A review by rhii_reading
Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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

3.75

A really interesting story of generational trauma but also the importance of family. Cecile Pin manages to really convey the emotional toil that comes with needing to start fresh in an unfamiliar (and often hostile) place, whilst managing to retain a sense of hope throughout.

I thought the way that Pin spliced her story with other elements such as the more factual sections, a third person narrator, and

the ‘wandering soul’ of her dead brother Dao

was really a interesting choice but structurally it made the book feel a little disjointed and artificial. 

One of the parts that stuck with me most was towards the end, where Anh finally returning to Vietnam with her family:

The locals could detect that she and her brothers were not from there, hints of English having filtered into their Vietnamese over the years … She hadn’t thought of it this way. In her head, she had been the victim, her family the wrong ones, the ones abandoned by their country, by the whole world. … If anything they were even more persistent with her, using her Vietnamese as a weapon

This acknowledgment that not only was one of the most heartbreaking moments, and really encapsulated how struggles that Anh and her brothers have faced follow them back to Vietnam. Even if you could argue that they’ve ‘made it’, living comfortable lives in England, they will always carry the grief of having left their home.

Overall, an wonderfully written and emotional look at the experiences of the Vietnamese diaspora in the UK.