Fox & Wit Weekly Book Recommendations: Books with Vietnamese Rep

Posted by Mary Nguyen on August 4, 2023

Every week we'll put together a list of book recommendations which you can find here on our blog but also our instagram @foxandwit if you'd like to give us a follow!

There's this scene in Babel where Robin talks about the fear of his Cantonese slipping away and I started crying because I related so hard. The only time I speak Vietnamese is with my grams. Sometimes I'm on the phone with her when I realize I've forgotten basic words, I'm filled with shame and guilt that my family's language is slipping away from me.

Growing up, I was ashamed of being east Asian and did everything I could to hide my culture. The joke growing up with my cousins was we all tried to avoid appearing "too FOB" aka "fresh off the boat," which is deeply ironic considering I was born and raised in the States. I wasn't one of "those Asians - I was Americanized and "better" - and I'm honest, felt internalized racism towards my own people who weren't "American enough" because I was so embarrassed by them by association.

It's only within the last 10 years or so that I've started to reclaim those parts of myself that I taught to distance myself from in order to fit into white American culture. And part of that reclamation is to read as many stories about my people that I can.

I often wonder if I had more books with people like me when I was a teen if I would've spent less time slicing away parts of myself, my culture, my family as much. If that would've made me feel like I belonged more because on top of all that, I was an undiagnosed autistic teen masking through the toughest years of life.

Helen Hoang's books are healing in ways I can't even begin to explain. Between autistic rep, which I am, and Vietnamese rep? Those books hold such a special place in my heart.

This year I am determined to read at least one book a month with Vietnamese rep and I hope you'll join me in adding more books with Viet rep to your various 2023 goals! With that being said, this week's recommendations are books with Vietnamese rep!