Mariner Books
Banyan Moon: A Read with Jenna Pick
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A TODAY Show #ReadWithJenna Book Club Pick
"A riveting mother-daughter tale." -- Elle
"Radiant. ... An intimate account of one family's planting of roots in American soil and the sacrifices great and small that each member makes along the way." -- Washington Post
A sweeping, evocative debut novel following three generations of Vietnamese American women reeling from the death of their matriarch, revealing the family's inherited burdens, buried secrets, and unlikely love stories.
When Ann Tran gets the call that her fiercely beloved grandmother, Minh, has passed away, her life is already at a crossroads. In the years since she's last seen Minh, Ann has built a seemingly perfect life--a beautiful lake house, a charming professor boyfriend, and invites to elegant parties that bubble over with champagne and good taste--but it all crumbles with one positive pregnancy test. With both her relationship and carefully planned future now in question, Ann returns home to Florida to face her estranged mother, Huơng.
Back in Florida, Huơng is simultaneously mourning her mother and resenting her for having the relationship with Ann that she never did. Then Ann and Huơng learn that Minh has left them both the Banyan House, the crumbling old manor that was Ann's childhood home, in all its strange, Gothic glory. Under the same roof for the first time in years, mother and daughter must face the simmering questions of their past and their uncertain futures, while trying to rebuild their relationship without the one person who's always held them together.
Running parallel to this is Minh's story, as she goes from a lovestruck teenager living in the shadow of the Vietnam War to a determined young mother immigrating to America in search of a better life for her children. And when Ann makes a shocking discovery in the Banyan House's attic, long-buried secrets come to light as it becomes clear how decisions Minh made in her youth affected the rest of her life--and beyond.
Spanning decades and continents, from 1960s Vietnam to the wild swamplands of the Florida coast, Banyan Moon is a stunning and deeply moving story of mothers and daughters, the things we inherit, and the lives we choose to make out of that inheritance.
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Book Details
ISBN:
9780063267145
EAN:
9780063267145
Binding:
Paperback
Pages:
336
Authors:
Thao Thai
Publisher:
Mariner Books
Published Date: 2024-04-06
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Beautiful story of three generations of Viet Namese women. Complex relationships, moving descriptions of their inner lives, and heartfelt portrayals of how the men in their lives impacted their lives. Love this author.
Anyone especially a mother, grandmother, or a daughter, can appreciate the emotion and raw truth about relationships in this book. I also appreciate learning more about the generational experiences of the characters during and following the Vietnam (American) war from a Vietnamese perspective. My dad is a Vietnam veteran - the war indirectly shaped a big part of my life.
The author tells a rich & absorbing story that engages the reader immediately. The characters grow, change, evolve in a rich way that few authors are able to capture. I highly recommend this book!
What a beautiful love story about mothers and daughters. Our relationships are complicated. I loved all the characters personalities. I loved their strength and determination to be exactly who they needed to be. Beautiful descriptions of the Gulf. I loved how we were taken to Vietnam. My favorite book I have read this year! Thank you. This book is truly joyous.
This story spans three generations of Vietnamese American women. We follow Ann, a young woman living a seemingly charmed life, and her estranged mother Huong, who longs for a deeper relationship with her only daughter. Both women are grieving the recent loss of Minh—Huong’s mother and Ann’s grandmother.This is typically the kind of story I love—a multigenerational saga with resilient female characters, a compelling sense of place, and an assortment of family secrets. While it was beautifully written (you’ll see that in the words I’m remembering below) I think it was simply a good book that I read at the wrong time. I found myself wishing for even the tiniest thread of hope in the plot.Words I’m remembering: “Her power was quiet and sure, as yet unclaimed but wedged deep nonetheless.”
