The Manicurist's Daughter is a memoir written by Susan Lieu, a first generation Vietnamese-American woman whose mother and father fled communist Vietnam in the aftermath of the war. After establishing a home base in California, Susan's indefatigable mother Jennifer works to bring over members of her family. They share one home and all work in the very successful family business - a nail salon business with two locations. Life is chaotic and noisy until Jennifer decides to have a plastic surgery operation and very tragically dies at the age of 38 due to medical malpractice. This completely upends Susan's life and launches her on a quest to understand her enigmatic mother and the circumstances around her death.

The Manicurist's Daughter is a deeply emotional and personal story. Lieu struggled to come to terms with the loss and to find any common ground with her own family members. The impact of war and trauma had emotionally scarred her family, leaving them distant and unable to express emotion. This trauma was passed on to the younger generation as well, leaving Susan feeling isolated and alone in her own family. Years of body shaming and absorbing negative cultural beliefs around beauty also impacted the women in the family, and Susan in particular, who had been subjected to familial shame about her appetite and weight. The memoir explains Susan's journey to process all her feelings around her mother's death and her difficult family relationships.

I found this memoir a very challenging read. It was an interesting glimpse into another culture but it was not an easy read.