The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir Kindle & comiXology

I loved this book. I devoured the entire thing in one sitting on a Sunday afternoon. It's a beautiful and tragic and warm story all at the same time. I feel like a lot of times when we hear about the Vietnam war in the United States, it's told from the perspective of American soldiers rather than the Southern Vietnamese who lost their home land. Really refreshing to see this diverse and nuanced perspective. I look forward to Thi Bui's future works.

Full review on nguyentoread.comThe Best We Could Do is Thi Bui's graphic memoir. Thi was born in Vietnam three months before the Vietnam War reached what we consider to be the end of the war. She came to America with her family in 1978. Bui's memoir spans multiple generations. In learning of her mother's and father's pasts, we learn the history of their parents. We see the struggles and pains of two people from very different walks of life trying to live during a time of war and chaos. We see glimpses of the agony everyone in the middle of the Vietnam War faced. Those who were not directly involved on either side but were caught in the middle of larger powers at war. This memoir more closely details the lives of her parents leading up to them arriving in America and making their life there. I was unsure if this memoir would focus largely on the experience of being a Vietnamese immigrant in America. There were parts that showed how it was for Bui's parents in a country where tensions were still high after the Vietnam War, where discrimination largely due to that was overt, and where degrees were not recognized and people who had spent their lives working and creating careers for themselves were not qualified for most work and had to hurdle multiple challenges to learn a language and complete education all over again if they wanted to provide a better life for their children. What Bui so beautifully captures in this memoir is the why behind how her parents were in raising her. Although Bui was born in Vietnam she was young when her family arrived in America. So I think her experience is one that many first generation Vietnamese-American people of my generation can understand and sympathize with. The wanting to know why their parents are the way they are but unable to ask because many have parents, like Bui's mother, who reluctantly share their stories and don't allow their children that glimpse that could help them better understand. In the panel which was most poignant to me, Bui draws her father as he looks over her work that would become The Best We Could Do. He says "You know how it was for me. And why later I wouldn't be... normal."

I love how she shared with us many deep layers of Vietnamese - American culture , history , characters, personality . I feel connected and learn a lots from the book. Thank you so much.

This is by far the best book I have read this year. It is written with so much love and understanding by the author for her parents as she learns of their individual backgrounds of what took place throughout their lives, the impact of how the turmoil of the country and their journey coming to America had on them. Through this, she comes to terms with who they are as her parents and she their daughter while embracing motherhood herself. I had some difficulty with this type of book but it may be me, however it didn't detract from the story enough to affect the rating.

This book was very eye opening in terms of learning more about the Vietnamese culture through the eyes of a refuge girl. Coming from a Mexican family, most parts of the book become relatable in regards to tradition you’re supposed to follow, and also with the migrating portion of the book, there are things that I think all immigrants and children of immigrants can relate to. Seeing the transition of story telling from her parent’s past to present day is something I have definitely not seen in a book before. Having it assigned to me in class is something that had me actually engaged into initially reading it, it’s something very different from books you would traditionally read in high school which was something actually very enjoyable to me. The illustrations in the book are very beautiful, the theme of having it in a blood orange, black and white style is something I thought was cool instead of having it with multiple colors. One thing I noticed is that the illustrations go along with the mood of the story, if something dramatic or impactful happens, the whole page goes dark or the whole illustration takes over the entire page. Nevertheless, apart from the art of the book, the topic of parenting is something I fall short of understanding (for obvious reasons as a 17-year-old boy lol) but it is something that is evident and important. The ending of the book makes you asks questions yourself, it even made me question the relationship with me and my family and most importantly my parents. Not that its bad but just on what I can do to improve those relationship, reading this book helped me open my eyes and understand a little better the lives of my own parents. The book overall is something very beautiful and it’s something I’m sure everyone can enjoy in one way or another.

I was very apprehensive about buying this book. As a refugee myself, I have read gobs of books about the Vietnam war and its aftermath. But this is an illustrated book! How hard could it be? I was not deceived; this is a wonderful and delightful illustration book. Of course, I am only chiming in with the many accolades and awards the author has already received for her work. Congrats!

Honestly, this hit quite home to me. My father was a refugee and had the same experience as Bo did in the Best We Could Do. This book made me know about my family's past more and made me closer to my father.

Beautiful and deeply touching book. Love it.

This review is only based on the format of the book not the content.I did not realize that this is a Graphic Novel - not an 'illustrated book' as advertised.Disappointed as I was looking for to reading it - would be interested in purchasing a regular book version.Sadly there was no 'LOOK Inside' feature that warns people...might help in the future and prevent too many returns.

The story is told from the daughter of a family who escaped by boat from Vietnam to Malaysia and from there made their way to the United States.It isn't until she has a child of her own that she really starts to explore her family's history to make sense of her past.The story is done in cartoon style which makes it easy reading but thought provoking. Feel it should work well with teenagers.

I haven't read many graphic novels or much about Vietnam but found this interesting although quite dark.

This was my first graphic novel & I want more. Story & graphics are worth of your time.

Very good