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What Members Thought
Beautifully illustrated, this book made me want to learn more about Vietnam and its history. Thi Bui uses the context of her own experience becoming a mother to contextualize her relationships with her parents and the impact their history has had on her life. There is a lot of compassion in her portrayal of her parents, despite the painful aspects of her childhood.
Running into a problem where this is so amazing that I feel completely blocked when I try to describe it. Read it.
Thi Bui tells her family's story of surviving in and escaping war-torn Vietnam with such love and understanding for her parents and the difficult decisions they had to make. Weaving together the present and the past, it's a jarring portrait of the ongoing effects of generational trauma.
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I was really drawn into this story--it's totally aborbing. The author gave just enough historical context so that I understood the effect of the events of the Vietnam war on her family. She portrays her family members as complex people making difficult decisions, something that's hard to do when you're trying to make sense of how their decisions affected you as a kid. We get her journey and her parents' journeys as well. Really great story-telling.
Mild spoiler:
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Mild spoiler:
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...if I could see Viet Nam as a real place, and not a symbol of something lost, I would see my parents as real people and learn to love them better.
Nuanced and beautiful. Read this.
Jun 10, 2018
Leann
rated it
it was amazing
Shelves:
family,
20th-century,
21st-century,
memoir,
graphic-novel,
america,
parenthood,
vietnam,
immigration
Feb 22, 2017
Nikki
marked it as to-read
Feb 23, 2017
Ella (find me on Storygraph!)
marked it as to-read
Jul 06, 2017
Jen
marked it as to-read
Nov 01, 2017
Av
marked it as to-read
Dec 05, 2017
Bailey
marked it as to-read
Dec 07, 2017
Monique
added it
Mar 02, 2018
Rosa
marked it as to-read
Jul 11, 2018
Sarah
marked it as to-read
Aug 01, 2018
Sduff222
added it
Aug 25, 2018
Leeann
marked it as to-read
Jan 11, 2019
Jessica
rated it
it was amazing
Shelves:
memoir,
comix,
refugee,
immigrant,
mother-daughter,
poc,
genre-intro,
american-immigrant-experience
