Reconciling with the Past: The Best We Could Do

The first time I read Thi Bui's The Best We Could Do (2017), I was caught up not only by the evocative and tragic aspects of her illustrated memoir but also the commonality among seemingly disparate groups. At the time, I worked in a community consisting of a large group of Haitians and Vietnamese, two groups I had not considered as sharing much in common other than their immigrant status. However, through this memoir, I learned that both groups historically share a language because both had been colonized by the French. For some reason, the knowledge that my French-speaking Haitian students could theoretically hold a conversation with my French-speaking Vietnamese students' grandparents intrigued me. The idea that language served as both a barrier (for my Vietnamese-American students who couldn't communicate with their grandparents) and an opening because of a shared language uniting two generations from different cultures really struck me.

Similar to Celeste Ng's Everything I Never Told You (2014), The Best We Could Do is an emotional read, one that provides insight into how our parents' traumas can continue to be damaging across generations if not confronted. Bui's memoir is her attempt to exorcise her parents' past as she became a parent, herself. Weaving together past and present, Bui takes readers on a journey not only about her parents but also of Vietnam. It is a beautifully, sepia-toned illustrated memoir filled with war, suffering, and hope, along with the inevitable culture clashes that arise from having to reestablish and redefine one's place in a new environment and culture.

A universal and timeless story about identity, family, and history, The Best We Could Do is an essential read.