We are home: A Pho Love Story

 A Pho Love Story is a young adult, romance debut novel by Loan Le, about rival Vietnamese restaurants in L.A. whose owners have a long history of animosity and competition. Imagine the mess that ensues when their high school seniors, Bao and Linh, become partners for a school project and end up falling for each other!  This is an important story about how family and cultural pressure can influence the children of immigrants.  Rather than communicate their needs and wants, immigrant children often go-with-the-flow and end up stressed.  A Pho Love Story is a richly layered story full of humor, bonds, love and hope.  It resonates strongly with people who straddle dual cultures and don't want to let anyone down, including themselves.

As a teacher, librarian, and parent, I would use this book to discuss many topics with readers. Starting with the main characters, Bao and Linh, whose point of view changes with every-other-chapter.  Bao accuses Linh of being a liar because she isn't forthcoming with her family about her true passion of painting.  Readers can take a side and debate who is in the right and wrong in this situation.  

Another topic for discussion is how Bao and Linh go about their romance.  At first they hesitate to partner up because for their entire lives they were told by their families that it was taboo to associate with the other.  Despite their apprehension over being seen by someone in their community circle they embark on a friendship which grows into a romance.  Do readers agree with how the events unfolded?  Were there any times when they could've come clean with their families?

I just loved the friendship between Bao and Linh.  The more time they spent together the more they discover all that they had in common: they both recognize their Vietnamese culture along with the pressure to make their families proud.  It is unique to live in America where, as the children of immigrants, they are exposed to more avenues and opportunities than their parents.  Communicating this with their parents is difficult because their parents are unknowledgeable about how these experiences lead to future success.  Readers can talk about anyone in their life whom they feel like can understand them and their background.  

As the child of immigrants myself, I connected to this story especially when Linh was looking at old photographs of her parents from Vietnam.  She notices how happy and idyllic the scenes are and thinks, "It seems impossible to think that outside the frame of this photo, the country they knew was changing rapidly.  And yet here they were: joyful."  It would be interesting to pose this question of what is happening outside of the frame when looking at photos as primary sources with students.  Although countries go through so much change that their citizens are pushed or pulled to emigrate, the constant that they feel is family, cherished moments and unforgettable memories.  This is universal.  Which is what hurts when in the story there is a racist posting online with the person telling those in Little Saigon, "go home!"  Bao responds by writing an op-ed titled, "We Are Home".  His message is that immigrants are real people with a past that needs to be listened to in order to understand why they would leave their homes in order to make a better life here.  In the wake of the anti-Asian hate-crimes on the rise recently, his writing hits hard.

Le also captures what it is like when your secrets are revealed to your parents.  When the truth is out and you have to deal with the shame that stems from disappointing them, but also the other side of the feeling that what you did and hid from them was something that felt perfectly natural to you.  Linh calls the aftermath of her parents finding out as, "Terse. Cold. Punishing."  Readers can talk about times when they kept secrets from their loved ones or friends.  What was keeping them from being honest? Did they find ways to get through it? 

The most uplifting part of this whole story is the network of support that Bao and Linh have through their friends, teachers, neighbors, and family members who see their struggles and encourage them.  Like when Linh's aunt says to her, "Be the brave, honest person I know you are."  Readers can name people in their lives who provide this advice and kindness to them.  Maybe they are that support system to others in their lives.  Why is it important to form and nurture these relationships?

All in all, I absolutely loved this book. I'd recommend it, even to adults, because it has universal themes and good knowledge to bestow about Vietnamese history, food, language, and culture as a whole.  For example, how to pronounce PHO: it rhymes with, "huh?" Thank you, Loan!  I had never read a book with Vietnamese characters that I can recall and I cannot wait to read more from this amazing author.