The Manicurist's Daughter by Susan Lieu is a memoir about Susan's journey through understanding and accepting her mother's early demise through the negligence of a plastic surgeon. But this book is much more than an exploration of grief and the many guises grief can take on. Susan is Vietnamese and explains many fascinating aspects of her heritage. From naming conventions to dietary and food traditions to interpersonal relationships and communications among the family, Susan Lieu explains Vietnamese life in a understandable and interesting way. This book and Ms Lieu's research into her mother's malpractice case shine a light on the mega issue of women's self identity and obsession with beauty and self-image. Being from the east coast, I was not familiar with Susan Lieu or her solo performances of 140 LBS: How Beauty Killed My Mother. I was able to see portions of the performance on-line and was as impressed with that as I was with her book. This is a story not only for minorities in the United States who may be taken advantage of, but for women young and old who all need to hear the message that 'we are enough'. The last line of the book was my absolute favorite because I get the irony in Ms. Lieu's declaration. I give this book four stars and would like to thank BookishFirst and Celadon books for getting an ARC in my hands.