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Cambodian refugees have come to the US after the Vietnam War. They try to keep as many customs in the US as they had in Cambodia. Their children, being born in the US, do not understand the customs nor the silence the parents keep about the past. When they ask why they are to do something, the adults don't explain and there is hurt feelings on both sides. Grace is never told about the past. She comes to know it and then understands why her mother and grandmother never told her.

I found this show more interesting. Being born in the US, I never gave a thought about talking of the past. We do it a lot. After reading this I understand why my grandparents did not tell their children of the hardships of the old country. I also understood Grace's side because if no one will answer her questions, not only of her family's past but of the culture they follow within the Cambodian culture, how can she learn so she does not offend others. The characters of the book who help Grace teach her a lot about the past and her culture as well as the whys. This is a good read. show less

This was hard to read. Grace was hard to sympathise with. I guess her self-centredness, superficiality, and lack of empathy are traits expected in teenagers, but they don't make for the most sympathetic POV characters.

Aside from that, this was a book filled with old and new pain and peopled by characters who were limited by that pain. Still, there were some flashes of reaching out, some bits of explanation. Overall, it was okay.

Grace never knew her father because her mother and grandmother moved from Florida to Pennsylvania right before she was born. So when her grandmother dies and they return to Florida to give her a proper Cambodian burial, Grace thinks she will finally find some answers to her past. But it seems like all she comes up with are more questions, as she learns about her mother's and gradmother's histories and her own past.

The plot was really great. I think it was a pretty emotional book even though it didn't really reach out to me. The main character was super random so I really didn't understand her, but overall it was a quick and easy read.