Nguyen's writing is absolutely powerful. Several of these stories felt like a gut punch they hit so hard, and others made me care in situations where I generally wouldn't. He wrote one man who divorced his wife trying to rekindle a relationship, and I needed that story. I absolutely hate breaking up/getting back together stories, but I needed that one.

The first story was my favorite, about ghosts of the past and a refugee who'd lost her brother while fleeing Vietnam, and it just about broke my soul. (I already returned my copy to the library, so I can't check titles.) I also loved the story of the Vietnamese girl who's half sister returned from America to visit. It was crushing.

There were one or two stories I didn't connect with very well. They weren't terrible and didn't take away from the majority that were fantastic, but it was very much a four star read with a five star story or two. But that's pretty par for the course in short story collections.

Overall I loved this. Would highly recommend if you enjoy short stories because these were incredible. If this is how he writes short stories, I'd really love to try some more of Nguyen's writing.