Admittedly, I hadn’t looked at this book or been aware of it, until a cute guy came into the store to buy it. But, once I read the description I was sufficiently intrigued and bought a copy. I’ve been looking forward to finally reading it, but once I started I was worried that I wasn’t going to like it. That didn’t last long though. I quickly developed a fondness for the family, the story, and the writing style. I’m going to buck tradition a bit here and say that there’s one cliche scene missing from the end that I would have liked to experience in this story, but I’m not upset that it wasn’t included. There’s a decent number of characters in the book, but it’s not an overwhelming amount; it’s fairly easy to remember everyone. More important is getting to see a glimpse of how the Vietnam War affected the Vietnamese people for years after the war ended. When you’re not actually part of something like that, or you have the option to return to your own country after the war, it’s easy to lose sight of the prolonged impact left behind.