I thought this was such an interesting read—I finished it in just 24 hours! It’s a quick, easy book that’s perfect for getting out of a reading slump. The story takes place over the course of a single day in the life of a nail shop owner, following her from just before opening to closing time. It honestly made me want to book a nail appointment.

I really appreciated the way she talked about wanting to help people, especially offering services to the homeless man for free. Her background in boxing added a unique layer to her character, and I loved hearing those stories. The theme of sisterhood really stood out, especially in the dynamic between her and the shop girls—even in how she reflects on Noki, who hasn’t shown up in weeks.

I loved it! 4.25 stars.

I really enjoyed the concept of this book, however, I'm not sure I loved this as much as I loved the authors first book. At times I found the story dragged a bit.

This story is a master class in subtlety. It’s full of small, memorable details that hint at the nuance of owning a business, employing people, working with customers, and experiencing prejudice. I was expecting something loud and mocking, perhaps a run through of outrageous client interactions, but what I experienced instead was a collection of moments, an entire business day, actually, that portrayed the main character’s life so much better than I could have imagined. There’s technique to be found in elevating the mundane to create meaning and I’m here for it.

I truly enjoyed this sometimes funny and sometimes heartbreaking look at a day in the life of a shop owner. If you’ve ever had a pedicure and the workers are speaking in a language you don’t speak and they are laughing, they’re likely laughing at you! Ning works hard and her shop is her whole life. Her “Susan’s” feel like family, but they are not. Both her sense of humor and her loneliness come through in this unique story.

Thank you to @netgalley and @souvankhamthammavongsa for an ARC of this gem! I’m excited to get my hands on an audiobook copy when it’s released.

A look into the life of a woman running a nail salon, navigating the invisibility of service work in tandem with the surprising intimacy of this work. The writing style is reflective and stream-of-consciousness, which helps readers to feel immediately close to the main character. Good discussions of the issues facing service workers intermingled throughout the novel, particularly exploring the issues facing Asian women in service work that predominantly serves upper-class White women. Overall a short but good read!

I enjoyed this a surprising amount! While other reviews are technically correct that this isn’t really a story with a plot and deep character development, it’s also kind of remarkable what the author accomplished. We find out pieces of Ning’s backstory the way we have flashbacks throughout a day, or how pieces of our past just sort of live within us without necessarily always giving a lot of context within our own personal narrative. The book really follows Ning and her movements and experiences throughout the course of a day, and the lack of a true arc also seemed to represent the ways in which the salon’s customers interacted with the employees each day. There is a superficiality to it. A lack of desire to really dig deep and know someone else’s history and experiences. And in that way, the author gets us attached and invested in the character while also not letting us in very deeply. I really loved reading PICK A COLOR! It was a short, quick read but was pretty impactful. Thanks so much to the publisher and NetGalley for this e-arc!

“Pick a Color” by Souvankham Thammavongsa is an entertaining novel that takes place in one day at a nail salon. It’s a powerful story told through the eyes of the owner who has journeyed from boxing, to abused nail tech employee, to owning her own salon. The insight into how the customers are treated as well as the immigrant point of view is stunning. The inside discussions in a foreign language where the customers cant understand were disturbing but perhaps honest, as we really see how the customers treat their technicians. Honestly, for me this was quite an eye opener and I think it will be the same for anyone who has visited a nail salon. A slice of life from an immigrant perspective. A very good read!

Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a fascinating look at a nail salon and its owner, Ning who used to be a boxer. Now all of her workers are known by the name "Susan" and they gossip about their clients as no one else can understand their language. It's a clever look at race, classism, and women bonding together in friendship--and gossip!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

In *Pick a Color*, retired boxer Ning, now working as a nail salon manicurist under the alias Susan, navigates a day of routine interactions, masking her brilliant mind behind a facade of politeness. As she reflects on lost opportunities and the power dynamics among her colleagues, the tension between her two identities escalates, ultimately demanding a reckoning with how the world perceives women like her. A sharp, insightful exploration of the immigrant experience and identity.

This book is like listening to someone's inner monologue in the best way possible. I loved this story from the first to the last page. I liked how this story takes place all in one day and we get to see another side of the nail salon industry. Ning is an interesting character who is more than meets the eye. Next time I go to a nail salon, I'll definitely be thinking about this book! This was the perfect little slice of life story that can be read in one sitting and have you wishing you could witness what will happen the next day and who else may come into the salon.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thammavongsa's How to Pronounce Knife is one of my all time favorite short story collections, so I dropped everything when I got approved for her novel. It lived up to the hype! Thammavongsa has such a gift for creating complex interior worlds, and for saying so much with so little.

Our protagonist, Ning, has a lot of trauma, and we never fully understand why, beyond that she used to be a boxer and her coach greatly impacted how she sees the world. There is more to the story (as there always is in life), and we never see why, but that just makes it feel more real.

The discussion of classism, racism, and privilege is so well done without being heavy-handed- especially the fact they have to tell customers to "pick a color" twice, because they never hear them the first time, no matter how loud they are. While Ning and her team of "Susans" (another clever critique of white supremacy) gossip about all their customers, the customers don't make it easy for the reader to sympathize with them.

This is a slim slice of life over one day, but it's impactful and draws you into a very real world. I highly recommend this book. Thank you to Little Brown for the eARC!

If you're looking a plot-driven, action-packed story, this book is NOT for you. DO check it out if you love novels that explore the inner worlds of its protagonists. What might be another regular, even humdrum day in one nail salon is seen through the eyes of Ning. Observations of the salon's staff and clients, as well as reflections on her days as a boxer demonstrate a keen understanding of class and social relations, as well as her own need for connection.

This was very entertaining and fun to read. It was a slice of life book written in first person present that takes place entirely within one day in a nail salon. There wasn’t really a plot, you just follow the salon owner in her day, her interactions with customers and employees, and her daydreaming about her past.

I have to confess I did not like Ning very much. I’m not sure if she’s intended to be a likeable character or not, but she reminded me a lot of my old dance teacher who I don’t think fondly of. Her hyper controlling of her employees (to the extent of cutting an employee’s hair herself before the employee was allowed to work) and condescending manner with customers was very off putting to me. It was interesting to see the way the customers treated her, and how she responded to that by being so awful to them when they couldn’t understand her. There was a very strong message of “us vs. them” and I wonder how much of that was truly due to racism and classism and how much of it was self imposed.

There were a few moments where Ning really shone as a character, like when she tried to save the pigeon, and when she helped the girl with a flat tire. I felt for her in her struggle with caring about her employees but not feeling like she was able to let them get close to her.

Overall, I felt like I was really living a day inside of Ning’s head, and it didn’t feel like somewhere I wanted to stay, but I felt like I understood her more as a person by the end of it, and I dislike her but I also have compassion for her. I appreciate the complexity. This book made me feel.

"Pick a Colour" by Souvankham Thammavongsa is coming this September from @littlebrown , thanks to them and @netgallery for the advanced copy! Also I love this cover. I really enjoyed "How To Pronounce Knife" her first collection of stories, winner of the 2020 Giller Prize and bought myself a copy after reading it from the library. Powerful stories about immigration that pack a punch. In this, her new novel, Thammavongsa tackles one long day at a nail salon, through the salon owner's eyes. As her and her "girls" go about their days, nicknaming their clients who barely see them, as they scrub at their feet, gossiping in their language, all responding to "Susan", we silently observe, uncomfortable in the shadows. I found this book incredibly moving and sharp and observant and serious and sometimes even funny. Our narrator looks back at her life with a distance and acceptance rarely seen. The sparseness speaks for itself. A haunting read about the people we might try not to see, who we might try not to notice, but who are certainly there. And they see everything. For all of us in Canada, who have visited a nail salon somewhere, this is a very good read from a different perspective. #pickacolour #canlit #alwaysreading #advancedcopy #nailcare #nailsalon

This novella takes place in a nail salon owned by Ning who is a retired boxer. All her employees wear name tags that say Susan and have the same outfit and haircut.

I found the writing to be very immersive because of all the rich sensory details. While it is a good exploration of a character who exists in this half invisible service role, I felt a bit let down by the lack of direction, I kept waiting for this to go somewhere and it never really did.

I had a hard time getting into this one. The writing style was long winded. I don't know if an omniscient the point of view is my favorite. The subject is creative, but I wish it had been written differently.

So much to say and like about this book. Told over a single day, Ning who is a retired boxer is a nail technician and owns a nail salon. All the nail technicians go by "Susan" since they are just another face. As the story unfolds we get to know Ning who is so much more than a "Susan". This book delves into race and class in a different way. I enjoyed this book and look forward to more books by the author.

At first glance, Ning—known to her clients simply as “Susan”—appears to be just another face at a nail salon. But as the narrative peels back the layers of her daily routine, we are drawn into a profound, intimate exploration of a woman who refuses to be defined by others' assumptions. Once a formidable boxer, now wielding cuticle scissors instead of gloves, Ning is a character of immense depth and quiet fire.

The novel unfolds over a single summer day, but within that compressed timeline, it reveals entire lifetimes. The rhythm of the salon—the endless cycle of beauty rituals, the coded conversations among the other “Susans,” and the whispered confessions of their wealthy clientele—becomes a kind of choreography. Ning moves through it with precision, grace, and growing tension, her internal monologue rich with insight and contradiction.

What’s most striking is how the story interrogates class, race, and gender without ever feeling didactic. Instead, it lets the reader inhabit Ning’s duality: the artist and the fighter, the invisible worker and the observer who sees everything. The writing is elegant and controlled, simmering with restrained emotion and sudden moments of brutal clarity.

This book is not loud—it doesn’t need to be. It invites the reader to listen closely, look again, and consider the lives we pass by without seeing. It’s a quietly radical, beautifully written portrait of a woman who has long been underestimated and is finally ready to reclaim her voice.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Seeing nail tech in such a poetic and creatively written way—I love it. There’s so much to learn, even from the tiniest details of the process. I can’t wait to finish this book!

Witty and so clever. I really enjoyed this read. Well written, which feels like a breath of fresh air. Overal this book felt very fresh and original which is rare. Highly recommend to anyone else who's interested is piqued by the description. I'm excited to see what else this author does in the future and want to go back and read her published poetry.