A review by cakt1991
My Father, the Panda Killer by Jamie Jo Hoang

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

 I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

I was initially drawn to My Father, the Panda Killer thanks to the provocative title. And this is indeed a provocative book in the ways it discusses the narrative of being an immigrant and refugee and the associated intergenerational traumas immigrant and refugee families carry. It’s not an easy read by any means, but it is a powerful one, and it illustrates how complex being from a family that deals with these types of issues can be, without any easy answers. 

I really appreciated the choice to highlight both the perspectives of Jane and her father at the same age, and highlighting the contrast between the two. I was moved by Phúc’s experiences in his youth and what he had to go through to escape from Communist Vietnam and get to the United States. These experiences clearly hardened him and shaped how he went through life from that point on. 

Jane, as a contrast, also has a difficult life, but more due to the complex, sometimes toxic family dynamics. Her mother is gone, and her father is always angry and often  abusive. She finds herself doing her best to protect her younger brother, Paul, even if she won’t be able to much longer when she leaves for college. I loved the emphasis on the relationship between them, and how she tries to piece together what she knows about their father’s past, providing context for them both as she prepares to take her next step in life by leaving home. 

This is a beautiful book, and it’s made all the more powerful with Jamie Jo Hoang’s introduction and author’s note, providing further context for her own family’s history and its parallels with the fiction. I’d recommend it to readers looking for a moving story about the legacy of the immigrant/refugee experience.