I couldn’t resist the pitch for Bich Minh Nguyen’s Pioneer Girl: A Novel, the story of an interesting connection between a Vietnamese immigrant family and Rose Wilder Lane. Fans of Little House on the Prairie, owners of the boxed set (either pale blue like mine or pale yellow if you are a bit younger than I) will be charmed by parts of this book.
I was. I loved the specific details that were recalled from the stories, and remember them like I read them yesterday, not 30 years ago. But it wasn’t quite enough. In fact, the memoir The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie gave me those same feelings, but in a more cohesive unit. This “novel” felt derivative of that.
I put novel in quotes because it really reads like a memoir, from the long ambling passages about life in the Chinese buffet business, to her scholarly research, I kept wondering “How much of this is real?” But because it wasn’t firmly in either camp, I think the work suffered as a whole.
Fans of memoir — as I am — might like it. Fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder and/or Rose Wilder Lane will enjoy sharing the pages with a fellow fan. The story about Lee, a Vietnamese doctoral candidate, struggling between family roots and living her own life, is interesting as well. The secondary characters like her mother, brother, and grandfather, are well drawn.
I am hovering between 2 and 3 stars. For me, it was ultimately somewhat unsatisfying and I felt it straddled the genres of fiction and memoir without enough clarification. Even though it is written and sold as fiction, it feels very much like a project memoir, and I felt that discoveries made within the novel should have been clarified at the end. Most historical fiction that I’ve read that deals with real people will clarify what is based on fact or folklore and what is pure speculation.
Win it!
Are you a fan of immigrant literature or Little House on the Prairie? Or perhaps a fan of Bich Minh Nguyen’s other works? Enter to win by telling me which part of this story interests you more.
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What interests me the most is reading about the immigrant experience.
That is a difficult question. I’m a history girl so I really love both the Little House and immigration aspects of this.
I’m more interested in the Little House connection. I’ve never read Bich Minh Nguyen, but I am curious about what connection there could be between an immigrant and Little House.
I’m really interested in the immigrant aspect of the story.
The tie in with Little House makes it really great!
I like the sounds of both but especially the Immigrant theme.
I find the story of an immigrant connecting so strongly to an iconic American story like little house on the prairie both charming &fascinating
Honestly, I love both immigrant literature and Little House on the Prairie, so this sounds like a great book!
I was initially attracted by the Little House connection, but find the immigrant theme intriguing because of my own family history.
Little house for sure,,we like the series
I am more drawn to the Little House tie-in. I loved that show.
I am a fan of the Little House books and their tie ins.
I entered the giveaway for the Very Hungry Caterpillar.
I am interested in the Little House tie-in.
I like both themes. I grew up reading little house on the prairie books and I find books about struggles the immigrants went thru very interesting.
The Little House tie-in. I adore those books!
i’m interested in both actually!