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spauffwrites's review against another edition
4.0
A beautiful story about families and what it means to be a pioneer, both as an immigrant and as a young person searching for your life. Lee has adored the Little House books since childhood. Now, stuck in limbo between jobs, she follows an old family tale of her grandfather’s chance meeting with Rose Wilder Lane in his cafe in Vietnam. Her research leads her through the lives of Laura and Rose and across the west. Along the way, she uncovers secrets about Rose’s life, and secrets in her own mother’s life. I loved how the author wove Lee’s story about growing up Vietnamese in the Midwest with the true life stories about Laura and Rose. My one critique is the audiobook narration didn’t always capture the emotion of the novel, but nonetheless the story is captivating.
kathleenww's review against another edition
3.0
3 stars
I made a list of books for my book group to choose one month, and this was one of them. Several of us love the Little House books.
The main character here is a young woman and grad student, raised in the Midwest by her Vietnamese mother and grandfather. She and her brother have moved often with their family, who open and run various Chinese style restaurants around the Midwest, a future neither child wants anything to do with. Although Lee is doing her graduate work on Edith Wharton, she is distracted by Laura Ingalls Wilder when her brother robs her mother, but leaves behind a family heirloom secretly for Lee to find, that ,may or may not be an artifact related to Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter Rose.
The writing was ok, and the story was ok, nut I was not "dazzled" in any way. I really didn't have any attachment to any of the characters, and the casual attitude that Lee has towards all her relationships, whether they were her family, friends, or love interests were so impossibly casual and uncaring, I didn't care much either. I think the author really misses out bu not letting Lee develop a more intense relationship with someone: she really could have done something with her grandfather or brother, or even one of the men she has very casual affairs with.
Unfortunately, although the elements of the story sound fascinating, the book just didn't meet the great expectations all of us had for it.
I made a list of books for my book group to choose one month, and this was one of them. Several of us love the Little House books.
The main character here is a young woman and grad student, raised in the Midwest by her Vietnamese mother and grandfather. She and her brother have moved often with their family, who open and run various Chinese style restaurants around the Midwest, a future neither child wants anything to do with. Although Lee is doing her graduate work on Edith Wharton, she is distracted by Laura Ingalls Wilder when her brother robs her mother, but leaves behind a family heirloom secretly for Lee to find, that ,may or may not be an artifact related to Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter Rose.
The writing was ok, and the story was ok, nut I was not "dazzled" in any way. I really didn't have any attachment to any of the characters, and the casual attitude that Lee has towards all her relationships, whether they were her family, friends, or love interests were so impossibly casual and uncaring, I didn't care much either. I think the author really misses out bu not letting Lee develop a more intense relationship with someone: she really could have done something with her grandfather or brother, or even one of the men she has very casual affairs with.
Unfortunately, although the elements of the story sound fascinating, the book just didn't meet the great expectations all of us had for it.
mamamyung's review against another edition
4.0
If you are from an Asian American background, there are many parts that you might find relatable to the main character, Lee. It is an interesting take on the family secrets entwined with some "Little House on the Prairie" adventure.
It does move a little slow and I felt wanting more at the end.
It does move a little slow and I felt wanting more at the end.
mercourier's review against another edition
Wasn't grabbing me and it sat unread on my night stand for a week. Maybe I will come, maybe I won't
andipants's review against another edition
3.0
This book read like a cross between a standard memoir of a second-generation Vietnamese immigrant and something like [b:My Life as Laura: How I Searched for Laura Ingalls Wilder and Found Myself|12677337|My Life as Laura How I Searched for Laura Ingalls Wilder and Found Myself|Kelly Kathleen Ferguson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317308729s/12677337.jpg|17792885] or [b:The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie|8619825|The Wilder Life My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie|Wendy McClure|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1279830961s/8619825.jpg|13490463], except it was all fiction. The prose is excellent; the characters are mostly nuanced and well-drawn, and most of the scenes have the ring of truth. I just wish there had been more done to connect the two "halves" of the story: the narrator's pursuit of her literary mystery, and her grappling with her own family's dysfunction. The ending also leaves pretty much all the major story threads dangling — which is undoubtedly true to real life, but it does make for a somewhat unsatisfying read. Much of the book felt like a description of things that had happened or were happening, and the narrator's (very realistic) thoughts and feelings about those things, but not much more; no great conclusions were drawn, and if you asked me to identify a narrative arc, I'd have trouble doing it. It's very literary, and if that's the sort of thing you like, you'll probably like this, but it wasn't really my cup of tea.
sweddy65's review against another edition
4.0
As someone who read all the Little House books at least twice a year when I was growing up, this book spoke to me.
Nguyen, a recently minted PhD in literature (the academic stuff is both painful and sometimes hilarious), finds herself back home in Illinois with her immigrant mother and immigrant grandfather.
The family dynamics are painful. There is an underlying sense that Lee's mother loves her, but can't find a way to express it in any way other than disapproval. Lee's life does not follow the trajectory for traditional Vietnamese women.
Lee's love for the Little House books, and a pin that may or may not have been left in Vietnam by Rose Wilder Lane, who was there in 1965 as a reporter for a women's magazine, leads her on a research journey and a personal journey. She reconnects with old friends, she meets a new friend, she tries to connect with and figure out her brother, Sam, who is in a rage that colors the entire book.
This is a lovely tale of might be.
I think I liked this book even more because it was a random pick for me. The book I had gone to the library to get was not on the shelf. As I was standing in front of the N shelves, this one caught my eye. I knew nothing about it and nothing about Nguyen. This was definitely one of those glorious library miracles.
Nguyen, a recently minted PhD in literature (the academic stuff is both painful and sometimes hilarious), finds herself back home in Illinois with her immigrant mother and immigrant grandfather.
The family dynamics are painful. There is an underlying sense that Lee's mother loves her, but can't find a way to express it in any way other than disapproval. Lee's life does not follow the trajectory for traditional Vietnamese women.
Lee's love for the Little House books, and a pin that may or may not have been left in Vietnam by Rose Wilder Lane, who was there in 1965 as a reporter for a women's magazine, leads her on a research journey and a personal journey. She reconnects with old friends, she meets a new friend, she tries to connect with and figure out her brother, Sam, who is in a rage that colors the entire book.
This is a lovely tale of might be.
I think I liked this book even more because it was a random pick for me. The book I had gone to the library to get was not on the shelf. As I was standing in front of the N shelves, this one caught my eye. I knew nothing about it and nothing about Nguyen. This was definitely one of those glorious library miracles.
teriboop's review against another edition
5.0
What a delightful book Pioneer Girl is. Bich Minh Nguyen weaves historical facts about Rose Wilder Lane and her mother Laura Ingalls Wilder and wraps them up in a mystery that brings two cultures together in an unseemly situation. The story's main character Lee comes across a picturesque dress pin that an American woman named Rose leaves at her family's restaurant in Vietnam in 1965. Fast forward to present time and find Lee searching for the woman behind the pin. During her search, she uncovers more questions about Rose's family, but finds some answers to her own.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as a fan of the two Wilder women I loved the books as a young girl and am still captured by the stories and the women behind them now that I am an adult. This was a fun read, but had a lot of heart and a serious message about the sometimes difficult family relationships that we all often must face.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as a fan of the two Wilder women I loved the books as a young girl and am still captured by the stories and the women behind them now that I am an adult. This was a fun read, but had a lot of heart and a serious message about the sometimes difficult family relationships that we all often must face.