Name: Em
ISBN: 9781039000841

Kim Thúy

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2021 SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE Kim Thúy's Em is a virtuosic novel of profound power and sen­sitivity, and an enduring affirmation of the greatest act of resistance: love. In the midst of war, an ordinary miracle: an abandoned baby tenderly cared for by a young boy living on the streets of Saigon. The boy is Louis, the child of a long-gone American soldier. Louis calls the baby em Hồng, em meaning "little sister," or "beloved." Even though her cradle is nothing more than a cardboard box, em Hồng's life holds every possibility. Through the linked destinies of a family of characters, the novel takes its inspiration from historical events, including Operation Babylift, which evacuated thousands of biracial orphans from Saigon in April 1975, and the remarkable growth of the nail salon industry, dominated by Vietnamese expatriates all over the world. From the rubber plantations of Indochina to the massacre at My Lai, Kim Thúy sifts through the layers of pain and trauma in stories we thought we knew, revealing transcendent moments of grace, and the invincibility of the human spirit.

Kim Thuy

Not quite the ending I was hoping for but it's realistic. I actually learned a lot.

Bibi

Erin G.

Thank you @randomhouse and @NetGalley for the advanced readers copy. I love her writing style of interconnected stories. Beautiful writing on a brutal topic.

Eloise

4.5

Em is about real storytelling and realizing that no matter how much we want to express the truth, we will never be able to do it properly. There will be many information regarding a day and time that will not be put into words for the reader based on what our focus point of attention is. Kim Thúy is a fantastic storyteller, and she represents not only the characters but also provides much-needed historical context and criticism through her writing.

I also learned about the French's heavy influence on Vietnamese culture during their time through this book. Many words from the French language have found their way into Vietnamese, and vice versa. Kim tells the reader about the invention of rubber, how it became scarce during the wars, how it was linked to sex, and eventually how one of our key characters, Tam, was born, in short chapters. A Hundred Suns portrayed the tensions between the plantation workers and French entrepreneurs who owned the plantations. Em made those struggles more real through the characters and the fast pace of the book.

Overall, this is an enthralling and addicting novel! This is a book that I wholeheartedly recommend. I never regret spending time reading this; it's pure poetry that billows and twists like a satin ribbon in the wind.

Nathalie Wong

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Em by Kim Thuy follows the perspective of various characters during the Vietnam war. It is short but quite impactful with elements that were heartbreaking. I found it a bit disjointed and hard to read since it felt a bit choppy with its wording. Not sure if it’s because of the translation that made it hard for me to really appreciate it.