First published 2021
The workers at the chicken processing plant pluck feathers from carcasses. They trim toenails at nail salons. They pick insects from crop fields and stick labels on assembly lines. These Laotian immigrants arrived with hopes their new country would offer something different. Work is work, though. Even in jobs like these, dignity survives. Thammavongsa follows families navigating the gap between the lives they imagined and the reality they found. Parents struggle with English while their children translate the world for them. Small gestures carry enormous weight when language fails. A mispronounced word becomes a barrier. A shared meal bridges distances. The characters move through their days with quiet determination, finding moments of grace in the most ordinary circumstances. Their stories reveal how people preserve their humanity when the American dream looks nothing like what they expected.
Genres: fiction, short-stories, literary-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, slice-of-life
Setting: Laos, United States
Period: 21st-century
192 pages · Paperback · Little, Brown Paperbacks