A fairly nuanced accounting of the years of a young boy from Vietnam and his mother who are separated after immigrating to the U.S. We first get the perspective of the boy, then it begins to vacillate between the two, answering some questions, while posing more.

I found this to be more nuanced than I expected. The change is point of view was welcome too, as I didn’t find the boy’s perspective nearly as interesting, just because of his personality. And it also adds so much more texture and complexity when we get the mothers perspective. I felt it was quite rewarding.

Well paced, well written. Important story, especially when it came out, as it goes into the myth of the American dream. ICE, racism, misogyny, nepotism, extortion. The two encounter so many different barriers to every endeavour, but I wouldn’t say it is a bleak tale, either. There’s plenty of comfort and love - even when it’s echoes of memory. Still feels quite relevant and I found it touching via the moments I like the most: the innocuous and those memories roaming the peripheral.