Mai Nguyen

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher of Simonschusterca and Atriabooks; the editor Loan Le, and the author Mai Nguyen for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Nguyen does a good job as a debut author and novelist. She manages to tackle 5 pops and characterizes the smallest of characters, even the minor background characters. Nguyen includes community members in an organic execution, such as the interactions between the regular customer, Allegra or Jessica's friends Sasha and Gigi, Van, or Dustin's romance with his co-worker, Makenzie. Understandably, due to the scope of a novel, only so many background characters can be within the novel: but the potential on characterizing more of the neighborhood could have made the world feel more real. Overall, the novel’s message about failure is important as failure doesn’t set out to define the characters. Failure is a natural occurrence and failure is an opportunity for characters to reflect and learn. Yet I wish the characters particularly resisted more against gentrification, as it paints the struggle against gentrification as inevitable, which to me seems defeatist and misleading.… (mere)

audio fiction (~10 hrs, multiple narrators) - after breaking up with her cheating fiance and getting dismissed from her administrative casting job in Los Angeles, 30y.o. Jessica flies home to Toronto and reluctantly starts working at her Vietnamese-Canadian parents' (Debbie and Phil) nail salon, which a flashy new competing chain store seems intent on trying to drive out of business.

I liked spending time with these people, each with their own vulnerabilities and areas of character growth, and each sharing a strong sense of family. It was not hard for me to empathize with each, regardless of my background being markedly different. Narration was also excellent.… (mere)

Sunshine Nails is a light-hearted, urgent fable of gentrification with a cast of memorable and complex characters who showcase the diversity of immigrant experiences and community resilience.

Debbie and Phil Tran have owned Sunshine Nails for years, but the neighborhood is becoming more gentrified by the minute. A fancy new nail salon opens across the street while Sunshine Nails’ rent is nearly doubled. What lengths will Phil and Debbie go to save their nail salon?

I enjoyed Sunshine Nails. It’s a heartwarming story about family and community. It has its serious moments. The microaggressions some members of the Tran family experienced made me angry. But there is humor to keep it from becoming too heavy. The audiobook had multiple narrators, which I thought worked well. Recommended.… (mere)

I enjoyed this story about the Vietnamese family who run a manicure/pedicure shop called Sunshine Nails. The author says her parents operated one in Halifax so I assume many of the details are based on their experiences.

Debbie and Phil Tran left Vietnam because of the Vietnames War and, after spending some time in refugee camps, came to Canada. They opened Sunshine Nails in Toronto twenty years ago. Their children, Jessica and Dustin, are grown up but still living at home. They also have a niece, Thuy, living with them and working at their salon. Actually, Jessica just recently returned to Toronto after living and working in casting for the film industry in California. She found her fiance having sex with another woman in their kitchen and left him and then was so upset she lost her job. Jessica tries to get a new job in Toronto in the same field but has no luck. Meanwhile Dustin works in a tech business called Moodstr that has an app that promises to improve people's lives. He's been with the business the longest and his boss says he is doing well but says they can't afford to give him a raise right now. When a high end nail salon moves in across the street from Sunshine Nails and their landlord doubles the rent of their space, Phil and Debbie worry about the feasability of continuing business. But they don't go down easily. Phil borrows money from a loan shark (and we know how well that will work, don't we?) and then Debbie follows the head of the rival salon to an extra-marital hookup and blackmails her which pays off the loan shark but makes Debbie feel awful. Jessica, who has been working at the salon and loving it, is prepared to marry a Vietnamese man to get him Canadian citizenship because she has been promised a big sum of money. It's desperate times for the Trans but their love for each other gets them through.

This is a heart-warming, but realistic, story of immigrant life. People like me who were born in Canada need to be reminded periodically how hard immigrants work to come to Canada and prosper here. I thank the author for providing that reminder.… (mere)