Where I share my love of books with reviews, features, giveaways and memes. Family and needlepoint are thrown in from time to time.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

ARC Arrival: Short Girls by Bich Minh Nguyen

Short Girls by Bich Minh Nguyen

Publisher: Viking Adult

About the book: A mesmerizing novel about estranged sisters and the cultural and family history that binds them.

Van and Linny Luong are as baffling to each other as their parents' Vietnamese legacy is to them both. Van, the quintessential overachiever, has applied the same studied diligence to her law career and marriage--a beautiful idea that vaporized when Mr. Right walked out. Linny--pretty, fashionable, untethered--is grasping for purpose when her affair with a married man takes a humiliating turn. Each is the last person her sister would call, but when Mr. Luong summons them home for his American citizenship party, Van and Linny find themselves communing about their past--their late mother, their father's obsession with his Luong Arm invention for short people, even the irony of their romantic straits. As these unlikely confidantes chart the uncertainty that defines them, they forge a tentative new relationship and the wherewithal to overcome disappointment.

Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as "a writer to watch, a tremendous talent," Nguyen recasts her gifts marvelously in this first novel, infusing it with humor, compassion, and insight into siblings, aging parents, and the desires and ambitions that drive us. (back cover)

About the author: Bich Minh Nguyen (Bit Min Nwin) is the author of the memoir Stealing Buddha's Dinner. She teaches at Purdue University and lives in Chicago and West Lafayette, Indiana, with her husband, the novelist Porter Shreve. (back cover)

Short Girls
Publisher/Publication Date: Viking Adult, July 2009
ISBN: 978-0-670-02081-2
304 pages


3 comments:

Sheila Deeth said...

This does sound like one to look out for. Sounds like she has a nice sense of humor as well as a clear eye for character.

Book Bird Dog said...

I like the title, Stealing Buddha's Dinner. I think I'll look that one up before reading this one.

Unknown said...

sounds like a great book. It proposed relationship issues between siblings, parents and children, and then cultural issues would make for a great read.

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