I put this on my library hold list because of the rave reviews at Book Marks. Even still, after I picked it up I was reluctant to start reading it.

I didn’t expect it to hit home like it did.

I watched television the way I read books: studying, memorizing, looking for clues. As if every cultural product were a puzzle, and the solution-knowledge–would transform me from quiet, shy girl to worldly insider.

Nguyen’s experience as a cultural outsider was extremely relatable — I grew up in a rural mining town in the 80’s and 90’s, and moved to Toronto for university, eventually working in the capital markets. Most of my 20’s and 30’s was spent in a state of ‘fake it till you make it’. I still often feel like a fraud in social or business environments, like I have a cultural deficit signifier that flashes like a neon sign, and I’m the only one that can’t see it. It’s probably one reason I read so much.

Not to suggest that I understand the refugee experience, but Nguyen’s writing and experience of loneliness is broadly relatable. It sneaks up on you as she tells stories that from other writers would be mundane. There’s a chapter about her father watching action movies that made me cry.

I fully loved this. I look forward to reading it again, and I’ll seek out other books by the author.