A01=Thi Bui
Age Group_Ages 12+
Age Group_Ages 12+
asia
asian american history
asian americans
Author_Thi Bui
autobiography
automatic-update
biographical
biography
Category1=Fiction
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=BGA
Category=DNBA
Category=FXZ
Category=JBFH
Category=JFFN
Category=XQA
comics
coming of age
COP=United States
current affairs
death
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
destiny
emigration
engaging
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_fiction
eq_graphic-novels-manga
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
family
fate
graphic novels
growing up
hardship
heartache
heartbreaking
historical
human struggles
identity
illustrated
immigration
Language_English
life struggles
lively
loss
love
memoir
multicultural
PA=Available
poignant
Price_€10 to €20
PS=Active
realistic
refugees
retrospective
revolution
revolutionaries
social issues
social justice
social studies
softlaunch
touching
vietnam
war
warfare
Product details
- ISBN 9781419718786
- Weight: 700g
- Dimensions: 166 x 227mm
- Publication Date: 17 Apr 2018
- Publisher: Abrams
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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National bestseller
2017 National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) Finalist
ABA Indies Introduce Winter / Spring 2017 Selection
Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Spring 2017 Selection
ALA 2018 Notable Books Selection
An intimate and poignant graphic novel portraying one family’s journey from war-torn Vietnam, from debut author Thi Bui.
This beautifully illustrated and emotional story is an evocative memoir about the search for a better future and a longing for the past. Exploring the anguish of immigration and the lasting effects that displacement has on a child and her family, Bui documents the story of her family’s daring escape after the fall of South Vietnam in the 1970s, and the difficulties they faced building new lives for themselves.
At the heart of Bui’s story is a universal struggle: While adjusting to life as a first-time mother, she ultimately discovers what it means to be a parent—the endless sacrifices, the unnoticed gestures, and the depths of unspoken love. Despite how impossible it seems to take on the simultaneous roles of both parent and child, Bui pushes through. With haunting, poetic writing and breathtaking art, she examines the strength of family, the importance of identity, and the meaning of home.
In what Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen calls “a book to break your heart and heal it,” The Best We Could Do brings to life Thi Bui’s journey of understanding, and provides inspiration to all of those who search for a better future while longing for a simpler past.
Thi Bui was born in Vietnam three months before the end of the Vietnam War, and came to the United States in 1978 as part of the "boat people" wave of refugees from Southeast Asia. Her debut graphic memoir, The Best We Could Do (Abrams ComicArts, 2017) has been selected as both an Indies Introduce and Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers title, and a Junior Library Guild Selection. She is also the illustrator of A Different Pond, a children’s book by Bao Phi (Capstone, 2017). Thi taught high school in New York City and was a founding teacher of Oakland International High School, the first public high school in California for recent immigrants and English learners. She currently teaches in the MFA in Comics program at the California College of the Arts. She lives in Berkeley with her son, her husband and her mother.
