Book 44 A Pho Love Story

 

A Pho Love Story by Loan Le fulfilled the category “A Romance Novel by a BIPOC Author” for the PopSugar 2022 Reading Challenge. Loan Le is the child of two Vietnamese immigrants from Nha Trang. The book was a lovely tale about Vietnamese food, culture, and romance.

I’ve had the story on my list for a couple of years. It’s a YA romance between two high school students. They own competing Vietnamese restaurants across the street from each other. As the book goes on, we discover their mothers know each other from their own childhood. The rivalry has a reason. In other words, we have a Romeo and Juliet story without all the deaths.

The book explored some great themes, not only culture and food but additionally growing into your own skin. The heroine, Linh, is an artist, and her family worries she won’t make a living with art. The hero, Bao, isn’t sure what he wants to do, but his parents are much inclined to let him figure it out. I don’t know how much is a male/female cultural thing.

The two teens come together to review restaurants for the school newspaper. Bao discovers he is a talented journalist. Linh explores her artistic abilities, not only adding pictures to the newspaper with her drawing but also painting a mural for one of the restaurants. Oh, and the sparks fly.

It’s a YA. There is some angst, and unrequited love or longing. It pressed all the YA romance buttons, and the food sounded amazing that every time I read, I became hungry.

If you’re looking for a sweet, cute romance between two teens who finally find themselves and each other, get ready for all the subplots. The two must get their parents to deal with the horrible things they’ve been through. Both sets of parents are immigrants from Vietnam, arriving in America in the seventies. They’ve been through so much, and the book touches on their experience.

One thing I enjoyed about A Pho Love Story is the culture. No one ever talks about the Vietnam war. Nobody discusses the refugees who came to this country. No one talks about the soldiers who went there. I loved that the book examined some of the traumas of fleeing Vietnam. It wasn’t a deep exploration because the book was not about the parents. The story is about two teens whose parents have been through trauma. I love how the author touched on all these things. I knew kids in high school who had been through a similar experience. It wasn’t easy for any of them to flee their country, arrive in America, and start over. The parents in the book attempt to have a successful restaurant and maintain some of the cultural norms of their homeland. I’d love to see more about this topic.

I give A Pho Love Story by Loan Le Five Vietnamese Dishes including Pho, Bang Xeo, and Gui Cuon. (I must try these!)