A Memoir that Tugged at my Emotions from Start to Finish

I was so touched by this memoir. The best memoirs in my experience are able to make the most specific experiences feel universal. This memoir succeeded in doing nothing less. Lieu is careful and intentional about the way that she moves not only through her childhood, but her adulthood and journey of writing the book. You as the reader feel like you've been brought alongside to peer at life through her eyes in the best ways. The structure of this book with the different Vietnamese uses of the word MA allowed for an internal pacing that went beyond the chronological. Grief is not linear or necessarily chronological and the sections of this book reflected that beautifully. I appreciated all the ways the book came to be about Susan just as much as her mother. While her mother is clearly a very present character, it's much more about Susan becoming an adult without the presence of her mother in beautiful and tender ways.