From the Bookshelf of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge…

The Best We Could Do

Thi Bui

Discussion: 2017 Read Harder Challenge

Why we're reading this: Bui's family escaped to the US by boat after the Vietnam War. This beautiful graphic memoir relates their…more
[close] Bui's family escaped to the US by boat after the Vietnam War. This beautiful graphic memoir relates their life before the war and their perilous journey to safety.

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2017 Read Harder Challenge

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What Members Thought

May 27, 2018 Rincey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: poc-author, favorites

Totally cried while reading this. <3 <3

See me talk about this briefly in my May wrap up: https://youtu.be/ymb11Zcb248?t=23m51s ...more

40 likes · Like · see review

Aug 15, 2019 Ashley Holstrom rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoir, reviewed, nonfiction, ebook, history, travel, author-of-color, politics, race, sociology

Thi Bui’s parents grew up in Vietnam and she immigrated to the United States with them as a child. The Best We Could Do is her memoir of digging into her family’s history, learning the whole story through adult eyes. She learns about her parents’ childhoods, their experiences as a young couple living during a war, and then escaping with Thi and her siblings. The focal point of the entire narrative is what parents do for their children, ever so important as Thi Bui becomes a mother herself.

From 1 ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 27, 2020 Ana rated it liked it

Shelves: memoirs, non-fiction, graphicnovels, biographies, library, read-harder-challenge-2020

This is more like a 2.5 stars book but I usually round up.

I heard great things about this book and when the opportunity arose to check it out of the library - and read it as part of Book Riot's "Read Harder Challenge 2020" - I jumped at the chance to read it.

But sometimes expectations can be a burden...

I've read many, many graphic novels. I've been reading long form comics since I first learned how to read eons ago and am very comfortable with the format. But there was something about this parti ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jun 14, 2018 Donna rated it really liked it

Shelves: biography-memoir, graphic

A memoir in graphic format—a combination that works well here as in other well-received books.

The Bui family escapes from South Vietnam shortly after the end of the war to the United States. This story helped me consider that war from the side of the Vietnamese. Bui uses the birth of her first child as a means of reconnecting with her parents and their struggles.

A few choppy spots, but all-in-all a fine story.

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 20, 2018 Jen rated it it was amazing

This book is moving and illuminating. It explores the story of how the author and her family left Vietnam after the war as well as the history of her parents and what our family histories leave with us. A wonderful insight into the importance of family bonds, country and what makes you the person that you are.

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Oct 21, 2018 Megan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: acrma8, memoirs, graphic-novels

This is such a beautiful story! Seeing the development of Thi Bui’s relationship to her parents as she learned and told their story brought me to tears.

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