Trinity Nguyen Follow

Discovering Love: A Softly Sweet Romance

To say that this book took me by surpise will be the understatement of the year.

Lan and Vivi's story is an amazing intersection of Young Adult / New Adult Romance and Young Woman's Fiction (I don't even know if that category exists but if not, this is the founding book for that genera). Full disclosure I am a 50+ year old woman and reading this took me back to all those confusing emotions that I felt while in my very late teens and early twenties. What are my responsiblities to myself? To my family? To my present need to enjoy life now? To my future self and all that she will want to achieve through me? How do I fit in with my family now that I am no longer a child? And what do I need to do now that I am an adult!? And I was not facing the added conflict of how do I fit into American society, what does that mean when I am a hyphenated person? What will people think of me because I am the child of immigrants? All of this for Vivi. While Lan is facing the extra added conflicts of how do I take care of my widowed mother and my 'brother'? How can I chase my dreams when my time is needed to keep the money coming in? How do I go on when my father is no longer here? Add to this the beauty and confusion of first love for each of these amazing young women, and this becomes a story not just about finding love but more about accepting yourself. This is a book that anyone can read and put down being changed by.

I found myself, dispite my age difference, looking at the interaction of each women with their mother and seeing a wonderful portrayal the oddly curious and loving realationship that exists between mothers and daughters. I loved that this was not just and us and them discussion, but one that is clearly shown across generations. This is not just a single generational or gender issue between mother and child or child and mother but one that Vivi's own mom faces with her own mother as well.

Beyond the relationships between mothers and daughters, and between young lovers finding their way to each other, this book also head on brings the discussion to but the lasting impacts of war and trauma. Throughout this book there is a deep sadness beneath the beauty of Vivi and Lan's story regarding the Cultural History of Viet Nam and the many ages of their Colonial Opression. To not discuss this and acknowledge only the power of the cuisine and language of the Vietnaminese people would erase a beautiful subtext that framed the lives of all these characters and made me ask questions I had never thought of. This is handled with the same level of care an attention as the romance itself and with the same artful writing and detail as the food that Lan brings to life in her blog. Nguyen seamlessly brought to life the many layered dynamics that the city of Sài Gòn holds for both Vivi - the returning daughter - and Lan - the dutiful one. Beyond this, the vibrancy of the Vietnamese Langauge had me learning much about the culture by having the language included in the book.

A Bành Mì for Two not only made me hungry for a Bành Mì of my own, and excited to try a Moon Cake with Lotus Seed for the next Harvest Festival, but it made me hear the street sounds and feel the heavy air. Trinity Nguyen asked me to consider what my relationship with my mom is, consider what my own immigrant grandmother's experience was, and left me holding out my hand to starry night to feel the press of another's palm and feel the twinkle of the stars to remind me of those who have gone before me.

What more can you ask from a seemingly short book about Love.

Oh! I know! "Have you eaten?" The phrase "all Vietnamese mothers use interchanbly with I love you."