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A review by alisonburnis
Pioneer Girl by Bich Minh Nguyen
funny
hopeful
informative
slow-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? Yes
3.75
This was pure delight for the kid who obsessively read the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder (like me). Lee Lien is back at her mother’s home, working in the cafe her mother and grandfather own, feeling sorry for herself after finishing her PhD in American literature and failing to make headway on the academic job market. Her brother Sam is estranged, and she feels very unhopeful about anything. Casting around for something, anything, to do, she remembers the pin from a story her grandfather told, about a white woman journalist named Rose who came to his case in Saigon in 1965. Lee, a dedicated Wilder fan, wonders if this could be Rose Wilder Lane - the name and time fits, and the pin she left behind, which the family has kept all these years, matches the description in These Happy Golden Years of a pin Almanzo gave Laura for Christmas. After a blowup with Sam who enters their lives briefly, Lee decides she’s going to find out if this is really the same pin. And her research leads her down a stranger, more helpful path than she expects.
If you haven’t read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books, you probably won’t enjoy Pioneer Girl that much. I really did enjoy this, because it played on my nostalgia for this problematic series - Nguyen is lovingly critical, pointing out the issues while acknowledging it as a representation of how the West likes to portray itself. I really enjoyed the research Lee gets up to, and the delight of finding someone who loved these books as much as I did as a kid is wonderful. This is as much a love letter to childhood as it is to growing up and finding your place. A delight.
If you haven’t read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books, you probably won’t enjoy Pioneer Girl that much. I really did enjoy this, because it played on my nostalgia for this problematic series - Nguyen is lovingly critical, pointing out the issues while acknowledging it as a representation of how the West likes to portray itself. I really enjoyed the research Lee gets up to, and the delight of finding someone who loved these books as much as I did as a kid is wonderful. This is as much a love letter to childhood as it is to growing up and finding your place. A delight.