The Reeducation of Cherry Truong

let's be real here. the truong/vo family is the average viet family lol. if there is anything aimee pham did right it was almost tricking me into thinking i was reading a story about my family, or my friend's family. not only because of the experiences (that was definitely 60% though...) but also because the characters feel so real and alive.

i think this novel spread itself a little thin...not really sure what it is trying to say. it was wonderful, though. i only wish that it had wrapped up these stories more tightly. i liked sanh a lot and i wish we had learned more about him and his relationship with cherry. i also wanted to learn more about xuan and cam, the children raised in france. hmm. it starts off as a familial story but wraps up mostly on lum's arc which kinda feels empty. towards the late middle and end, all of the things the reader is supposed to infer are explicitly written in the book, so it feels like the author is trying to find a way to end the book but isn't sure how.

i enjoyed aimee's writing in “we should never meet” significantly more. the story was contained and controlled, even though the storyline was very complex