Language: R (81 swears 38 'f'); Mature Content: PG (The whole book is about generational trauma so it's a heavy topic) Violence: R (Graphic descriptions of war-time violence, rape, suicide, and deaths from starvation and violence; repeated child beatings)
BUYING ADVISORY: HS, ADULT - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: LOW
It’s 17yo Jane’s last summer at home and she can’t wait to escape her Vietnamese father’s oppression when she goes to UCLA in the fall. Now she just has to figure out how to tell him, and her little brother Paul, who she worries will never forgive her for leaving like their mother did. But she has to get out. Her dad’s unpredictability and physical abuse have made Jane’s life unbearable, but so far she’s been able to shield Paul from the worst of it. Jane knows her dad must have suffered horrors during the war and during his escape to the United States, but Vietnamese people don’t talk of such things. As Jane learns more about his story, she starts to understand some of why he is the way he is, even as she understands that it doesn’t justify his behavior.
This was a hard read, but an important one, and I openly wept a couple of times at the brutal reality of Jane’s life. Several of the beatings were pretty severe and my heart broke for Jane and Paul. Told in alternating chapters, the story bounces between Jane’s present day and the story of her dad’s life in and escape from Vietnam. We often only learn about the Vietnam War through the American lens and I appreciated the authentic telling of this part of history. It was also a window into the experience of children of refugees and their struggle to live in both worlds. I struggled, though, with a lack of condemnation of the abuse Jane suffered. She sort of just reconciles herself to it as the consequence of her dad’s horrific experiences rather than understanding that she’s being abused and getting help. I can’t say I liked this book, but I’m still glad I read it. Jane is Vietnamese-American.
Andrea R
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