blackbrokkoli reviewed Sunshine Nails by Mai Nguyen
Review of 'Sunshine Nails' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Interesting, empathic, fun, not mind-blowing.
304 pages
English language
Published March 28, 2023 by Atria Books.
3 stars
(2 reviews)
sawauthor reviewed Sunshine Nails by Mai Nguyen
An Easy, Not-so-easy, Read
3 stars
Sunshine Nails revolves around a Vietnamese family from Toronto, their community, and their nail salon. The Trans, headed by Phil and Debbie, realized their dream of running a successful nail salon twenty years ago. But as their children, Jessica and Dustin, come of age, things change. With the rising rents brought on by gentrification, the family must make tough choices and examine the state of their lives in order to survive and thrive.
I found Sunshine Nails to be a very interesting read. The prose as well as the marketing makes it seem like a beach read, and in terms of vocabulary and literary merits, it is an easy read. But the characters and the themes are quite the opposite. The characters are complex people filled with contradictions and complicated histories. The themes of the way a family changes as its members age, of the knock-on effects of gentrification, and …
Sunshine Nails revolves around a Vietnamese family from Toronto, their community, and their nail salon. The Trans, headed by Phil and Debbie, realized their dream of running a successful nail salon twenty years ago. But as their children, Jessica and Dustin, come of age, things change. With the rising rents brought on by gentrification, the family must make tough choices and examine the state of their lives in order to survive and thrive.
I found Sunshine Nails to be a very interesting read. The prose as well as the marketing makes it seem like a beach read, and in terms of vocabulary and literary merits, it is an easy read. But the characters and the themes are quite the opposite. The characters are complex people filled with contradictions and complicated histories. The themes of the way a family changes as its members age, of the knock-on effects of gentrification, and the ability of people to change at any time of life precipitate in the reader introspection and new realizations.
I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for some light reading that doesn't necessarily let you off the hook in terms of challenging one's view of the world.