A graphic novel memoir of Thien Pham whose earliest memory was from being in a boat escaping Vietnam and then being in a refugee camp in Thailand. He then shares how his family relocated to the US, the struggles they faced in their new country, and how Pham eventually became a citizen as an adult.

Pham just gives snippets of his life in these different time periods. But it is enough to understand the enormous challenges refugees face when escaping their former country, waiting in a refugee camp, and then trying to establish a new life in their country of resettlement. It's extremely hard. And Pham and his family are incredibly resilient people to have made it to where they are today. I liked the end panels that had some questions and answers with different people in Pham's life and their view on things or if they are still in touch today. Those provided some great bonus insights. I like Pham's illustration style too. I devoured this in one sitting. It isn't as text-dense as some graphic novel memoirs can be so it is a pretty quick read for a nonfiction graphic novel. Definitely a recommended read. It is marketed as YA but there's nothing in it that MG readers can't handle.

Notes on content:
Language: Pham shares one instance of a drunk man who called him racial slurs at a bowling alley.
Sexual content: None
Violence: Pirates board the refugee boat and threaten them with guns and machetes, any violence that happened is blacked out and unclear in the illustrations.
Ethnic diversity: Pham and his family are Vietnamese, they have friends in California from a variety of ethnic backgrounds.
LGBTQ+ content: None specified
Other: As mentioned, one scene with a drunk Vietnam vet who takes his anger out verbally on Pham.

Excellent graphic novel. Loved the story, characters, and art. I am definitely putting this in my library.

This excellent graphic memoir chronicles some of the challenges of coming to the USA from Vietnam via Thailand as refugees in the early 1980's and centers around the foods the family shared. Highly recommend. Readers learn of the struggles to get to America and the reception once in America of Thien and family - thinking back Vietnamese food was barely available in much of America and now many Americans know Pho. Food united us and makes us understand one another better.

This book does a wonderful job of having appeal for a large amount of age ranges. It was well drawn and well written and I highly recommend it.

Something is in the water because this is like the fourth graphic novel to make me cry this week. I don't know what to say except this is a really powerful memoir about Thien Pham's family and their immigration from Vietnam, following him up into adulthood. A lot of BIG TOPICS are handled efficiently in a way that feels natural and realistic. Watching Thien grow up, and how his family's experience in America changed over time was interesting to see. And the cameo from Gene Luen Yang was a fun surprise. I will say, the cover is very colorful and the interior illustrations is a lot more muted and done in shades of brown. I liked it for what it was, but I was wanting more of a bright, full-color illustration based on the cover.

Thank you #NetGalley for access to this moving Graphic Memoir ARC. Pham did a wonderful job depicting the impact that food, smells and sensory inputs can have on our memories. The heartbreak and struggle of immigrating to America and then the struggle once in America is beautifully displayed. While there are serious topics addressed it is intertwined with funny stories that are sometimes so absurd you know that can only come from "real" life experiences.

This was an interesting format for a memoir not just because it's a graphic novel but also because it's told as vignettes or snapshots into Thien Pham's life, focused around a particular type of food. Very accessible and impactful without being overwhelming.

Incredibly powerful story of refugees going through some terrifying things to ultimately get to America to live a better life. I love the community the refugees have with one another, with those who came before helping out the newly arrived. I just love to see people helping one another, it gives me hope that we can do the same today, that we can learn positive lessons from the past of what TO do, rather than always learning what to NOT do.

It takes strength to tell one's story. I respect the author for sharing his story, so we can all learn from it and to respect those who aren't born into ease and comfort, but had to work hard and fight for it.

4, solid this gives me hope, stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and First Second Books for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

Family Style is not a traditional memoir. It does not follow a true narrative arc. Instead, it is a series of vignettes, moments from Pham's life that can be represented by a particular food. The moments themselves are of different sorts. Some are momentous - the first days of a family in a refugee camp or their arrival in the United states. Others are small and common place - going to the bowling alley with friends and a crush. But in all of them a particular food plays an important role not just in the facts of the memory but in their emotional thrust. Food represents fear, comfort, acceptance, shame, desire. And the foods themselves are explored - tastes, textures, cultural importance and influence. The panel design is deliberate, the choice of moment spot on.

Thanks so much NetGalley and First Second Books for access to this beautiful and powerful arc!

5/5 stars!

I absolutely loved this. We follow Thien Pham and his family as they flee the Vietnam war, live in a refugee camp in Thailand, and then moving to the USA and growing up there. I loved how each section was a snapshot tied to food, and the scenes at the start where he kept his eyes closed were so, so powerful. I loved the art style, it was very clear and really easy to read on my phone. This was fantastic!

This is a graphic novel where Thien chronicles important moments throughout his life. Each moment is a chapter and attached to a food that is an important part of the memory. It starts in Thien's childhood, when he is fleeing from violence, and ends in the US when he's an adult.

I thought the art was really well done, especially with what he did at the beginning to represent closed eyes. Super clever. I'm not sure how much this will appeal to teens. Although it's listed as YA, most of the novel follows Thien as either a child or adult. The last chapter also felt a bit forced in in my opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley & First Second Books for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

A wonderfully heartfelt story of an Vietnamese immigrant family moving to America. I like how messy and disjointed the story and the characters were and how often we time travelled--it felt very realistic. Light humor here and there too.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher of First Second Books, and the author Thien Pham for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I don't think having food as chapters or scenes to transition from one time to another was necessary. There could be deeper connections to be made and different ways to make transitions. I appreciated Pham's art style as I found it cute. I also appreciated the amount of details of everyday life spent in the refugee camps. The aspect of refugee camps tends to be seen as transitionary and often less spoken about as opposed to assimilating to America. I wish more works spent more time in the refugee process.

This story made me so hungry. But, of course, it's more than that. I'm going to be talking about Thien Pham and his search for the American Drea for a long time.

This was an absolutely beautiful story of what the "American Dream" truly means. Thien Pham also sheds light on a very sensitive subject in an innocent and digestible (ha) way for the younger generations to really understand what this historical event was like as it was happening.

The story follows the Pham family as they survive a perilous journey at seas to enter a refugee camp in Thailand only to struggle to survive. When their name is finally called to make the next journey to California, things don't seem to be getting any easier. With each chapter, Thien Pham takes us on the journey of his childhood through his experiences with food. Each food signifies a new turn in his life, from his family's arrival in the USA to his parents struggling to find work to the indulgence of his first potato chip.

This graphic novel would be an excellent teaching opportunity about the struggles the refugees from Vietnam went through during the tumultuous time in history. Also about what it takes to become a US citizen! Loved everything about this graphic novel, the storytelling and the artwork were just wonderful.

This graphic memoir is moving, insightful, and wonderfully told through vivid illustrations and text. I enjoyed seeing the role that food played in Pham's memories, from traditional Vietnamese foods to fresh picked strawberries to pizza and Salisbury steak. Although his family struggles through poverty, pirate attacks, and the trials of starting over in a new country, they stay strong together and keep pushing to achieve their dreams. They find a place with the immigrant community, forging friendships that last over the years. Pham also shows the racism that he's confronted with, and how the xenophobic rhetoric surrounding the 2016 presidential election is what spurs him to become a US citizen. Throughout the novel there's an underlying optimism and hope, and that really stuck with me. I also liked the comics at the end that explain a bit of the process, research, and interviews that went into making this graphic novel. Highly recommend!

Family Style is a story about identity, growing up in the United States, and family. I was able to attend an event where we heard from Pham about the inspiration and also the stories behind the graphic novel, which only gave me a deeper appreciation of this graphic novel memoir. In Family Style I loved the use of panels and art. The careful usage of dialogue. This memoir is moving and striking.

I have added this book to my TrueStory Bookshop and recommend it in four categories:
True Stories ~ Foodies
True Stories ~ Asian and AAPI Stories
True Stories ~ Experiences & Contributions of Immigrants
Graphic Nonfiction ~ Biographies & Memoirs

https://bookshop.org/shop/KarlinGray

This was great! It reminded me of another book I read, Stealing Buddha’s Dinner, and I really enjoyed both. “Coming here was hard, but starting over was harder and scarier” is such a great line to describe the immigrant experience.

Told in vignettes, Family Style is a memoir told through the evocative details of Vietnamese and American dishes that ties back to the author's life. The book starts with Thien and his family taking refuge at an overseas camp (although there wasn't a reason behind it and might insinuate the Vietnam War). Later on, we find the family moving to San Jose, California and experience the American Dream the hard way, a reality that's not uncommon across immigrants. I did find these points across Pham's life quite powerful, in which his art has done a wonderful life painting both his life and his parents' struggles moving to America. I only bumped a star down because it took me a while to distinguish the characters in two different eras upon the latter half of the book. Family Style is a wonderful graphic memoir that bridges food and memory, sharing a universal experience on finding community for many immigrants.