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This is a slow burn, but I ended up liking it a lot. This is actually my book club's March pick but I can't go to the meeting so I read it early to get it out of my library holds.

A great summer read about complex family relationships

#12booksof2023

The figurative language is a bit overdone, but this is a touching story about three generations of Vietnamese American women. I wanted more information about the house.

What might have been a mediocre story of three generations of Vietnamese women living in Florida is a pan because of terrible writing. So so SO many terrible, cliche similes & metaphors. A heart sinks like a stone. There's a fluttering in stomach. She was like shattered wine glass on the pavement. And that's just on 1 page.🙄
The book is also filled with minor characters made of cardboard & is too long. I hated it, but read it for my book club.

This is a DEBUT?! HOW?!

Thai packs so much into its 325-ish pages and it‘s beautifully written. It is one of my top reads of the summer, if not the year.

I started this book last month and it didn‘t grab me, so it went back to the library before I got very far. When my second hold came in, I started again and loved it. Funny how that can happen! It switches between the two main characters and their grandmother/mother, whose death is the spark to the story. I was really interested in Ann and Huong, both their back stories and the current story. It was character-driven with a good plot.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Although it didn‘t fully captivate me, I would still recommend this as a worthwhile read for anyone who likes character-driven, multigenerational stories of mothers and daughters and the immigrant experience.

This was my first audiobook through the #BOTM app! As an FYI, it doesn‘t look like audiobooks count towards the reading challenge 😕🎧

This is the story of 3 generations of Vietnamese women and their strength, loves, loss and forgiveness.

❤️

This is the Read With Jenna book club pick for July and I loved it! I was unsure about it when I first started but I very quickly fell in love with the characters and finding out their stories. These women are so strong and resilient. This was definitely worth the read!

Banyan Moon tells the stories of three generations of women in a Vietnamese then Vietnamese-American family as the eldest of the three women reaches life‘s end. I enjoyed all their stories and how this was non-linear, so we get a bit of each of the women at a time. Plus, this is for sure in the running for my favorite cover of the year.

One thing drawing me to immigration stories is that there does not exist that one thing common to each immigration story. Each experience is unique. Three generations of Vietnamese mother/daughter/granddaughter is beautifully told. And I love a badass grandma!

I‘m a little annoyed with myself for not looking into this more beforehand, but maybe this will help someone else!

You can now choose an audiobook instead of a hardcover as a main #BOTM pick! I wasn‘t drawn to any of the hardcover choices, but I really wanted “Little Monsters” as an add-on.

I thought maybe I could choose an audiobook as a main pick and then still ship an add-on, but it says I can‘t ship an actual box until August now. 😢

Expected publication: June 27, 2023.
336 pages • 4 Stars

Banyan Moon is a sweeping family saga that follows three generations of Vietnamese American women reeling from the death of their matriarch. It spans many years and locations, from 1960s Vietnam to Florida‘s wild swamplands. It speaks of a family‘s inherited burdens. It is the story of mothers and daughters and their long kept secrets. Beautifully written and profoundly moving.

I absolutely loved this book about three generations of Vietnamese women and their complicated relationship, secrets and fierce love.

I often find myself drawn to multi-generational family stories. “Banyan Moon” immediately drew me right into the lives of three generations of Vietnamese women – Minh, the grandmother; Huong, the daughter; and Ann, the granddaughter.