Souvankham Thammavongsa
Little, Brown & Co
20 September 2025
208
eBook - EPUB
Contemporary Fiction
ARC via Edelweiss
Ning is a retired boxer, but to the customers who visit her nail salon, she is just another worker named Susan. On this summer's day, much like any other, the Susans buff and clip and polish and tweeze. They listen and smile and nod. But beneath this superficial veneer, Ning is a woman of rigorous intellect and profound complexity. A woman enthralled by the intricacy and rhythms of her work, but also haunted by memories of paths not taken and opportunities lost. A woman navigating the complex power dynamics among her fellow Susans, whose greatest fears and desires lie just behind the gossip they exchange.
As the day's work grinds on, the friction between Ning's two identities—as anonymous manicurist and brilliant observer of her own circumstances—will gather electric and crackling force, and at last demand a reckoning with the way the world of privilege looks at a woman like Ning.
Told over a single day with razor-sharp precision and wit, Pick a Color confirms Souvankham Thammavongsa's place as literature's premier chronicler of the immigrant experience, in its myriad, complex, and slyly subversive forms.
Pick a Colour is a book I only initially picked up due to my Around the World reading challenge. However, I ended up enjoying it. This was a short (two nights) but impactful read that crammed a lot of thought into its smaller page count. I thought the representation of Ning and the other 'Susan's was nuanced and fascinating. At times I really felt for them, at other times I was less sympathetic when they talked badly about customers behind their backs, but then you'd see the customers treat them unfairly and could understand why they wanted that little moment of revenge. One thing that stood out for me, though, was the worry that one day a customer would overhear and understand them. My hobby is learning foreign languages, so I have had situations in the past where someone has been talking about me, thinking I wouldn't understand, when, in fact, I did. Hopefully the Susan's don't get caught out like that one day! Part of me wished the book could have been a little longer, to get to know the characters better over a longer time frame. However, as it is, the book offered an interesting snapshot of a single day in the life of these women that raised plenty of food for thought. I am giving it four stars.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment