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“A stunning, raw, brave memoir that wouldn’t let me go.”
―V (formerly Eve Ensler), author of Reckoning and The Vagina Monologues
"With tenacity, wit, and fierce love, Susan Lieu reconstructs the mother she lost – from memory, through detective work, by spirit conjuring…defying all obstacles and naysayers. A high octane roller coaster to healing."
―Thi Bui, author of The Best We Could Do, an American Book Award winner, a National Book Critics Circle finalist, and an Eisner Award finalist
"The quintessential story of an immigrant's kid―filled to the brim with heartache and hope."
―Gene Luen Yang, author of American Born Chinese, a National Book Award finalist and Printz Award winner
“Devastating yet healing, painful yet humorous, epic yet intimate, The Manicurist’s Daughter made my eyes weep yet my heart sing. Susan Lieu astonishes me with her ability to transform pain, fear and anger into healing, freedom and hope. This book is the pathway to peace, an admirable achievement from one of America’s leading diasporic Vietnamese performance artists.”
―Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, international bestselling author of The Mountains Sing, a Dayton Literary Peace Prize finalist, and Dust Child
“Lieu is a dynamo, spouting humor, profanity and wisdom in the same breath.”
—The LA Times (Books for Lunar New Year)
“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.….a stirring debut.”
—Publishers Weekly
“An intimate Asian American memoir about family, memory, and grief.”
—Kirkus
"Lieu’s resulting memoir is a stunning feat of investigation, introspection, wit and candor; it braids together family history, grief, body image, food, class, race, and resilience for insight that must not be missed."
-ELLE
“[A] well-paced, panoramic memoir… her family story does not represent an irretrievable demise of the American Dream, but its radical, open-ended evolution.”
―NPR.org
“[Lieu] penned a beautifully written, poignant, and, at times funny, book about grief, body image and self-awareness — arriving at a place of healing and acceptance of herself and her family.”
―The Seattle Times
