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A review by kathleenww
Pioneer Girl by Bich Minh Nguyen
3.0
3 stars
I made a list of books for my book group to choose one month, and this was one of them. Several of us love the Little House books.
The main character here is a young woman and grad student, raised in the Midwest by her Vietnamese mother and grandfather. She and her brother have moved often with their family, who open and run various Chinese style restaurants around the Midwest, a future neither child wants anything to do with. Although Lee is doing her graduate work on Edith Wharton, she is distracted by Laura Ingalls Wilder when her brother robs her mother, but leaves behind a family heirloom secretly for Lee to find, that ,may or may not be an artifact related to Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter Rose.
The writing was ok, and the story was ok, nut I was not "dazzled" in any way. I really didn't have any attachment to any of the characters, and the casual attitude that Lee has towards all her relationships, whether they were her family, friends, or love interests were so impossibly casual and uncaring, I didn't care much either. I think the author really misses out bu not letting Lee develop a more intense relationship with someone: she really could have done something with her grandfather or brother, or even one of the men she has very casual affairs with.
Unfortunately, although the elements of the story sound fascinating, the book just didn't meet the great expectations all of us had for it.
I made a list of books for my book group to choose one month, and this was one of them. Several of us love the Little House books.
The main character here is a young woman and grad student, raised in the Midwest by her Vietnamese mother and grandfather. She and her brother have moved often with their family, who open and run various Chinese style restaurants around the Midwest, a future neither child wants anything to do with. Although Lee is doing her graduate work on Edith Wharton, she is distracted by Laura Ingalls Wilder when her brother robs her mother, but leaves behind a family heirloom secretly for Lee to find, that ,may or may not be an artifact related to Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter Rose.
The writing was ok, and the story was ok, nut I was not "dazzled" in any way. I really didn't have any attachment to any of the characters, and the casual attitude that Lee has towards all her relationships, whether they were her family, friends, or love interests were so impossibly casual and uncaring, I didn't care much either. I think the author really misses out bu not letting Lee develop a more intense relationship with someone: she really could have done something with her grandfather or brother, or even one of the men she has very casual affairs with.
Unfortunately, although the elements of the story sound fascinating, the book just didn't meet the great expectations all of us had for it.