This is a collection I’ve been wanting to read since it came out but never got around to it - so glad I finally did! It’s a really strong collection focusing on Laotian immigrants living in America, their daily lives, their struggles, hopes, aspirations, frustrations, disappointments. We see parents projecting their own ambitions onto their kids, kids rebelling against them, women embracing their sexuality well past the ‘approved’ age, people working jobs designed to beat them into the ground. Beauty standards, white saviourism, microaggressions, patriarchy, friendship, sex, tradition, racism - Thammavongsa really leaves no stone unturned. There are a couple of more forgettable story in the last third, but overall I enjoyed every story in this collection!