The long awaited companion to My Father, the Panda Killer, this book does not disappoint. It is so well-written, taking place about 9 years after the first book which was set in 1999, if I remember correctly. Having witnessed Jane's pain and resilience, I was fascinated to see how Paul internalized the emotional pain, and how Ngoc Lan's story provided a sense of redemption.

In the first book I felt that the mother figure was this mysterious, surreal image of an absentee parent. As a mother myself I wondered, what could have caused her to leave her children with such an abusive parent? Just as in the first book I learned so much about the pain and horrors that Vietnamese refugees and villagers suffered through the Communist occupation and even through escape.

The characters are vivid, complex, and unapologetic for what they had to do to survive. And survive they did. I especially appreciate that there is untranslated Vietnamese throughout the book, with only footnotes to translate after the chapter has ended. It leaves the English-speaking reader feeling the disconnect between languages and word meaning.

I was transfixed by this story and at this point I will read anything Jamie Jo Hoang writes, even the telephone book.

This book made me cry once in the beginning after reading how Ngoc Lan (apologies my keyboard only has ğ and ġ so I can’t spell it accurately) had to suffer at the hands of Paul’s father and her own father treated her mother, Mę, in the same way before betraying Mę and his three kids in the worst way possible. I cried again after I realized what mermaid Ngoc Lan was chasing, who she left Paul and Jane for. I loved this arc so much, I’ve talked to my mom about it who said she can’t wait to read it when it comes out, I think because she sees herself in Ngoc Lan, as I do when she was younger. I felt her pain when she left without any family and I adored the characters, how Jane came around. Gorgeous story that made me feel every emotion, but mainly hope.