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mweis 's review for:
Slow Noodles: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Recipes
by Chantha Nguon
*I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
While most Americans know vaguely about the Vietnam War, there’s not a lot of general knowledge about the rest of the region or the events surrounding American involvement there, such as the bombing campaigns in Cambodia and Laos and the genocide carried out by the Khmer Rouge. The classic narrative of the Cambodian genocide is First They Killed My Father, which I recommend as well but I love that we’re starting to see more representation and that authors are exploring “non traditional” formats, such as using food and recipes to tie the narrative together.
One thing I think this book does really well is blend personal anecdote with historical fact. Chantha is Cambodian of Vietnamese descent, and describes how her family was forced out of Cambodia into Vietnam because of political instability, and how they then fled to the United States when war broke out in Vietnam. Her story is heartbreaking and full of resilience, and I absolutely loved the way that she tied in traditional Cambodian recipes as a way to maintain her ties to her culture and history.
It feels weird to write somebody’s memoir, so I’m probably not going to give this a star rating, but I do think this is worth reading if it sounds interesting to you.
While most Americans know vaguely about the Vietnam War, there’s not a lot of general knowledge about the rest of the region or the events surrounding American involvement there, such as the bombing campaigns in Cambodia and Laos and the genocide carried out by the Khmer Rouge. The classic narrative of the Cambodian genocide is First They Killed My Father, which I recommend as well but I love that we’re starting to see more representation and that authors are exploring “non traditional” formats, such as using food and recipes to tie the narrative together.
One thing I think this book does really well is blend personal anecdote with historical fact. Chantha is Cambodian of Vietnamese descent, and describes how her family was forced out of Cambodia into Vietnam because of political instability, and how they then fled to the United States when war broke out in Vietnam. Her story is heartbreaking and full of resilience, and I absolutely loved the way that she tied in traditional Cambodian recipes as a way to maintain her ties to her culture and history.
It feels weird to write somebody’s memoir, so I’m probably not going to give this a star rating, but I do think this is worth reading if it sounds interesting to you.