Banyan Moon

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Thai, Thao	4-week checkout	On Hold Shelf
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Thai, Thao	4-week checkout	In transit
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Thai, Thao	4-week checkout	Due 04-14-2024
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Thai, Thao	4-week checkout	Due 05-16-2024
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Thai, Thao	4-week checkout	Due 05-18-2024

"A sweeping, evocative debut novel following three generations of Vietnamese American women, revealing the family's inherited burdens, buried secrets, and unlikely love stories." -- Dust jacket.
"Three Vietnamese American women mourning the death of the family matriarch recount their lives and childhoods at a crumbling, gothic manor called Banyan House, where the secrets of her grandmother's past come to light"-- Provided by publisher.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Solid debut submitted by redwood on June 16, 2023, 2:12pm Set in a muggy Florida beach town, this debut novel is told from the perspectives of three generations of Vietnamese American women: grandmother Minh, mother Huang, and daughter Ann. (I will say, one of the hardest things for me to get used to in this book was that someone was named Ann Tran, a name that while not unrealistic, kept making me laugh). The prologue, which showcases the deep but sometimes fraught relationship between these three women as they witness a red tide in Ann’s childhood, is a gorgeous piece of writing.

Above all, this is a love letter to single mothers. For various reasons, which are revealed over the course of novel, all three have become single mothers (Ann realizes she’s pregnant early in the novel). The narration switches consistently between the three viewpoints, Ann always in the present, Huong sometimes in the present and sometimes in the past, and Minh, who passes away at the beginning of the novel, always in flashbacks. Minh leaves Ann and Huong her decaying mansion, the Banyan House, and they move back in and (re)discover family secrets.

I was impressed with how well Thai could handle so many different timelines, but the time jumps were signposted and the POVs very organized. I wouldn’t say these were all-time favorite characters, and I found the novel’s ending to be a bit melodramatic. Still, this is a very solid novel that I enjoyed reading.

3 Women at Banyan House on the Florida Coast submitted by ekjensen on July 18, 2023, 9:53am Three generations of adult Vietnamese-American women, Minh, the grandmother, Huong, the mother, and Ann, the daughter live in Florida and reflect on the joys and trials/tribulations with each other, motherhood, and the men in their lives. A very satisfying read, in particular, ending to the book (no spoiler alert here).