted for the Victorian and New South Wales premiers' literary awards and The Age book of the year. The humour and sarcasm provided the charm and bite in Pung's best-selling and much-loved first book, Unpolished Gem. ![]()
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