Somewhat unusual but insightful look at race, class, and gender in America. Thought it was interesting the way the author blended together fiction and history. ( )

I was happy to get the eARC for Bich Minh Nguyen’s Pioneer Girl, because it was described as a novel about a Vietnamese-American grad student researching Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane. The key to the mystery is a golden brooch, that resembles the description of a gift Almanzo gives Laura in These Happy Golden Years. An American journalist called Rose left it in a Saigon cafe in the 60s, and now the granddaughter of that cafe owner wonders if that journalist might really have been Rose Wilder Lane.

The Lien family and the Ingalls-Wilder family share more than just possibly the gold cabin pin. As Lee Lien investigates Rose’s papers, she also starts to uncover more about her family and the topics they don’t discuss. We also see parallels between the Ingalls family’s travels, always in search of a better place, and the Lien family, immigrating from Vietnam and then moving throughout the Midwest.

Read the full review (contains mild spoilers). ( )

I was afraid that my non-existent knowledge/fondness of the Little House on the Prairie books and TV show would render this book unrelateable and boring, but not so. Despite being unfamiliar with Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter Rose, I was still invested in following protagonist Lee Lien's cross-country chase to piece together how she--and a little gold brooch--might be connected to the Little House creators. And the book was more than a literary mystery, balanced with Lee's own personal life, trying to figure out what's next after getting her PhD in literature--because moving back home with her mom and grandpa and helping them with their Vietnamese restaurant was not the plan.

As with her previous books, Bich Minh Nguyen demonstrates her strengths in writing that appeals to the senses (especially when she describes food) and in writing the Vietnamese American perspective as a valid American (and not exotic) experience.

Thanks to Netgalley and Viking for the electronic advanced reading copy. ( )

I am a Wilder junkie and a former lit grad student. For people who are both, this is going to speak to you. It is also a story about American immigrant experience, the Midwest and the whole nature of frontiers. ( )

I thought was ok. I liked the idea better than the execution, which is exactly how I felt about Stealing Buddha's Dinner, Nguyen's other book. Maybe she's not that good a writer.

Lover the cover though and the Lois Lenski retro vibe. ( )