4/5 stars.

Content warnings: racism, references to war.

A Pho Love Story is a Romeo&Juliet-esque story about Bao and Linh, whose respective parents have competing restaurants with a rivalry that is deeper and more complicated than it seems. It was a super enjoyable read that involved a sweet romance between our two protagonists, festering anxiety and guilt about not wanting to disappoint your immigrant parents who've given up so much for you, and so much amazing description of Vietnamese food that had me longing for pho.

I enjoyed reading from both Linh and Bao's POVs equally, the dual POVs really giving depth to the characters and to their families who are more similar than they would like to think. I loved learning about Vietnamese culture from both of them, and hearing the stories about their families growing up and having to flee to America. It was also interesting to see the different family dynamics, as Linh's parents didn't want her to become a starving artist, while Bao's were concerned about his supposed lack of direction. It was heartwarming seeing how the two of them helped eachother open up to their aspirations in life, and it was a beautiful love story that felt well-paced and real.

Overall, I really adored this book and the ending evening made me tear up a little over how wonderful it was.

3.5 Stars
This book focuses on Bao and Linh, whose parents have rival restuarants and both immigrated to America from Vietnam. I've never read a book with Vietnamese American main characters so I really enjoyed reading this and learning more about the Viatnemese community and Vietnam. I also liked seeing Bao and Linh's friendship and relationship progress, although I did feel that it dragged a bit in the middle.
I liked that the book included parts in Vietnamese, as the characters are from Vietnam and most of the time I could guess what was happening but there was some parts where I wasn't entirely sure what was being said.

I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book from the publisher. This does not effect my opinion in any way.

A Phở Love Story was one of my most anticipated release of 2021 and oh boy I wasn’t disappointed. This book is a retelling of Romeo & Juliet where the two protagonists’ families are at odds because they each own pho restaurants. You basically start the story by thinking they don’t like each other because they’re competing against each other but the more you read the story the more you discover that their hatred is fed by something deeper.

I wrote a long ass thread in french on my twitter account to explain how much I love this book and somehow I feel like this review won’t give this book any justice but hey, who said I was a serious blogger? Anyway. There are so many things to say about A Phở Love Story, especially for me since I am a Vietnamese reader and my situation is oddly similar to Bao and Linh’s. They both are children of parents who immigrated from Vietnam and their parents own restaurant. If you don’t know me, I would almost tell you to read this book because it’s basically my life (minus the romance because my heart is as hard as a rock). More seriously though, I want to start by saying that this book is a love letter to the Vietnamese community and especially to all the Vietnamese folks who had to leave Vietnam because of the war’s aftermath and also a letter to their children born in another country. While reading this book, you quickly notice how Loan Le had those targets in mind and you also feel it. It is a strange feeling to describe especially if you’re not Vietnamese — or Asian in general — and this is why I hope non-Asian will be really open to the Vietnamese diaspora experience while reading this book.

Growing up as a Vietnamese reader liking middle grade and young adult books, I barely had any representation of myself. I’m deeply grateful for all the books written by Asian but non-Vietnamese writers because in some way, I could feel myself seen but always not totally. Loan Le wrote the book who truly spoke to my heart. She described with kindness and love the relationship between a parent and a children from totally different world. We always think that parents and children never understand each other but you have to take it to another level when it comes to immigrant families. Coming from an immigrant family is full of challenges, between cultural differences to misunderstandings to miscommunication. The author shows perfectly all of that and with such understanding that I was moved to the tears.

What I liked the most was how even though Bao and Linh came from the same background, their relationship with their parents was different, showing that there is no such thing as one unique experience when being a kid from a immigrant family. And I believe it is so important to show that especially when it is still widely believed that “all Asian are the same” and live the same life. Bao’s relationship with his parents and especially with his mom was kind of refreshing for me. Though he is still subject by other peers from the community to be excellent and get a “great” job (aka doctor, lawyer, engineer, etc…) it is not something his parents actively seek for him. Even though Bao says and thinks his parents gave up on him having one of those “great” jobs, I believe it was more them trying to push him towards something he actually wanted to do. Though it is my own interpretation and I may never know (I mean, his mom never told him to do what he wants straight away because you know, Asian mom), I believe them not putting a lot of expectations on Bao’s shoulders was a great move from the author even though the result was him having an existential crisis about what he was supposed to do with his life. And this part of the story was so realistic because when you’re an Asian kid and you don’t want to do what all your Asian peers are doing, what do you have left?

On the other hand, Linh’s situation may be more ‘common’ — meaning that it is what mainstream medias tend to show to non-Asian people and that is why people will think that is how Asian families work. Though this is why I appreciated how Loan Le went deeper into it and show the ‘whys’ — why Linh’s parents are so stubborn with her career choice, why they don’t want her to become an artist, why they have such a bad opinion on art in general. By doing it that, the author deconstruct the cliché and false presumption people may have on Asian parents and I will forever be thankful for that. Because if you were not raised like Linh was raised, you will probably think that her parents are just stubbornly strict with her.

Loan Le shows that it is so much more than just having stubborn parents — it is about how her parents risk their life when they crossed the sea and when they immigrated to the United-States. It is about financial stability, something any parents would want for their children but push to another whole level for Asian parents. And I believe A Phở Love Story is not about you agreeing with Linh’s parents or taking Linh’s side but more about understanding why they’re acting like that. At the end of the day, I believe letting your children do what they want is always the best choice but it doesn’t mean disregarding why your parents are acting like that, you know? And I feel like this was what Loan Le was going for while writing Linh’s parents.

As I said before, A Phở Love Story is a love letter to the Vietnamese community. It is a love letter but also a bridge the author build — a bridge between two generations: the one who fled the country they loved and the one who was raised in another continent. It is a letter full of hope for that first generation who had to rebuilt themselves in a country that may not want them and where they didn’t know how to communicate. It is a love story for them but also for their children who have to navigate between what they want for themselves and what their families want for them. Navigating between expectations is never easy, especially when you know what your parents had to go through to be where they are. Loan Le wrote a story full of love, tolerance and understanding — a story that will forever stay with me.

Unfortunately I found this book too difficult to read. It was nice that it included Vietnamese culture and language, but the issue was that where it included Vietnamese language, it didn't tell you what it meant, so it felt a bit like watching a Corey language film without the subtitles on, so you were only getting half the story. From what I gathered of this story it's a modern day Romeo and Juliet, though with a better ending, and aimed at the YA audience. Sadly I wouldn't recommend just because there was no explanations where foreign words and sentences were used, which alienates the reader

This is a fine, generic Young Adult story about a Vietnamese restaurant and family secrets. I’ve read worst books in the genre.