Last week was one of those where I found myself finishing a novel on a Friday, and not having a chance to pick up any of the long list of books that I want to read from the library. So I was resigned to pick up a book from my "to-be-read" pile, one that could be finished over the weekend. And that's when I found this one that I got last year and hadn't read yet.
Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai
( Harper, 2011)
The start of a new year is a time for hope, a promise that things will change and the strong desire that they change for the better. For a child in Saigon in 1975, those were difficult wishes to have. Ten year old Há is aware of the war that has split her country and ravished her city, but she is hopeful. She has a papaya tree, she is smart, and though her father has been missing since before she can remember, she is confident that her family's luck will turn for the better. What she discovers is that sometimes luck is disguised as hardship...like the papaya, sometimes luck needs time to ripen.
This coming of age novel, told in verse, tells a different side of a period of American history that continues to haunt this nation. It is one of those timeless novels that will live on for generations, and it's no surprise that it won top awards. It has all the ingredients of a classic. It exposes an ugly side to America's racist culture, but also show the resilience of those who come here for a second chance, and how despite the hardships, it can still be a land of opportunity.
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