Listen free for 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Unpolished Gem cover art

Unpolished Gem

Written by: Alice Pung
Narrated by: Melissa Chambers
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $25.24

Buy Now for $25.24

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

"This story does not begin on a boat." So commences Alice Pung’s memoir. This is an original take on a classic story - how a child of immigrants moves between two cultures. In place of piety and predictability, however, Unpolished Gem offers a vivid and ironic sense of both worlds. It combines the story of Pung’s life growing up in suburban Footscray with the inherited stories of the women in her family - stories of madness, survival, and heartbreak. Original and brave, this is a girl’s own story that introduces an unforgettable voice and captures the experience of Asian immigrants to Australia.

©2006 Alice Pung (P)2012 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

What the critics say

"There’s something striking on every page of Unpolished Gem." (Helen Garner)
"Pung has a seductive way with language, an eye for telling detail, and a gift for comic dialogue." ( Australian Book Review)
"... an intelligent and touching insight into the culture-hopping that so many first-generation Australians undertake." ( The Herald Sun)

What listeners say about Unpolished Gem

Average Customer Ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.