Bich Minh Nguyen

Insightful yet even poetic metaphor and memory pervades this memoir from a shining light of a debut book. The author's recollection of life in America following feeling Vietnam features references to copious reading and it seems to have improved the author's prose powers. Aside from the writing quality the life itself is fascinating: the difficulties of individuating toward adulthood under a distant stepmom, cruel schoolmates, and the confusing temptations of American consumerism. Nguyen show more struggles with understanding herself and putting together an identity from her heritage and her home while unknowingly moving toward an unexpected reunion. show less

I have to confess that when I first started reading Short Girls, I thought it was just another examination of the inter-generational struggles faced by families recently immigrated to the United States. As this is a vein that has been mined so wonderfully by Amy Tan over the years, it was not clear that this novel—which concentrates on the Vietnamese rather than the Chinese experience—would be anything special.

Fortunately, I kept reading and I am glad that I did. While Bich Nguyen’s show more book certainly does consider the joys and strains of the relationships between parents and children caught between two cultures, her real focus is the interaction between the two sisters of the title. Conditioned from birth to both resent and embrace their status as “short girls”—a continuing metaphor for their standing as people who will always be at least slightly outside the mainstream— Linny and Van face their challenge and pursue their lives in very different ways. As a consequence, they grow apart and barely speak to one another after high school. Much of the action in the novel involves the sometimes heartbreaking sequence of events that ultimately bring them back together.

I enjoyed this book, largely because I really grew to care about both of the sisters. Nguyen—who seems to have written from personal experience—has drawn very distinct and authentic portraits of two women who view the world quite disparately, but share too much in the way of history and common genes to ever break apart completely. This is a book about love and loss, fitting in and being estranged, regret and redemption. I recommend it without hesitation. show less

Short Girls tells the story of two second-generation Vietnamese sisters, Van and Linny. Coping with the aftermath of crumbling relationships with their husband and lover, they reunite at their father's citizenship party after being estranged from each other for several years. In the days that follow, they learn more than they ever knew about each other and themselves.

As a second-generation Asian myself, I feel that Nguyen has presented a realistic portrayal of what it is like to be caught show more between two cultures. The book is about "short" people living in an environment created by "tall" people. How do you manage in a world where you don't fit, where you have to struggle and reach to do the normal things everyone else takes for granted?

Nguyen has created an engaging story about two women with wildly contrasting personalities, who initially believe they have absolutely nothing in common. They discover that, despite their differences, they cannot escape their shared cultural history and it is that which ultimately brings them together. show less

Pioneer Girl is a quick, engaging read. The central character, Lee, is the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants who have spent their lives in the US managing a variety of Asian restaurants across the midwest. Her father died when she was young, but her mother and grandfather continue in the restaurant business, fully expecting Lee and her brother Sam to make this their life’s work as well.

Lee has broken with family expectations and earned a PhD in Literature with a dissertation on Edith show more Wharton. Her brother has rebelled in another way, fleeing the family home and maintaining only minimal contact with his sister, mother, and grandfather. PhD in hand, Lee is unable to find a job in academia, so she returns for a temporary stint in the family home and restaurant, hoping this won’t become permanent.

Most of this is back story. The novel really begins when Lee decides to investigate a gold bar pin left at her Grandfather’s restaurant in Vietnam during the war years by a female reporter named Rose. The pin reminds Lee of one briefly described in one of Laura Ignalls Wilder’s novels and Rose was the name of Laura’s daughter who was a writer and journalist so….

Lee’s unlikely quest for the origin of the pin and the real story of Rose Wilder Lane is compulsive—for the reader, as well as for Lee. We travel the U.S. with her visiting archives and spots from Wilder history. This is a wonderful novel to read when you’re longing for something simultaneously contemporary and nostalgic. Most readers will have some memories of the Little House books (or at least the television series based on them), so one is on familiar territory even while pursuing literary mystery. show less