The Manicurist's Daughter
A Memoir
-
-
3.9 • 17 Ratings
-
-
- $12.99
Publisher Description
An emotionally raw memoir about the crumbling of the American Dream and a daughter of refugees who searches for answers after her mother dies during plastic surgery.
Susan Lieu has long been searching for answers. About her family’s past and about her own future. Refugees from the Vietnam War, Susan’s family escaped to California in the 1980s after five failed attempts. Upon arrival, Susan’s mother was their savvy, charismatic North Star, setting up two successful nail salons and orchestrating every success—until Susan was eleven. That year, her mother died from a botched tummy tuck. After the funeral, no one was ever allowed to talk about her or what had happened.
For the next twenty years, Susan navigated a series of cascading questions alone—why did the most perfect person in her life want to change her body? Why would no one tell her about her mother’s life in Vietnam? And how did this surgeon, who preyed on Vietnamese immigrants, go on operating after her mother’s death? Sifting through depositions, tracking down the surgeon’s family, and enlisting the help of spirit channelers, Susan uncovers the painful truth of her mother, herself, and the impossible ideal of beauty.
The Manicurist’s Daughter is much more than a memoir about grief, trauma, and body image. It is a story of fierce determination, strength in shared culture, and finding your place in the world.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Susan Lieu was filled with questions after losing her mother at age 11—and in this intimate memoir, she finally gets answers. The child of Vietnamese refugees, Lieu spent her California childhood amid the hustle and bustle of her larger-than-life mother Phuong Ha’s two nail salons. But when Phuong Ha died on a plastic surgeon’s table, the Lieus shut down emotionally, refusing to even speak about the woman who’d been the center of their universe. Lieu deconstructs those crucial years, recalling everything from warm family meals to arguing with her mom on the day she died. She also brings us along on the emotional roller coaster as she opens doors that were locked to her in her childhood, like getting to know her mother’s family in Vietnam, exploring the malpractice case against the doctor, and learning about the pressures that led such a confident, frugal woman into a cosmetic surgeon’s office in the first place. This haunting memoir reveals that secrets can lurk in even the most seemingly ordinary families.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Playwright Lieu delivers a stirring debut memoir focused on the fallout from her mother's untimely death in 1996. Dividing the account into six sections, each corresponding to different meanings of the Vietnamese word ma ("Mother," "Ghost," "Tomb," "But," "Newborn Rice Seedling," and "Horse"), Lieu traces her anguish across decades and continents. The youngest of four children, and the only one born in the U.S., Lieu grew up helping her Vietnamese mother, Hà Thi (or "Jennifer" to her American clients) operate several nail salons in Northern California. When Hà Thi died suddenly after receiving an abdominoplasty from a surgeon with a history of malpractice, 11-year-old Lieu was set adrift. She took multiple trips to Vietnam as a young adult, attempting to understand her mother within the contexts of both the country's history and her own family. She also consulted mediums and old family recipes in attempts to conjure her late mother's spirit. After settling back in the U.S., Lieu wrote and performed an autobiographical play that fostered dialogue about Hà Thi among her mostly tight-lipped relatives, and helped ease tensions between Lieu and her often-harsh father. Lieu's candor about her mother's faults (body-shaming chief among them) and righteous anger at the surgeon who killed her set this apart from similar fare. It's a generous portrait of grief that will touch those who've struggled with loss.
Customer Reviews
Beautiful memoir
Beautiful memoir