Reviews

Listen, Slowly by Thanhhà Lại

suvata's review

3.0

Continuing my TBR project:
This is one the oldest selection on my TBR list - Originally added February 17, 2015.

I really like multi-cultural books for middle-schoolers. This particular story is about a Southern California 12-year-old who is forced to visit Vietnam with her grandmother. The grandmother is going there to try to find out what happened to her husband during the Vietnam War. It’s about the ultimate importance of home and family. Glad I read it.

gmamartha's review

3.0

Combining the culture of California with the family and history rooted in Vietnam, this 12-year-old girl matures over the summer helping her grandmother find what she needs. Discovering this setting and new friends, she learns to Listen, Slowly, thus realizing who and what she can be each day.

mariathelibrarian's review

emotional funny reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

bickie's review

4.0

Mai/Mia, a wealthy girl from Southern California, expecting to spend the summer after 6th grade at the beach with her best friend and, she hopes, a boy she likes, is unpleasantly surprised when her parents tell her that the next day, she is accompanying her grandmother and father to Viet Nam where her grandfather has been missing since the war. Narrated in Mai/Mia's honest, sassy voice, we learn about Viet Nam as she does, from the delicious food to the pesky "buzzers" who like her sugary American blood. Mai/Mia has an opportunity to make many different choices while in Viet Nam, some of which she regrets (misleading the village girls about the ubiquity of thongs in America), but many of which she can be proud of (standing by her grandmother to give her time to say goodbye to her beloved departed husband rather than rushing back home to California). This is an accessible book that will appeal to a variety of readers from 5th to 8th grade.

smarkies's review

adventurous informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

farkle's review

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

sarahanne8382's review

4.0

A great immersive "walk in another person's shoes" middle grade book. 12-year-old Mai is being forced to accompany her grandmother to Vietnam to finally learn the fate of her grandfather who disappeared during the Vietnam War. Mai thinks this is totally unfair because this is supposed to be the first summer that she gets to go to the beach unaccompanied. She starts an insufferable brat, and still annoyed me at the end, but she comes a long way and all the details of life in Vietnam are fascinating. The audio was nice because the narrator is clearly bilingual and the level of Mai's fluency is an ongoing part of of the story.

corky12's review

This book was just too slow for me. I tried to read it back when I was used to fast-moving fantasy.

natfoster's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

One of the most beautiful books I've ever read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Medical content, War, and Death

Minor: Body shaming

kittehloaf's review

4.0

I liked it! Sure the writing was a bit weird and all and the train of thought was kind of everywhere but I had to remember that this was the mind of a small child and I think that's what made me slowly get into the story more.

I would recommend this!