slknight13 's review for:

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

4.0

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I originally wanted to read this book during my Graphic Novels unit with my students but it was not available in time. I am thankful that it was not, as I read this at the same time as Farewell to Manzanar so the Asian experience as an immigrant in America is fresh in my mind. I do not know much about Vietnam or the history of the country nor did I know there was a 16-year old girl school shooter in San Diego in the late 1970s. The last chapter of this book was absolutely poetic when Bui is speaking of how her life changed since becoming a mom. “But being a child, even a grown-up one, seems to me to be a lifetime pass for selfishness. We hand resentment unto the things our parents did to us, or the thugs they DIDN’T do for us..and in my case-call them by the wrong name”. (Referring to the two different ways to say mom in Vietnamese). I wonder whether the fact that I refer to my mother as Nanay instead of mom means anything to her or does she see it as respect for her culture and upbringing. I also wonder whether I will ever have that conversation.