I bought The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui because I realized that I had never read a memoir in the form of a graphic novel. What stood out to me even more was its subject on Vietnamese refugee families. It covered the hardships of Vietnamese families who have immigrated to the U.S. and assimilated into society with great difficulties. Reading this memoir resonated personally within me, especially since many of the familial aspects that Bui touched upon were very much real in my own family. Bui’s struggles growing up were similar to my own, motivating me to absorb the book from beginning to end.
Much of the memoir consists of Bui’s journey unraveling the tensions underneath her family’s dark history from the Vietnam War in order to heal in the present. The Best We Could Do begins with Bui giving birth to her first child and realizing that she was comfortable being born from a family, not creating a new one. This leads to her mulling over how the legacy of the Vietnam War affected her current circumstances and her family history. Bui gives the reader an honest summary of her monotonous childhood and the aftermath of her parents’ divorce. She gives the people in her family character and enough background for readers to empathize with them.
Much of the memoir consists of Bui’s journey unraveling the tensions underneath her family’s dark history from the Vietnam War in order to heal in the present. The Best We Could Do begins with Bui giving birth to her first child and realizing that she was comfortable being born from a family, not creating a new one. This leads to her mulling over how the legacy of the Vietnam War affected her current circumstances and her family history. Bui gives the reader an honest summary of her monotonous childhood and the aftermath of her parents’ divorce. She gives the people in her family character and enough background for readers to empathize with them.
The colors that Bui uses throughout the graphic novel seemed to be muted to fit the narrative that she was trying to tell. Bui had only used black, red, and white in order to describe the repressed anger in her family, most especially her parents’ depression following their escape from Vietnam. It fit the overall mood of the memoir as Bui attempts to find an answer to the dark legacy that the Vietnam War passed on to her family and more importantly, to her and her present life in the United States.
What really drew me into this memoir was the message that Bui had written to the reader. Whether you are Vietnamese or not, Bui explains why it is important to understand the aftermath of refugees from the Vietnam War, and how much it still affects Vietnamese-Americans now.
The entirety of The Best We Could Do would best be explained in a quote from the book itself, “I understand enough of Vietnam’s history now to know that the ground beneath my parents’ feet had always been shifting… so that by the time I was born, Vietnam was not my country at all. I was only a small part of it” (326).
What really drew me into this memoir was the message that Bui had written to the reader. Whether you are Vietnamese or not, Bui explains why it is important to understand the aftermath of refugees from the Vietnam War, and how much it still affects Vietnamese-Americans now.
The entirety of The Best We Could Do would best be explained in a quote from the book itself, “I understand enough of Vietnam’s history now to know that the ground beneath my parents’ feet had always been shifting… so that by the time I was born, Vietnam was not my country at all. I was only a small part of it” (326).