I loved this family drama about three generations of Vietnamese-American women. Thai's writing is lyrical and she creates such distinct characters - not just in Minh, her daughter Huong and her granddaughter Ann but also in the Banyan House, the crumbling old estate where many of their family secrets are buried. The relationships between the women felt so real and it was emotional to read about how motherhood changed each of them and the sacrifices they made for their children. Just a beautiful debut!

Thanks to Mariner Books for the copy to review.

A beautiful story of three generations of women of Vietnamese descent (2 born in Vietnam, 1 born in the US). This story is told in 3 voices with chapters split between the grandmother, mother, and (adult) daughter. The love between these women is strong but complicated. As the story begins, the daughter is called home for the funeral of her beloved grandmother. She and her mother have to come to terms with the death of the matriarch of the family and their own complicated relationship. The chapters flowed seamlessly between the different voices. It wasn't hard to follow. I loved all three stories and the book ended leaving me wanting more from each of the women. This is a debut novel and I hope we hear more from Thao Thai.

My thanks to NetGalley and Mariner Books for an advance copy. My opinion is my own.

I was immersed in this family saga, which focuses on a Vietnamese-American grandmother, mother, and daughter living in a crumbling mansion in Florida.

Daughter Ann Tran comes back to the Banyan house, after her mother lets her know that Minh, her grandmother, has passed away. Ann's already in an emotional tailspin, after discovering she's pregnant and her boyfriend had an affair. Once she's back, old-simmering tensions rise between Ann and her mother, Hoang. Their experiences are also occasionally commented on by the ghost of Minh, who's still hanging around the Banyan House.

Aside from one "big" event, this narrative is mostly the day-to-day life of these woman and flashbacks to the past, where arguments arose or plot points (one major one) were put in motion that affected things in present day. I love family stories like this--so specific and filled with few, but richly drawn characters. All three of these women are complex and their pasts and present interactions with each other (and a compelling family secret) are the sparks that keep the story and action moving. I also appreciated how micro-aggressions they face as Vietnamese-Americans are organically woven into an already dramatic narrative.

If you love stories about women, their complexities, and how love, family, and heritage propel their lives, this book is a great choice.

BANYAN MOON by Thao Thai is a novel about Ann, a Vietnamese American illustrator dating a successful white boyfriend, Noah, when suddenly three things happen: Her grandmother, Minh, passes away back home in Florida; Ann discovers that she’s pregnant; and Ann finds out that Noah has been cheating on her. Ann goes home to Florida to deal with all three of these things, and the novel is told in alternating perspectives by Ann, Minh, and Huơng (Ann’s mother).

What I loved:
⋆ A Vietnamese American family in a Southern Gothic vibes book? Yes, please! (Though I wish it had leaned even harder into those vibes)
⋆ The triangulation of the grandmother-mother-daughter dynamics was refreshing and riveting - this was very well done
⋆ The central question of how one grapples with the tainted legacy of a loved one was complex and fascinating
⋆ Thai gives such texture and color to the setting

What didn’t work as well:
⋆ The pacing and tone were somewhat uneven
⋆ A couple of the storylines didn’t feel believable to me
⋆ A pivotal scene has a gaping plot hole, and the impact and gravity of that scene was glossed over
⋆ The book ended up feeling a bit predictable

Of the many second-generation-Asian-American-immigrant-daughter-with-white-boyfriend-coming-home-to-regroup books that I’ve read, this has an interesting angle, so I think it has more to do with me as a reader being saturated to my ears in this niche genre that I didn’t find it as breathtaking as most other reviewers. I’m still glad I read it for the grandmother-mother-daughter knot of yarn, which I think was this book’s major strength, and I’d recommend it to readers who enjoy exploring thorny multigenerational familial relationships.

If you’re a fan of the writing in Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai’s DUST CHILD combined with the vibes of Violet Kupersmith’s BUILD YOUR HOUSE AROUND MY BODY and a sprinkling of Nicholas Sparks’ THE NOTEBOOK but in a Vietnamese American immigrant fam contemporary fiction setting, check this one out! Thank you @marinerbooks for the gifted copy and @netgalley for the eARC. 3.5 stars rounded up.

This was a book about mothers and daughters with a bit of mystery thrown in. I loved the descriptions of the house and how it represented the lives of the three women. The characters were distinct and their stories are told in alternating chapters. Well written and made me miss my mom while appreciating my daughter that much more. A mother's love is universal.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

Absolutely PHENOMENAL generational historical fiction! My favorite sub-genre is multi-generational family stories, especially with female POV, that interconnect stories and timelines. BANYAN MOON was a beautifully written story that kept me engaged from the beginning. One of the top books of 2023! I highly recommend.

'm always drawn to multigenerational family sagas, especially ones that have a historical fiction component. I was especially intrigued by this one as it involved multiple matriarchal relationships. This was the perfect novel to read during long summer afternoons.

Ann Tran, recently having found out she is pregnant, returns to her childhood home after her beloved grandmother Minh dies, as the fancy life she built for herself crumbles. Ann and her mother, Huơng (who she never got along with), have been left the crumbling manor, Banyan House. Under the same roof for the first time in years, mother and daughter must face the simmering questions of their past and their uncertain futures, while trying to rebuild their relationship without the one person who’s always held them together.

I really appreciate what Thai accomplished in this novel. The story felt tight, the writing was beautiful, the reveals and flashbacks were well timed and the characters were flawed in very intriguing ways. I thought the exploration of the mother-daughter and grandmother-granddaughter relationships and how they contrasted each other were fascinating. While I didn't find similarity in their personalities and experiences with myself, I still found everything easy to relate. I read a lot of horror/gothic novels and I found the unease the Banyan House made me feel to be fascinating and impactful in a novel of it's genre.

This book is about three generations of women in Vietnam and America - grandmother Minh, mother Huong, and daughter/granddaughter Ann, both in the present day and flashing back to each of their pasts and the struggles they faces along their way with their partners and with each other.

The writing in this one was just beautiful, especially for a debut. However, it felt so long for a book that was only 336 pages, and I didn’t really connect emotionally with the characters. So I’d say it was a book I admired more than one I loved. I can see why Read With Jenna picked it for the July pick though.

3.75 stars

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to try Banyan Moon. It was recommended to me by a friend, but just didn't work for me as a reader. I appreciate the opportunity so much!

I originally found Thao Thai through her Substack newsletter and looked forward to her thoughtful essays popping up in my inbox each week. So I was thrilled to see she was publishing her debut novel this year!

Banyan Moon is the story of three generations of Vietnamese American women spanning from Vietnam to Florida, to the Midwest. The book is told from alternating perspectives, giving us a glimpse into Minh, Huơng, and Ann’s lives.

This book explores motherhood, grief, and buried secrets. The writing is lovely, the characters are well drawn, and I especially loved the setting of the wild Florida swamplands.

If you love Gilmore Girls for the complicated relationships between Emily, Lorelei, and Rory you’ll enjoy this one. If you love Where the Crawdads Sing for the lush descriptions of nature, you’ll enjoy this one. And if you enjoyed Pachinko for the exploration of multiple generations and leaving home then you’ll enjoy this one. Overall lots to enjoy!

No surprise that this was a BOTM pick and that I see it everywhere. This is a moving, emotional and important story. My go-to for recommending now!

Such a beautifully written family drama. I highlighted passage after passage bc the imagery was so lovely. This story unveils slowly as you learn the reason for the fractures among three generations of women. Absolutely loved.

This is a beautiful book (a debut!) about Ann, her mom, and her grandmother. Three generations of Vietnamese women, chapters are told from their different POVs with writing that is stunning. The love for each other is complex and, as love often is, complicated by things said and unsaid in their lives. There’s one passage where Ann and her mom are swinging on a squeaky chair in the backyard and the mom is feeling intense feelings of connection for her adult daughter and it’s so beautiful and expressive that I started to tear up. Sometimes the biggest feelings are the ones we hold back knowing they could be too intense to share with someone you are afraid of losing. These women are women I will be thinking about for a long time - their strength and love for each other oozed out of every page in such a relatable way that we women understand. Brava to this debut author, Thao Thai and thank you to Mariner Books for the copy. What a gift. Go read this one.

A multi-generational story of three women — Ann, her mother and her grandmother and the stories we tell ourselves and each other to perpetuate our own narratives. Ann has a wealthy fiancée and a safe life in Michigan. When her grandmother (who came from Vietnam) dies, Ann returns to the Banyan House — her grandmother’s dilapidated mansion to stay indefinitely with her mother with who she has a strained relationship.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Thao Thai, and Mariner Books for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

I LOVED this!! Generational family dramas, especially ones following a family of women, are some of my favorite books to read, and this book is a shining example of one. Ann, Huong, and Minh have such distinct voices that I could have easily read an individual book about each of these women. Their stories were so fascinating, and I enjoyed reading the history of their family through the flashback chapters of Huong and Minh's stories. I could definitely relate to Ann the most, and I thought the complicated mother/daughter dynamic was handled so realistically. Thai's writing is absolutely stunning, and The Banyon House feels like its own character with how much life Thai breathes into her settings. There is a lot in the book that will leave me thinking for ages, and this is easily one of my favorite books I've read this year so far. It's a 4.5 star read for me, but I am rounding down to 4 stars, as there were a couple of plot points that I felt were just a bit too randomly shocking that were not given adequate time to address in the novel. However, it did not detract from my enjoyment of reading Banyon Moon, and I am anxiously awaiting whatever Thao Thai writes next!

This was a good read! This marked 3 checkboxes for books that I enjoy- stories told from multiple POVs, multicultural interests, and historical fiction. This was a really intriguing read about a strained mother daughter relationship, their past and also present. I felt for Huong many times and congested with her the most.

I loved this multi-generational family drama with storylines jumping to key points in each of their lives. When the matriarch grandmother Minh passes away, daughter Ann and mother Houng reunite after a long period of intentional separation. Each has their own secrets, and so does the Banyan House, which for a time kept them together.

I had a hard time tearing away from the pages as I found this to be a great narrative with writing that sticks with you.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Mariner Books for the ARC.

A beautiful portrait of a Vietnamese family through generations,. I enjoyed the mother daughter story as well as the history behind the women's journeys. I really loved the women's journeys and the themes of inheritence. One that is sure to be a great book club discussion!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Book Club Girl, and Harper Collins/Mariner Books for gifting me a digital ARC of this fabulous debut by Thao Thai - 5 stars!

This is a multi-generational story narrated by Minh (grandmother), Huong (daughter) and Ann (granddaughter). The story begins with Minh's death and is followed by Ann's return to her grandmother's decrepit house situated next to a banyan tree. Ann is going through a personal crisis, and wants to put the past aside and reconnect with her mother, as they both grieve the loss of Minh. But there are many secrets passed down through this family holding everyone back.

What a gorgeously-written book! We learned about Minh's past in Vietnam through her coming to Florida, as well as her voice from the grave, looking onto her daughter and granddaughter and giving additional context to the relationships. While most readers' lives will look very different from those in this story, the relationships between these women felt so personal. How decisions, words, mistakes, and feelings carry forward through the generations is something that we all can relate to. The Banyan Tree house setting was fabulous too and just added layers to the story. Plus, the Banyan Moon fable is wonderful and I loved its inclusion and meaning put forth by Ann. A fabulous debut - can't wait to read more from this author!

This book was magnificent. Death, life, love, birth. The journey of 3 women as they make their own way through life & hardship, always doing what they can to help the ones they love, especially their children. It does such a beautiful job of articulating how we as women, as mothers, are driven to our decisions from a place of selflessness, even if that’s not always how it’s interpreted. It explores the complex relationship between mothers and daughters and sisters and brothers and wives and husbands. There is hurt and struggle but also joy and peace.

So, so good.