I felt each and every thing these women felt. Well within the third decade of my life, as a proud er Vietnamese American woman living in Southern California, near enough to Little Saigon, this book brought such joy to my life. Suffice to say, I am quite ashamed to dwell on that person now. I was proud to have never visited Vietnam. I didn't want to bring Vietnamese food to school. I grew up in Houston, one of the three largest enclaves for Vietnamese people outside of Vietnam.
For the longest time, I was uncomfortable being Vietnamese American. This new influx of books that aren't quite bilingual, but almost, are giving me life. I felt very attacked every time I read about Priscilla and Mark. Vietnamese American women in Orange County? I laughed. This was my favorite book I read last year. It shows how Vietnamese women emerge victorious, even if the world is against them.Ĭarolyn commented on my bookstagram post.
This prophecy will reunite estranged mothers, daughters, aunts, and cousins-for better or for worse.Ī multi-narrative novel brimming with levity and candor, The Fortunes of Jaded Women is about mourning, meddling, celebrating, and healing together as a family. Mai is convinced they might drive her to an early grave.ĭesperate for guidance, she consults Auntie Hua, her trusted psychic in Hawaii, who delivers an unexpected prediction: this year, her family will witness a marriage, a funeral, and the birth of a son. Though Mai’s three adult daughters, Priscilla, Thuy, and Thao, are successful in their careers ( one of them is John Cho’s dermatologist!), the same can’t be said for their love life. She’s divorced, and after an explosive disagreement a decade ago, she’s estranged from her younger sisters, Minh Pham (the middle and the mediator) and Khuyen Lam (the youngest who swears she just runs humble coffee shops and nail salons, not Little Saigon’s underground). Oanh’s current descendant Mai Nguyen knows this curse well. It started with their ancestor Oanh who dared to leave her marriage for true love-so a fearsome Vietnamese witch cursed Oanh and her descendants so that they would never find love or happiness, and the Duong women would give birth to daughters, never sons. Everyone in Orange County’s Little Saigon knew that the Duong sisters were cursed.
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