Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Pho Love Story

The book was all right to read

A PHO LOVE STORY follows Linh Mai and Bao Nguyen’s unexpected romance since their families work at competing pho restaurants. As they meet in secret, they begin to discover that their families’ rivalry runs deeper than the line of customers on 2-for-1 Pho Day. There are so many things to love about this book. Linh and Bao’s romance is so precious with their stolen moments. Not only do they have their families’ feud to contend with, they have individual concerns about their career interests (or lack thereof in Bao’s case) and how they approach that with their parents. Their interactions with their family and community at large—how they negotiate time away from the restaurant, their individual conversations with their parents, family gatherings—all evoked scenes from my life. There were so many moments I squealed in delight at the recognition of these familiar smells, places, and feelings. In particular, the author weaves in Linh and Bao’s parents’ refugee experience so seamlessly and the intergenerational effects on Linh and Bao’s worldview. I imagine some people might take issue with the Vietnamese phrases. As someone who knows only a handful of Vietnamese phrases, I didn’t think it was too difficult to gather the meaning from the context. If I must offer some sort of criticism, it’s that fans of typical romcom tropes won’t find them here. Instead, they’ll find a sweet secret romance for a couple you want to root for.

I might run out of characters but there's a lot to unpack with a book like this. Firstly, I want to appreciate the author for writing a book based around Vietnamese-Americans. As one myself, I found it difficult to relate to characters and their struggles in most books, but I related to this novel on another level. Linh Mai, one of the two main characters really stood out to me, she has tiger like parents who basically shove medical school down her throat, a loud and outgoing personality, and is very smart. I think her experiences relate a lot every typical Asian-American, her struggles and her thought processes reminded me a lot of my own. I ended up tearing up a bit towards the end (not spoiling the book). I have a few critiques about this book. To start, I felt that Bao's story wasn't as interesting as Linh's. Bao's story is a quintessential piece of this novel, however I felt that his role felt more like a main love interest rather than another main character. A book that could be compared is "The Sun is Also a Star" by Nicole Yoon, because that book felt more balanced for two main characters rather than a main and a love interest. For example, I just finished reading the book and I don't really remember much of Bao's problems rather than him being confused about his career path and his relationship problems with Linh (though some may argue it makes the book more realistic). Another flaw I found in this book was that it was a bit boring for me in the middle of the book. Once I got past chapter 35 or so, I could not put the book down. Overall, I have recommended this book to a lot of my other Asian-American friends before even completing it. It was amazing storytelling by the author (I felt like I was truly in a pho restaurant!), and the characters are very likable! Solid 8/10!

This book was a delicious read. Not only did it describe the dishes with out-of-this-world sensory detail, it described the intricacies of family. The two competing restaurants created the tension, but the amazing characters created the heart. A Pho Love Story explores how family shapes our expectations, our art and (to some degree!) our love lives. The journey here is rich and vivid with some of the best food writing I've ever read. It's a perfect YA read, but the complexity of its questions and the spot-on portraits of restaurant life make it a literary gem.

NA