This book was enjoyable. I read it with an online book community which was helpful to keep me engaged and on track. I think Thao Thai is an excellent author - and look forward to future books!

totally got sidetracked and delayed starting this but it was an absolutely fantastic read. I love a multigenerational narrative and I love stories with characters that are flawed and also difficult not to love.

This is a beautifully written debut about 3 generations of American Vietnamese women who come together at their grandmother’s house after her death near the beautiful strong Banyan tree. This story explores their hardships and misunderstandings over the years and slowly explores each woman’s experiences in love and life. This is a character driven book so it did read a little slower for me. I enjoyed getting to know each of these character’s and how their stories unfolded throughout the novel. Thank you to Mariner Books and NetGalley for an e-galley. Banyan Moon is available now.

Banyan Moon was a Modern Mrs Darcy pick for August, and I was happy to see this in my approved queue here on NetGalley! This is an introspective family novel following three women of three different generations. Great Grandmother Minh passes away right at the beginning, bringing her granddaughter, Ann, home from Michigan to reside with her mother, Huong, with whom Ann has a tenuous relationship.

All three women have secrets. All three women failed to communicate. We see devastating occurrences in both Minh and Huong's past that are not shared with Ann, and the implications create generational trauma. It's hard to describe this book as historical fiction, because briefly we get a glimpse of Minh's past in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. I was the most intrigued by her story line. Both Huong and Minh experience traumatic things and lean on each other in a way that confused me later down the road as their relationship became strained for reasons I did not think the author clearly explained. Granddaughter Ann is facing uncertainty in her current life and coming home digs up all the conflicts she has had with her mother. I never truly vibed with Ann, but I did think the portrayal of a fraught mother-daughter relationship was well done.

The book is also an ode to the gothic manor, Banyan House, and while I got excited to think that the house may be a character, it was not.

The writing was lovely, but I will say the pace of this was off for me.

I almost DNF'd this book during Chapter 1, but Chapter 2 pulled me in and I'm so glad I stuck with it. Banyan Moon is a multi-generational family drama centered around the women in a Vietnamese family living on the Gulf Coast of Florida. We get the perspective of 3 generations of the Tran family: Ann, the adult daughter who has left Florida and is building a glitzy, new life with her wealthy professor boyfriend. Huong, Ann’s mother who regrets not having a closer relationship with Ann. And, Minh, Huong’s mother and Ann’s grandmother, whose death brings Ann home at the beginning of the book. This is a really atmospheric book. You can feel the heat and humidity of the Florida coast. The Grey Gardens-esqe Banyan House is a central character in the story. This story is a celebration of women and family history. And, secrets of course. It's also about leaving home, returning home, and figuring out where your home is. Caveat: there's a somewhat long "story within a story" that I skimmed and I didn't feel like I missed anything.

Beautifully written saga of three Vietnamese women- grandmother, mother and daughter. The history of their relationships, secrets and lives are revealed. I enjoyed this book.

Beautiful debut. I had the pleasure of hearing Thao Thai speak about her book at our local library. It's lyrical, thoughtful, and engrossing. I'm excited to see more from Thai in the future!

Great debut novel about 3 generations of a Vietnamese/American family of women with complicated family dynamics. Rotating through each woman's point of view, you tie together a complex family that is strung with love throughout. To me, the book seemed to switch around 70% from character-focus to house-focus, whereas I would have liked to see more go on for the present day characters. The house-focus provided a strong sense of place.

I enjoyed this book and I could not put it down. I really enjoyed the characters and the writing was really well done. It made you want to keep reading.

I was interested by the premise of this novel, but did not think the execution of it held up. The writing quality was weak, in my opinion, and it did not draw me in to the story.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A touching story of three generations of Vietnamese-American women set in Florida. The story is told from each woman's perspective, even from the grave after the grandmother dies. The women have much in common though their lives are so different and it is interesting to learn this as you move through the book. The story is beautifully written with a strong sense of place. I recommend this novel.

This is a sweeping generational saga mainly centered around Ann and her mom and their relationship with Minh (Ann’s grandmother). There are flashbacks to Minh’s life in Vietnam before immigrating to the US.

The Viet book crew is very divided on this one, but I loved it. As always, I don't know why I held off for so long, but I'm here now. While I'm not always one for purple prose, I find it weaves through the story beautifully. I highlighted many passages in my bookstagram.

In the same vein that The Fortunes of Jaded Women highlights three generations of Vietnamese American women, so too does this novel. These women aren't the most likable, but for me, they certainly are relatable. Minh is the matriarch of the family, and while she doesn't have the best relationship with her daughter, Huơng, she finds closeness with her granddaughter, Ann. Huơng and Ann do not speak, and we learn why later on in the story.

If you read Central Places, a book I loved, but is also divisive to many, Ann reminds me a lot of Audrey. There's the new upgraded boyfriend. There's also the hometown boy. This isn't Sweet Home Alabama.

The imagery is vast, and I imagine confusing at times. When Minh passes, we still get POV chapters from her. If I hadn't read Wandering Souls, which makes use of the same motif, I may have been more confused.

There are some reveals in the last 20% that may make or break the novel for you. I found them a long time coming, so I enjoyed them, but I was also warned about them.

I don't enjoy every Vietnamese diaspora story, but I greatly enjoyed this one. My dad talks about leaving Vietnam every so often, but I've only heard his full story once. I heard my mom's once, from someone else. I used to want to coax it out of her, but I realize now that I'm not entitled to her story. One of the book crew said this story was too much trauma porn for her, and I get that. I can't take too many trauma stories, either. But if you can handle it, and understand it, there is something to be learned and digested here.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

Thanks to Mariner Books and BookClubGirl for an early reads widget for Banyan Moon by Thao Thai.

This is a beautiful multi-generational story of mothers and daughters set spanning the 1960s in Vietnam to the present in the Florida swamps. I can see why it was a Read with Jenna pick! I listened to most of the book, and the audio was fantastic.

I really liked how this was a family drama with a partial historical setting. The complexities of the characters and the way she wrote the relationships between mothers and daughters are impressive, especially for a debut novel!

BANYAN MOON by Thao Thai

Summary, per @ storygraph: “A sweeping, evocative debut novel following three generations of Vietnamese American women reeling from the death of their matriarch, revealing the family's inherited burdens, buried secrets, and unlikely love stories. Spanning decades and continents, from 1960s Vietnam to the wild swamplands of the Florida coast, Banyan Moon is a stunning and deeply moving story of mothers and daughters, the things we inherit, and the lives we choose to make out of that inheritance.”

My thoughts:
I was instantly hooked by the premise of this book. I love the dynamic and nuance of an intergenerational story, and I thought this element was the highlight of the book. Thai did an excellent job of defining each woman individually while balancing the interwoven and complicated nature of mother-daughter relationships.

I struggled with the pacing of this book. The middle 60% of the book felt like it lagged, but the introduction was engaging and the ending of the book wrapped up quickly.

Even with its faults I think this book has a wide appeal - intergenerational mother-daughter storylines, multiple POVs with flashbacks, and a dash of mystery and romance.

I think this author shows a lot of potential and will certainly look forward to picking up her work in the future!

Thank you to Mariner Books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This story is told from 3 different perspectives. Ann when she is a young woman, her mother Hu’o’ng when Ann is a young girl, and the grandmother Minh when she is elderly and dying. Ann and her mother have a strained relationship but Ann and her grandmother, Minh, were very close. Ann and Hu’o’ng come back to the home they grew up in when Minh is dying and stay in the house together, in Florida, after she dies. The story continues and is set around the relationship building between Ann and her mother and other events in both of their lives.
I sometimes have a difficult time with stories that are based around the mundanity of life and explanations or dissections of relationships, but the multi perspectives and the events that took place through out the book kept me highly engaged. The story telling made me want to know more about the characters as I was reading and had me rooting for them all to get to a place that was happy and worked for everyone. I think that this was a story that had a happily ever after without it being a fairy tale version of that. It was a realistic happily ever after, where it wasn’t necessarily perfect but it worked for everyone involved. I would definitely recommend this book. It felt different than most books I’ve read but I really enjoyed it.

This was an interesting debut. I enjoyed the southern gothic vibes and the Florida setting. I liked the female characters, but I grew tired of the constant "we don't need a man to make it" theme that was weaved throughout. Especially when the characters kept making the same mistakes over and over. Hopefully they will work things out for the next generation. It was a strong start overall, and I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for review.

Thanks to the Mariner Books and Book Club Girl for an early read widget via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.
Oh my - I can absolutely understand why Read with Jenna chose Banyan Moon for her July book club pick! This multigenerational family saga alternates chapters between Ann, her mother, and her grandmother who grew up in a small town in Vietnam before immigrating to Florida. It’s a story about relationships - both romantic and familial, especially the complicated connections between women and their mothers. I was swept away with this story - listening to the first half (which was helpful for the pronunciations) and reading the rest via ebook. I learned about Vietnamese culture, and I did not know that banyan trees, which I’ve admired in Hawaii and Key West, are invasive. In general, I just loved the book and could not put it down. I recommend this to other fans of family drama and women’s fiction - and I can’t wait for more from the author after this stunning debut!

This generational story of three Vietnamese women takes place mostly in Florida - where the 3 women live at their home called the Banyan House. Ann (the youngest) decides to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan for college to get away from her family and more specifically, her mother. When something tragic happens, Ann heads back home to be with her family - however she has her own secrets. This story had me drawn in from the beginning. I appreciated the real dynamics between the three women. This explores themes of family, love, loss, abuse, how to be happy, how to do things for others and how to take care of yourself. I loved this story and would highly recommend to anyone who loves family dramas - especially those with a unique perspective and voice.

Grateful for the gifted copy of this from Netgalley and Mariner Books, but sad I just don't think this one is for me.

DNF 34% - couldn't get into the multi-POV writing style, but I think it's particularly just the multi-generational family stories that tend to not hold my attention very well.

I did think the prose was beautiful, and that it has very poignant and relevant / important themes. I also love the representation. Perhaps this is one I would come back to if it stays on my mind for a while.