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Em by Kim Thúy (2020): A Review

Title : Em Author : Kim Thúy Translator : Sheila Fischman Publication Year : 2020 published; 2021 translated Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pages : 160 Source : audiobook @storytel.tr Genre : literary fiction, historical fiction, trauma fiction, war fiction Awards : Scotiabank Giller Prize Nominee (2021), Dublin Literary Award Nominee for Shortlist (2023) Em by Kim Thúy is the story of lost lives, lands, chances, and even plants, all marked and disfigured by the atrocities of the Vietnam War. The novel moves through the lives of those on the front lines — mostly victims and a few perpetrators — without ever whitewashing what was done or what was endured. Although the story moves among many different characters, they are all woven together through family ties, adoption, and destiny. It also traces those who leave their more comfortable lives behind to cross the world in the hope of making a difference. Every fragment is rooted in historical fact; each chapter feels like a distilled moment, a ...
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Today in Bookish and Literary History, July 15

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2014 World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters | United States | 320 | 🏆🏆 2025 An Inside Job by Daniel Silva | US | 416 | 2025 If You Love It, Let It Kill You by Hannah Pittard | US | 304 | 🏆 2025 The Greatest Possible Good by Ben Brooks | UK | 336 | 2025 A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna | United Kingdom | 336 | 🏆 2025 My Train Leaves at Three by Natalie Guerrero | United States | 288 | 🏆 💡 Did you know? ⭕ Ben H. Winters' World of Trouble concludes his Edgar Award-winning apocalyptic trilogy with a police detective who continues to solve mysteries even as a massive asteroid looms days away from ending humanity, proving that our search for truth remains a fundamental human drive regardless of impending doom. ⭕ Hannah Pittard wrote If You Love It, Let It Kill You as a daring, razor-sharp piece of autofiction that plays with the boundaries of creative writing and ownership of personal history, incorporating hilarious, surreal interactions with a talking cat ...
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Today in Bookish and Literary History, July 14

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1946 Common Sense Book of Baby & Child Care by Dr. Benjamin Spock | US | 527 | 2015 Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee | US | 278 | 🏆🏆 2020 The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones | US | 320 | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 2020 Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell | UK | 576 | 🏆 2020 Crooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo Ford | US | 304 | 🏆🏆 2020 Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby | US | 304 | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 2020 The Order by Daniel Silva | US | 464 | 2020 Too Much and Never Enough by Mary L. Trump | US | 240 | 🏆 2026 People Watching in the Desert by Cali Adeline | US | 400 | 2026 The Sea Hides Its Dead by Megan Bontrager | US | 368 | 2026 Famous Men by Julie Buntin | US | 400 | 2026 I Want You to Be Happy by Jem Calder | UK/US | 272 | 2026 The Forest Becomes Her by Julie Carrick Dalton | US | 336 | 2026 The Great Game by Arvind Ethan David | US | 320 | 2026 Make Nice by Ryan Effgen | US | 336 | 2026 Lady X by Molly Fader | US | 352 | 2026 Hustle, Baby by Priya Guns | US | 304 | 2026 Th...
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Today in Bookish and Literary History, July 13

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2021 A Touch of Jen by Beth Morgan | US | 320 | 2021 Magma by Thora Hjörleifsdóttir | Iceland | 208 | 2021 Appleseed by Matt Bell | US | 465 | 🏆🏆 2026 Handsome by Ezra Palmer | US | 240 | 💡 Did you know? ⭕ Matt Bell conducted years of extensive historical research into early American agriculture and Johnny Appleseed legends to build the foundation for Appleseed , transforming a standard ecological warning into a mythic sci-fi epic ⭕ Beth Morgan’s bizarrely brilliant contemporary fiction debut A Touch of Jen skewers modern internet obsession, tracking a couple whose mutual fixation on an Instagram influencer spirals into a surreal, multi-dimensional nightmare that completely subverts traditional relationship dramas. ⭕ Thora Hjörleifsdóttir’s international success Magma uses short, incendiary vignettes to offer a visceral, hyper-focused, and poetic exploration of a young woman navigating the toxic undercurrents of emotional manipulation in Iceland, proving that shorter, independent v...
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Today in Bookish and Literary History, July 12

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2018 Watching You by Lisa Jewell | UK | 320 | 2022 Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman | UK | 327 | 🏆 2022 Harry Sylvester Bird by Chinelo Okparanta | US | 312 | 🏆 2022 Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield | UK | 240 | 🏆🏆🏆 2022 Crying in the Bathroom by Erika L. Sánchez | US | 256 | 🏆 💡 Did you know? ⭕ Julia Armfield’s masterfully eerie debut novel Our Wives Under the Sea draws on elements of deep-sea lore and gothic isolation to subvert traditional stories of grief, tracking a marine researcher who returns from a disastrous submarine mission profoundly altered. ⭕ Ned Beauman’s brilliantly dark, award-winning satirical sci-fi Venomous Lumpsucker centers its plot around a corporate battle over the extinction of a deceptively intelligent fish. ⭕ In the realm of prose and personal history, Erika L. Sánchez transitions from her bestselling young adult fiction to deliver Crying in the Bathroom , a deeply candid essay collection written with raw, unfiltered humor about growing up...
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