MADreads

Short Girls

January 25th, 2010 Mary K. - Central

The Wisconsin Book Festival always draws a wide variety of authors, and no one can get to every program, but as it is a long time until the next Festival (September 29-Oct 3) comes along, it is always worth taking a look back at the previous schedule for reading suggestions.

One of last year’s featured titles was Short Girls by Bich Minh Nguyen, a first novel by the author of the memoir Stealing Buddha’s Dinner.  Short Girls is about two sisters, daughters of Vietnamese immigrants, who came to the US after the war ended.  As adults, the sisters have taken seemingly very different paths.  Van is married and and an immigration lawyer, and Linny has moved through many relationships and jobs.  Both are having problems; Van’s marriage has broken up, although she is keeping it quiet and Linny is involved in an affair with a married man, who she met through her job as a cook at a meal preparation site.

Since their mother died several years ago, the only connection between the two is through their father, who has decided to become a U. S. citizen after 30 years.  Mr. Luong has worked intermitently; his main interest has been in his inventions, especially the Luong arm, which he designed to help short people retrieve items.  The family members are all short, and Nguyen uses height to explore issues related to immigration, and to not fitting into American society.  The Nguyen’s were unwilling immigrants, who are forced to adapt to life in the Midwest.  For Van and Linny who were both born in the U.S., that means that in some ways they must reject their heritage and their native language.

This is a well-written and thoughtful novel; clearly this is familiar territory for Nguyen.  Family life and conflicts are portrayed with humor and understanding.  There are lots of other appealing titles on last year’s WBF list.  Next up for me - probably Bonnie Jo Campbell and Lynda Barry.

Entry Filed under: Literary Fiction