Pick a Colour

by Souvankham Thammavongsa

From Giller Prize and O. Henry Award winner Souvankham Thammavongsa comes a revelatory novel about loneliness, love, labour, and class. An intimate and sharply written book following a nail salon owner as she toils away for the privileged clients who don't even know her true name.

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 Colour confirms Souvankham Thammavongsa's place as literature's premier chronicler of the immigrant experience, in its myriad, complex, and slyly subversive forms.

Genres: Fiction, Canada, Audiobook, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Book Club, Short Stories

183 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2025

About the author

Souvankham Thammavongsa is the author of four poetry books, and the short story collection HOW TO PRONOUNCE KNIFE, won the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize and and was New York Times Editors' Choice, out now with McClelland & Stewart (Canada), Little, Brown (U.S.), and Bloomsbury (U.K.). Her stories have won an O. Henry Award and appeared in Harper's Magazine, The Paris Review, The Atlantic, Granta, NOON, Journey Prize Stories 2016, Best American Nonrequired Reading 2018, and O. Henry Prize Stories 2019. She was born in the Lao refugee camp in Nong Khai, Thailand, and was raised and educated in Toronto where she now lives.

Reviews

[emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is the inverse of my new favorite trend (authors writing a great novel and then a sophomore short story collection).

i loved the characters in this book and their dialogue and the insights into the setting of a nail salon...

but there were so many random unexplored details that bogged down what otherwise would have been a short and impactful book.

so much about boxing and a missing finger only for this to somewhat abruptly end!

bottom line: too much / not enough.

(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)

[Mai H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the cover, to the subject matter, to the Southeast Asian rep, I knew this would hit. Even though I'm Vietnamese American and Souvankham is Laotian Canadian, there is something so deeply intrinsic in our shared stories.

This isn't a memoir. And it doesn't have to be. But the familiarity of nail salons, racism, and unhappiness really grated me. And spoke to me. This is a bit of a short read, and yet, it packs a large punch. I keep meaning to read HOW TO PRONOUNCE KNIFE, and now I'll move it up the tbr.

📖 Thank you to Goodreads and Little, Brown and Company

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I most appreciated about this book was how the author pushes back against stereotypes of Asian/Asian American women salon workers as unintelligent and submissive. Souvankham Thammavongsa highlights these women’s agency and wit, pushing back against orientalist images and ideas. This novel also contained some interesting commentary about class and how class and labor affect relationships.

I did find the book a bit meandering and unfocused which is why I give it three stars instead of a higher rating. I suppose I wanted more of a plot, more of an in-depth character arc or two. But maybe that’s not what the book set out to do. A quick read with accessible writing.

[Ian Payton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A poignant and insightful character study, and a gentle exploration of the immigrant experience. Full of warmth, humour, and perceptive observations of human behaviour and identity, while also exploring isolation and otherness.

Ning has several roles: she is boss and mentor in her small nail bar, she is an ex-boxer, she is an immigrant, she is a friend, she is part of a community, and she is alone. These roles overlap and interact as the story is told over the period of a single day in her nail bar.

It is quiet and slow-paced, but powerful and reflective.

There is a theme of segregation and separation. Ning requires that all of the women working in the nail bar wear black, have their hair cut in the same style, and have “Susan” on their name badges. So they become invisible and interchangeable to their customers. And while they speak English to their customers, they talk between themselves in their own language - often in front of, and about, those same customers. They are all seasoned observers of people’s wants and needs, as a variety of people come and go throughout the day. But they stand apart from them.

And Ning separates herself from the women working for her in the nail bar. She is an ex-boxer and it’s unclear why she left boxing, but her ex-coach has left a powerful legacy on how she relates to other people - showing no vulnerability that could be taken advantage of. Even so, the relationships amongst the women are supportive and have moments of tenderness. And while Ning stands alone, she also craves a closeness that she won’t allow herself, and denies that she needs.

Is the whole book a a metaphor for the immigrant experience? With the “Susans”, there is sense of segregation, but with a common bond; with Ning, her prior life as a boxer leaves her with a cultural legacy that has no context in the world she now inhabits.

Or perhaps it’s just a story about a group of women who work in a nail bar.

Thank you #NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the free review copy of #PickaColour without obligation. All opinions are my own.

This review also on TikTok

[BAM who is Beth Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Provably 2.5

I mean, the book was fine, but it never really landed for me. Ning is clearly meant to be a complex character — a former boxer turned nail stylist — but I never quite understood her. The toughness we’re told she once had doesn’t line up with how submissive and uncertain she is with Rachel, and the disconnect made it hard to believe her or root for her.

The story felt more like a sketch than a full portrait: I could see what Thammavongsa was trying to do — a study of identity, power, and transformation — but Ning never came alive as a real person. And the ending seemed designed as a full-circle moment, but since I’d never felt truly connected to Ning, it didn’t land emotionally. Beautifully written in parts, but overall it just fell flat for me.

[Dee (short hiatus) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda weird little novel about a day in a Canadian nail salon as told by the owner,a former boxer…. Made me super glad that I have been doing my own nails since COVID, tbh - definitely don’t miss those places. Anyway, this is a challenge read, not sure that I would recommend it

[Sharon Orlopp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you remember the scene in Jerry Seinfeld where Elaine believes that the Vietnamese women in the nail salon are talking about her?

Pick a Color has many of the same elements. Each manicurist goes by the name Susan, and they all are about the same height and weight. Their hair color and length of hair is the same. They constantly talk about the clients they are tending to while doing their manicures and pedicures.

Tart, irreverent, witty, as well as a sad cultural reflection on many of the clients.

[Phoebe Odell · Rating 2 out of 5]

A far too long short story.

[Kelly (and the Book Boar) · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you’re a woman of a certain age, there is almost zero chance you haven’t experienced Anjelah Johnson’s comedy routine about the nail salon . . .



I was allllll ovvvvver snagging what I thought was the flipside of this bit told from the manicurist’s perspective (and because I’m an idiot, I also couldn’t remember if this was fiction or nonfiction before starting and y’all know your girl don’t read no blurbs to figure it out). Spoiler alert: it was fiction. And I looooooooved the interactions between the employees and also the owner feeling the need to be a bit of a hard ass in order to keep her shop afloat . . . . but then there was all the boxing bullshit and the missing finger and booooooooooooooooooooo! Let me get to know the "Susans" more or give me more insider info of watering down bottles of polish with thinner in order to save some money or how Karen-y the Karen customers can be - not this crappy sidestory that wasn’t even necessary.

2.5 Stars

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was interested in reading this book as my sister-in-law is Vietnamese and her parents had owned a nail salon. So the book has a personal experience that ties into my sister-in-law, her family, and my visits to a salon with her.

This book was about a nail salon told from the point of view of the owner. The book really grabbed me in the beginning. But as the story went on, there were important aspects to her personally that were never revealed. I found it annoyed me, I wanted the backstory but was given only pieces. I don’t like all the ambiguity.

This lack of fully explaining the situation reminds me of a couple other short books I read this year. I’m one who likes more definitiveness. There were other aspects in the book that it wasn’t a total miss for me.

I will say, that hopefully people reading this book don’t feel like it confirms their suspicions about that the nail salon women are talking about you in their language. At least in my experience, that is not what is going on. It did add some humor to this fictional book, however.

I listened to the audiobook version of this book which was very well narrated. My enjoyment of this book was increased because I listened to the audio.


Thanks to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book. However, I listened to a published audiobook copy of the book.

[Henk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shining a light on the often overlooked, this book follows a day in the life of a nail salon owner. Trauma, boxing and some sense of pride coalesce.
Everybody is ugly, I should know, I look at people all day.

Pick a Colour is a quiet novel, about Ning and her nail salon. She misses a finger, had a semi-professional boxing career and sweet spots for the girls with which she works, even though she tries to keep her distance. The fear of violence and the relentless pressure of bad reviews and unreasonable client demands permeate the novel. Also there are lingering thoughts about being childless. Still this is a hopeful book in the end and documents the experience of those that are so often overlooked in literature.

Quotes:
And people don’t forgive you for giving them bad feelings, especially about themselves.

I am a family of one

It’s nice though, not to care, maybe people should try that sometime, might be happier.

I feel my heart beat in my chest like there is a pigeon in there that is pecking from the inside.

You are just afraid of love she says without any judgment or offer to change or fix

We notice what we don’t have.

It’s not me being cruel, it’s the system

Rich is better than beautiful

[Emmeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

I am not the fastest reader but I read this in a day, and rather surprisingly, I read it with that all-in feeling I give to thrillers (but I usually toss thrillers across the room when I’m done, whereas I am lingering over this one, feeling like many small impressions of it will stay with me). It is one of those very slim books that almost take longer to describe than to read.

This is a working class novel of the 21st century, and it concerns a woman who runs a nail salon. Various other women work there with her. They are all of the same ethnicity and speak a common language that is not English. All wear black, they all keep their hair the same, and they all wear the name tag Susan. When customers enter, they invite them to pick a colour (of nail polish) and they get down to work filing and buffering and plucking and painting.

Strikingly, the opening lines are: “Everyone is ugly. I should know. I look at people all day.”

But although this would seem to be setting us up for a fairly predictable postcolonial tale of racism and exploitation, it is more complicated than that.

First of all, there is racism and all the rest of it. A male client comes in regularly and makes a joke about happy endings every single time. Ning, the protagonist, regularly reflects on the way the girls are not seen (though she herself manipulates this to her advantage with the identical Susan thing—“Susan is always available for you). The girls are regularly praised for their English, although some of them were born in the country.

But this isn’t really a novel of microaggressions. It’s first and foremost a character portrait of the kind of woman who often seems invisible in modern urban life—low paid, kept in her shop all day, possibly not entirely fluent in the language of the country—but it isn’t a pity portrait either. Thammavongsa’s approach is to go big, within the small confines she has set herself (small in both space, as the action all takes place over a single day in the nail salon, and in language, which is direct and pared back to novella length).

Ning is in many ways a larger than life character. A former boxer, she still sees many interactions in terms of conflict and attack. She also has a well-developed philosophy regarding how she’ll relate to the girls she hires, many opinions on her clients, and an unapologetic take on being middle aged—"I am about to turn forty-two. It’s a good age to be. I don’t have to become anything anymore."—and single: “I am a family of one. You can be that, you know.”

The girls speak in their language throughout the day, frequently commenting on the failings, physical and moral, of the clients who can’t understand them. Their personalities come to the fore—Mai rants about the happy endings customer—even as Ning gives them haircuts in the back to reinforce their uniformity. The use of a common language upends the obvious power structures in the book, although of course it only upends them socially, not economically.

What I found more intriguing about the novel was its portrayal of work as a source of pleasure and community, a real cornerstone of Ning’s life, and not in a way that we are meant to denigrate or pity. Ning may think everyone is ugly, but she really sees people. Of an attractive woman she says:
She thinks she has something to say because people are looking at her, but after a while their eyes wander to the things behind her or closer to themselves. They aren’t paying attention. They are just looking. She doesn’t know the difference and thinks it’s attention.

And in a way, Ning wants to help people. In one passage, she stands at the window looking out on the feet passing at street level outside and is filled with yearning to help those feet, in all their terrible states, to bring them in and soften and care for them. I think it has been a long time since I’ve seen work in a novel portrayed as something that is actually ennobling. It would have read very differently, probably, in a story about high-status jobs; it would be jargony, toxic and corporate, but here it has its own dignity.

Thammavongsa is a poet, but she writes prose in a minimal and ironic vein rather than in a lyrical. There is comedy here, funny little descriptions like that of a pigeon whose “head bobs and weaves like it is shadowboxing.” There is also implied tragedy; but it is offstage, beyond the confines of the shop, and ultimately unknowable.

I’ve seen comparisons to Mrs Dalloway with this book, and while I would absolutely highlight that this book is not like Mrs Dalloway in style and Mrs Dalloway is not like it—far from buying flowers, Ning tells us upfront she can’t even keep her houseplants alive—it is a psychological study of a woman in a single day that shows us much more than it seems to. Ning is a very different woman. Her days don’t end with parties, but story does make me take brief darting glances at women in shops and salons and think, “there she is.”

[Alan (the Lone Librarian) Teder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mani Pedi Salon Tales 🍁
A review of the Knopf Canada eBook (September 30, 2025).

You look at something long enough and you begin to see everything in its details. And you’d be surprised what people tell you when they think you are a stranger and they are never going to see you again.

It is an unfair comparison but I couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed in Pick a Colour due to having read a somewhat similar book Katja Oskamp's Marzahn, mon amour: Geschichten einer Fußpflegerin (2019) which I read in English translation as Marzahn, mon amour (2022) and reviewed as A Podiatrist's Tales. Both books deal with the workers and customers at a salon.

There was a joy and exuberance in Oskamp that contrasts with the bitterness and secretiveness in Thammavongsa. I would likely have had a more positive impression of the later book if I hadn't read the earlier one. Nothing to be done about that. I had thoroughly enjoyed Thammavongsa's earlier short story collection How to Pronounce Knife: Stories (2020) which even had somewhat of a cross-over story which was also set in a mani-pedi salon. That collection had quite a lot of humour to it which I found mostly lacking in the novella.

It was interesting to learn some background to the book in the Giller Book Club interview (see link below). Thammavongsa even admitted that in order to get her next book of short stories published she had to agree to do a novel, presumably due to the publisher's requirements. Also some of the readers' speculations about how the salon operator lost the tip of her finger (which is never revealed in the book itself) were quite entertaining to hear about. The author would hear all kinds of theories at book events and signings.

Trivia and Link
Pick a Colour was the winner of the 2025 Giller Prize in Canada. You can read the Jury's decision and link to videos of the ceremony at the Giller Prize website here.

Author Souvankham Thammavongsa is interviewed for the Giller Book Club and you can watch the interview at the Book Club's YouTube channel here.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so so excited to read Pick a Colour by Souvankham Thammavongsa because I loved her other book How to Pronounce Knife. I loved the similar themes in this novel. It’s a short book that follows one day in the life of Ning who works at a nail salon. At her salon everyone is named Susan at least according to their name tags. Ning recounts her past as a boxer and discusses her customers and explores her immigrant experience. I really enjoyed the tension in the book as Ning deals with her coworkers, the new girl and the disparity between herself and her clients. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator Zoe Doyle was excellent!

Thank you to the publisher via NetGalley for my ARC!

[Jeanie ~ Fables.and.fur · Rating 4 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed this sometimes funny and sometimes heartbreaking look at a day in the life of a shop owner. If you’ve ever had a pedicure and the workers are speaking in a language you don’t speak and they are laughing, they’re likely laughing at you! Ning works hard and her shop is her whole life. Her “Susan’s” feel like family, but they are not. Both her sense of humor and her loneliness come through in this unique story.

Thank you to @netgalley and @souvankhamthammavongsa for an ARC of this gem! I’m excited to get my hands on an audiobook copy when it’s released.

[Liz Hein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sharp commentary on visibility, or rather, invisibility

[Maddie Sutton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do not read this if you’ve ever been fearful that your nail tech is talking about you

[Elena L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ning is a manicurist of a nail salon who has two identities. In this salon, all workers are named 'Susan' and they have the same appearance and behavior.

Thammavongsa delivers a quiet yet powerful character study - Ning is a brilliant observer which through her eyes we analyze human identity and behavior. By touching on immigrant experience, the story exposes how the society is often in need of approval and affected by loneliness, segregation, otherness and love.

The women (workers) have distinct relationships that demand one to read deeper - the observation on the details, the skin, nail,... makes one, alongside the characters, feel alive besides solely trauma. One will try to find some meaning and at the same time, can contemplate one's own fragility.

This book is mostly vibes and while I appreciate the small joys, the execution feels quite elusive, acquiring a meandering touch that can feel distracting. I recognize the author's attempt to add texture to Ning's contemplation through her identities, however the exploration of the other identity feels under developed. I think the characterization is the highlight of this novel, yet the slice-of-life glimpses kept me at arm's length.

PICK A COLOR is a reflective novel that will benefit those who enjoy reading between the lines.

[ I received an ARC from the publisher - Little Brown . All thoughts are my own]

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Pick a Color” by Souvankham Thammavongsa is an entertaining novel that takes place in one day at a nail salon. It’s a powerful story told through the eyes of the owner who has journeyed from boxing, to abused nail tech employee, to owning her own salon. The insight into how the customers are treated as well as the immigrant point of view is stunning. The inside discussions in a foreign language where the customers cant understand were disturbing but perhaps honest, as we really see how the customers treat their technicians. Honestly, for me this was quite an eye opener and I think it will be the same for anyone who has visited a nail salon. A slice of life from an immigrant perspective. A very good read!

Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Jillian B · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book depicts the day in the life of a nail salon owner, and the way she perceives her interactions with her coworkers and her privileged customers. This story made some important points about race and class, and the main character was complex and well-developed. It was a bit too quiet to be a five-star read for me, but I can see why this one won some big prizes!

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. One of my fave fiction reads for books published in 2025. Highly recommended.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I have already spent as much time reflecting upon this slim novel as I spent reading it, as it is such fertile ground for thought, raising so many interesting issues. It is the first novel from Laotian-Canadian poet and short-story writer Souvankham Thammavongsa and won Canada’s 2025 Giller Prize. It is a sensitive exploration of the experience of immigrant women, filled with compassion, wit, and humor, an insightful character study, with sharp observations of human behavior and identity, while also delving into isolation, loneliness, otherness, and invisibility, what it means to be overlooked while being in plain sight. I loved the expansive observations on race, class, gender, immigration, and survival in a patriarchal capitalistic society the author made through the narrow lens of a setting confined to one room (a nail salon in a city, likely in Canada, maybe Toronto), during the time-period of one hot summer work day, in the perspective of one person, Ning the salon owner. Ning’s first-person stream-of-consciousness narration allows the reader to see the clients through a character who typically ends up in the background.

I loved the way Ning turns the tables on power dynamics by taking advantage of what might be considered her disadvantages. Working-class service-industry women like Ning are often made to be invisible by the privileged clients they serve, but Ning turns this racist invisibility of women who “all look alike” into a business asset, a single reliable Susan (really four women dressed alike with “Susan” on their name tags), with an easy-to-pronounce name, who is always there for the customer whenever she is needed, never on a day off and never already booked. Ning turns her loneliness into a passion for performing her work flawlessly and devotedly, finding her work so satisfying that she would rather do it for a discounted rate or even for free than indulge in moments of pause. She has lost the ring finger on her left hand, and even this lost finger becomes an asset she is proud of because she is able to use that space between her pinky and middle fingers to hold clients' fingers and toes in ways that enable her to better perform her work; she doesn’t hide it, but most clients don’t notice anyway.

Ning is a retired prizefighter, whose coach instilled fighting and self-protective instincts within her, making a defensive attitude in her work and business almost instinctive second nature. Her boxing past has left an indelible impact on how she relates to other people and the world in general—a near constant hyper-vigilance, showing no vulnerability that could be used to another’s advantage and an ability to size people up instantly. Constantly in the background there is the tension, the fear of potential violence—anyone could walk through the door, including a robber or an angry client, or just a client in need of service—and Ning is always ready. There’s also potential harm to the business by negative reviews or competition from the salon where Ning used to work. Notwithstanding Ning’s self-protective streak, she has caring, supportive relationships with her employees/coworkers and moments of tenderness and compassion for her clients when warranted, and she even let an employee who hasn’t been coming in for work take advantage of her with a generous salary advance to help her care for her children.

I have read few novels like this, a working class novel of the 21st century that focuses on the dignity of and satisfaction possible from service work, succeeding in spite of the negative realities of capitalist exploitation. The facts that Ning owns her own business and values her employees and treats them well contribute to this success. (The only other novel I think I have read that tries to show the dignity in service work is Ocean Vuong’s Emperor of Gladness, featuring employees of a fast food restaurant and a young man caring for an elderly woman with dementia, though that novel is otherwise very different from Pick A Colour.)

When you’re good at your job, doesn’t matter what it is, you just feel good about your corner of the world. I get to have a place to come to every day. (Page 93)


I look down at my hands. How dry and wrinkled they look. I don’t have nice nails. But I don’t do anything to change that. I’m always on the other side, doing the work to make others look good.

But that’s where I want to be. (Page 147)


I don’t want to do anything else. The thought of being somewhere else, doing something else, without this place, these girls to pass the time with, and I feel like I don’t even exist. (Page 149

I read this for the 21st Century Literature May 2026 group read.

[Brit · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Pick a Colour" is a peculiar, sharply observed, and at times deeply unsettling glimpse into the inner world of Ning - a retired boxer hiding behind the carefully constructed façade of “Susan,” one of many indistinguishable workers at a nail salon. While customers see only a quiet manicurist who buffs, polishes, and smiles politely, Ning’s mind is a far more intricate landscape: full of sharp intellect, unusual logic, and the lingering ache of unfulfilled potential.

The premise itself is striking. All the workers are expected to look alike and call themselves “Susan,” an odd and unsettling choice that instantly hints at the erasure of individuality expected in low-wage service work. Ning, with her disciplined boxer’s mind, seems both complicit in and critical of this system. She observes everything with a sort of detached precision - the strange requests of customers, the gossip and power dynamics between the “Susans,” the tiny rituals that keep the salon running. And yet, beneath her cool exterior, there is a woman haunted by memories of the ring, by the coach who shaped her, and by the abrupt end to the career that once defined her.

The story takes place over a single summer day, but the narrative feels much bigger than its timeframe. Through Ning’s fragmented thoughts, flashes of the past bleed into the present. Her final fight - the one that ended her boxing career - still thrums beneath her skin like a wound that hasn’t healed. Though the novel never fully explains what happened, the emotional impact is clear: Ning is stuck somewhere between who she was, who she pretends to be, and who she might have become. She pushes herself relentlessly, punishes herself for reasons left half-unsaid, and yet yearns almost desperately for human connection. Her loneliness hums quietly beneath every interaction.

Reading "Pick a Colour" can feel disorienting, even frustrating at times. The pacing is slow, the structure fragmented, and Ning’s inner monologue swings between lucid observation and almost dreamlike abstraction. It’s not always clear what she wants or where she’s going - and perhaps that is the point. Ning is a character suspended in limbo, and the novel asks the reader to sit in that limbo with her, even when it’s uncomfortable or confusing.

I found myself fascinated by Ning’s perspective, even if I couldn’t always make sense of it. Her worldview is strange, rigid, and undeniably singular. But the narrative itself often felt messy, unresolved, and emotionally distant. There are moments of poignancy, small glimpses of vulnerability, but also long stretches where the story seemed to drift without direction.

In the end, "Pick a Colour" left me conflicted. I appreciated its originality and its sharp observations about identity, invisibility, and the immigrant experience. Yet the execution left me detached, unsure how to feel about Ning or the world she inhabits. It’s a quiet oddball of a book - intriguing, uncomfortable, and ultimately more memorable for its strangeness than for its emotional payoff.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) for the reading experience!

[Tatiana Zhandarmova · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a miserable, miserable book with an equally miserable, miserable main character. I am shocked at how much I disliked this book and, in all honesty, I DNFed it with about 15 pages left. I am sorry, but I could NOT do it. I'm breaking my rule of not reviewing partially finished books because, well, I don't think those last 15 pages would have changed my view much.

I was really excited to read a book set in a nail salon. It's a unique setting that brings about an interesting perspective. The book started off with an interesting commentary of the immigrant experience and the power dynamics working in the "pink collar" industry. But after that, it became extremely repetitive and just... dare I say, miserable????????? The main character is a former boxer and is missing one finger that we never learn the reason behind. She was very calculating and manipulative with her clients and employees. To show how orchestrated these interactions were, the author contrasted the main character's time in the ring with her time in the salon. And, in my opinion, it just didn't work.

Pick a Colour should have been a short story. Maybe. It's only 188 pages as is, but even that is too long. There was no real substance. Just hating the people around you and keeping nail polish bottles filled to the very top. I'm all for unlikable characters, but with due reason. The main character was not fleshed out at all and, like, she was fucking EVIL. I felt guilty just being in her head space. How can you think of people like that??? At least give a good reason for it. Maybe then I'd find it entertaining and meaningful instead of just miserable. Bah.

[Sorrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed how this book was contained in one setting (the nail shop) with limited little calls to memories and experience outside of the shop. The interior world of the main character is interesting and complex, yet I love how simplistic and clear the prose is.
I felt immersed in the world of the nail shop, their interactions in another language, the sameness that is expected of The Susan’s and how these prototype visuals feed into the expectations that people might have of immigrants working in the service industry..
This book was highly observed and very compelling.. I wanted to read more depth other characters and especially the relationship with the other salon, I felt that could’ve been developed more. It. Says a lot that I was sad to get to the end of this book, I would’ve loved a few more chapters.

N.B this book was kindly provided as an advanced copy from Netgalley

[ari · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love when an author is able to take a simple thing and give it depth. This book follows a single day in the life of a nail salon owner. It was funny, sad, warm, and lonely all at the same time. I love the concept of 'the Susan's' and how all the different customers are described. I like the snippets of Ning's life that we get exposed to: her boxing career, her previous jobs, etc. I also loved the writing style, as it made the book super bingeable.

Thank you to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for the ARC.

[Lisa Pepdjonovic · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m a bit confused. Why’d she leave boxing? Why is she so afraid of Munch? What happened to her finger? Why doesn’t she work for rachel anymore? Why did rachel come in, finally? What do the anecdotes and different people in the story mean? An enjoyable read tho

[Sheila Garry · Rating 2 out of 5]

A day in a nail salon. Told from the manicurists point of view. She didn’t have much to say and I didn’t learn anything I hadn’t already guessed.

[jocelyn • coolgalreading · Rating 4 out of 5]

maybe even a 4.5. i could've read way more of this 😭

[Kristina Writes Wrongs · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel is well-written and funny with a kind of biting humor at how people in the service industry are looked down upon and treated as a faceless mass. When I get my nails done, I often wonder how the woman shaving the callouses off my heels feels about her job. I’ve never gone to a salon like the one depicted (Asian owned and operated) but after reading this book I’ve wanted to ask the woman painting my nails (lately it’s been a very stylish twenty-something named Justice who loves her cats) how she feels about handling other people’s feet and hands. Or maybe I don’t want to know.

Looking at the two of us, them sitting on a chair above me, and me down low, you’d think I am not in charge. But I am. I know everything about them, whether or not they tell me. You look at something long enough and you begin to see everything in its details. And you’d be surprised what people tell you when they think you are a stranger and they are never going to see you again. (4)

Pick a Color by Souvankham Thammavongsa is a slim fascinating novel. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started it. Ning is a retired boxer but now she manages a nail salon. She doesn’t want her employees to know anything about her and keeps quiet about her personal life. Ning is a very intelligent, very observant woman and the novel is told entirely from her POV. The person she used to be and the person she is now, her regrets and her ambitions, are all bubbling beneath her serene, business-like surface.

I don’t have a lot of commentary on this book except pick it up and read it. It’s clever and makes you think, “Oh my god—did I ever behave like that?” Ning is Asian and so are all her employees—they are all Susans:

I live in a world of Susans. I got name tags for everyone who works at this nail salon, and on every one is printed the name Susan. So many girls come and go. I don’t want to bother getting new name tags each time. Besides, you know, it’s never difficult to pronounce a name like Susan. None of our clients notice. They come in and we are ready and set to work. That’s all that matters to them. We all have black shoulder-length hair and wear black T-shirts and black pants. We are, more or less, the same height too. And, anyway, the clients will never be wrong when they ask for Susan. Dear Susan is always available and at your service! Susan never takes a day off and Susan is never fully booked if it’s you who called for her. Susan, our dear, sweet, Susan, always makes time for you. (5)

Pick a Color presents the other side of “they all look the same.” It’s funny yet it’s a dark humor based on recognizing the racism of that perception. Ning bases her business model on it. It’s amusing when Ning and her staff are faced with a wedding party of girls wearing the same outfits and with similar names: “When I go out to the front room, I panic because I have trouble with this group instantly. I can’t tell any of them apart. I am good at my job and this usually comes easy to me, but damn, each one has the same outfit on...Lizzy, Lizzie, Lily, Lou. Lizzy is the bride, not Lizzie. To make things more difficult for us, Lily and Lou are actually identical twins” (69, 74).

This is one of those quiet novels that get better with more readings. I finished this book a few months ago and I’m stopping to dip into it here and there and finding it more meaningful and complex with a second read. I highly recommend it!