Butterfly Yellow

by Thanhhà Lại

In the final days of the Việt Nam War, Hằng takes her little brother, Linh, to the airport, determined to find a way to safety in America. In a split second, Linh is ripped from her arms—and Hằng is left behind in the war-torn country.

Six years later, Hằng has made the brutal journey from Việt Nam and is now in Texas as a refugee. She doesn’t know how she will find the little brother who was taken from her until she meets LeeRoy, a city boy with big rodeo dreams, who decides to help her.

Hằng is overjoyed when she reunites with Linh. But when she realizes he doesn’t remember her, their family, or Việt Nam, her heart is crushed. Though the distance between them feels greater than ever, Hằng has come so far that she will do anything to bridge the gap.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction, Historical, Audiobook, Realistic Fiction, War

320 pages, ebook

First published September 3, 2019

About the author

Please contact my website with messages www.thanhhalai.com

Thanhhà Lại was born in Vietnam. At the end of the war, she fled with her family to Alabama. There, she learned English from fourth graders and then spent the next decade correcting her grammar. Starting her writing life as a journalist, she worked at The Orange County Register. She switched to fiction, leading to an MFA from New York University and short story publications in various journals and anthologies. Then came Inside Out & Back Again, a National Book Award and Newbery Honor-winning verse novel based in part on her childhood as a refugee in Alabama. Next was Listen, Slowly, another middle grade novel featuring a young Vietnamese-American girl. Butterfly Yellow is her first YA novel. Her debut picture book is Hundred Years of Happiness, illustrated by Phung Nguyen Quang and Huynh Kim Lien.

Her latest book is When Clouds Touch Us, the long-awaited sequel to Inside Out & Back Again. When Clouds Touch Us is out May 9th, 2023.

Thanhhà lives with her husband, daughter and a little white dog just north of New York City.

To stay updated about Thanhhà's writing, visit www.thanhhalai.com and follow her on social media:

Twitter: twitter.com/ThanhhaLai

Instagram: instagram.com/thanhha_lai

Reviews

[aly ☆彡 (on vacation) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Butterfly Yellow is a heartbreaking tale of perseverance, love, and survival — set in the 1981s, in the final days of the Vietnam War where Hằng is on her quest in finding her missing brother who was taken to America at the age of five as part of Operation Babylift. Along the way, she encounters LeeRoy, an aspiring cowboy who grudgingly drives her to the Texas town where her brother has been residing.

Frankly speaking, I pretty much expected this book to bore me, but it was such a surprise when you just come to enjoy a book more than you expected to. Butterfly Yellow has a powerful emotional impact that you might not anticipate at first, but it makes me tear up all the same.

I personally love our main duo in this book. Hằng and LeeRoy might seem like an unlikely pair, with one of them with his cowboy fascination while the other is dead set on a mission Vietnamese refugee — but their dynamic works with the sweet bond that's filled with many comical moments. I have to say having LeeRoy in the picture makes the book more vibrant and what made it delightful .

The prescience of the Vietnamese language is also another remarkable thing to uncover in this book — the Vietnamese's monosyllabic nature and Hằng's fascination to learn English make this a unique experience equipped with sentence trees. Although Hằng can steadily understand English, she soon discovered that she still requires her Vietnamese magnification to reconfigure her new surroundings and begins using phonetic Vietnamese sounds to form her English phrases-words. If you have much love for linguistics (and as a linguistic minor myself) - this book is abiding with the big picture it brings forth.

Foremost, I particularly value the short-named chapters, making these leaped-off pages read with their beautiful prose and steady pacing. Butterfly Yellow is a lovely, lyrical tale of the people you hold dear and the fortitude it takes to build a life. Simply hopeful and captivating!

[Erin Entrada Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Wow. Wow. I love H and LeeRoy so much. What a wonderful story about an unlikely pair. The writing is incredible, especially how the Vietnamese-to-English words are written. After I finished this book I had to take a minute to think about it.

**

OK. So it's the next day and I'm still thinking about how much I love this book. I'm perplexed by reviewers who were put off by H's English dialogue. Yes, it's difficult to understand at first glance (and even second) ... but that's the whole point. It's ingenious how Lai was able to depict spoken ESL with a Vietnamese "accent." But she still kept the reader in the loop by having LeeRoy repeat and/or respond in such a way that allowed us to understand her. It is SUCH an incredible and clever craft decision on Lai's part. And who among us hasn't encountered an ESL speaker and struggled to understand them, particularly if their native language is based on a completely different sound structure than English? Lai depicts this so well in the novel. She forces us to listen, and we FEEL H's anguish as she struggles to put together the correct words, sentences, and thoughts, in a complicated language that native English speakers really take for granted. I was completely astonished at how beautifully Lai allowed us into H's world. I love that H was guarded at first with her story, and the writing reflected that, but as we gained H's trust, the writing opened up and H became more vulnerable.

The language in this novel is deceptively simple, because it's not simple at all. Lai writes with such subtlety and grace. I adored this book!

[Dani ❤️ Perspective of a Writer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Check out more reviews @ Perspective of a Writer...


The Buzz

I have wanted to branch out and read some of the more lesser written about Asian cultures. But I had to wait for them to appear in the book community! I was really super excited to hear about Butterfly Yellow and it's Vietnamese immigrant story!

And I just loved the title and the cover!! It's not straightforward but with the way Butterfly Yellow reads I think its perfect. It's all about language and expressing oneself when you are most desperate for your loved one to understand you. It's quite symbolic and is a treasure for anyone's shelf!


The Premise

As Butterfly Yellow is a historical novel set 6 years after the Việt Nam War, I wasn't sure what to expect. I worried that the writing would be heavy and the pace slow, trying to hearken to a time that is no longer. I couldn't have been more off base... Because the first thing I want to rave about is the magnificent writing!!

-The pace is super swift in the beginning. We get a sense of Hằng's mission, meet LeeRoy and find Linh by 32%!! Yes, its setup was strong and heartfelt too.

-The multiple POVs made the story pop. I'm not sure Hằng or LeeRoy made for very sympathetic characters at first. I really appreciated that! This could have gotten really sickeningly sweet, but instead we come to love these two as we got to know them and they got to know each other. And that's smart writing!! Plus the few extra limited POVs added a touch of depth to their part of Butterfly Yellow.

-The use of language makes Butterfly Yellow special. At first it was just really neat Vietnamese language references. Then we get into some serious language exploration. Rap and poetry comes to play. As well as a little heard of occupation. This is a stellar reason to read!

There is also the lovely relationship that develops between Hằng and LeeRoy due to her brother. Hằng lost her brother through her own naivete about Americans. After a harrowing trip as a refugee, she finally joins her uncle in Texas. Her goal isn't to settle into a new life... it's to find her little brother, Linh. LeeRoy becomes instrumental in her being able to reconnect with the boy.

-I also loved the vintage feel to Butterfly Yellow being set in the not so distant past. This was heightened due to the Texas cowboy and ranch culture that twined through the story too.

-Hằng (her family) and LeeRoy's obsession with Clint Eastwood’s The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly was super cute. Look for those references!

-We do get Hằng's immigration story too. It makes me heart sick for others who make this harrowing journey! I can totally imagine how desperate and overwhelmingly hopeful you've got to be to take those risks.


My Experience

As you can see I love all the different threads that Thanhha Lai wove through Butterfly Yellow!! I am so, so, so glad that her story was my first Vietnamese experience. It would make an excellent first experience for anyone who wants to learn a little about what Vietnamese people or immigrants to America go through. Also anyone learning a language will find this a fascinating experience.

While there is a lot to love in Butterfly Yellow I believe if the story wasn't centered on our focused Hằng and certain LeeRoy it wouldn't have been such a powerful read for me. What sets it apart from other immigrant reads is that for Hằng a better life wasn't complete without the last member of her family. And his happiness played into each one of her decisions. LeeRoy being at her side while he worked to fix his truck taught him what was important! Oh what a beautiful thing it was...

Butterfly Yellow is more than an immigrant story. It's more than a historical novel set 6 years after the Việt Nam War. It's more than a story about friendship and family. It's a story about culture, language and love too! You should read this if you love compelling character driven stories...


⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Authenticity
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Writing Style
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Plot & Pacing
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ World Building
A+ Cover & Title grade

Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review. It has not influenced my opinions.

______________________
You can find this review and many others on my book blog @ Perspective of a Writer. Read my special perspective under the typewriter on my reviews...

Please like this review if you enjoyed it! *bow* *bow* It helps me out a ton!!

[Jennifer Blankfein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review with AUTHOR Q & A on https://booknationbyjen.com/2019/12/0...

When Hằng was twelve, her five year old brother, Linh, was taken away as part of Operation Baby Lift and sent to the United States at the end of the Vietnam War. She and her grandmother spent the next six years worried about his safety, wondering about his life and planning for their reunion. After spending time in a refugee camp, Hằng made the difficult journey to Texas, alone, to find her beloved sibling. Grueling travel, the language barrier, and cultural differences all challenged Hằng, yet she remained determined.

“Her brother is the only person left from her youth. Grandmother gone, Father gone, Mother gone. Hằng never would have crossed the sea on a rotting fishing boat if he weren’t waiting for her. It has taken too many years, but finally, since landing here yesterday, the two of them are enveloped in the same landscape and the same heat.”

Along the way to Amarillo, she meets LeeRoy, a young man her age who has left home to pursue his dream to become a cowboy. He is following around his favorite country singer, when he gets roped into helping Hằng find her brother. Although their languages are drastically different, LeeRoy can understand her way of speaking and is patient and kind. They come to enjoy each other’s company and an awkward friendship develops.

Butterfly Yellow by Thanhha Lai is....read more on https://booknationbyjen.com/2019/12/0...

[Margie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

The beautiful cover of this book and descriptions of a Vietnamese girl's journey to find her brother enticed me to buy it.  However, the cover art belied a harrowing tale of the brutality and horrors the Vietnamese boat people experienced trying to escape their war-torn land. 
 
I have mixed feelings about this book because it has all the elements of a good coming of age story, including a Texas road trip adventure of two young people who set out together in the summer of 1981 with different goals in mind. 
 
Hằng, a young Vietnamese woman of eighteen wants to find her younger brother who was torn from her arms six years previously by an "Operation Babylift" volunteer.  Operation Babylift rescued orphans in the closing moments of the Vietnam war and settled them with families in America.  Hằng, then twelve, believed she and her five-year-old brother, Linh, would go to America together, but she was pushed away and separated from her brother at the last minute because she was too old.  All she has now is an address in Amarillo, Texas from a business card the volunteer shoved into her hand.

LeeRoy, the other half of the road trip duo, is an eighteen year old who longs to be a cowboy and is on his way to Amarillo to meet his idol, bareback champion, Bruce Ford.  LeeRoy drives an expensive Ford truck given to him as a high school graduation present and is decked out in a cowboy outfit, including a white felt hat and a shirt with silver buttons.
 
Circumstances throw the two young people together on a journey that is filled with humorous scenes as the two try to understand each other.  Hằng speaks English, but her accent is initially difficult for LeeRoy to understand although he soon becomes an expert.  For me, it was more difficult to understand Hằng because her English words are written as they would be in Vietnamese, including accents.  While I got the gist of what she was saying, it was a frustrating exercise and diminished my enjoyment of the book.

This book is a slow burn as Hằng flashes back on the journey that brought her to America.  Initially, she shoves all her horrific memories to the far corners of her mind as she and LeeRoy begin their adventure, but as the book goes on, she starts purging them one by one.  Like layers of an onion, she peels them back and confronts each horror until she is able to begin anew, and thus we have the beautiful cover art of a girl who has metamorphized.

I had a hard time dealing with some of the descriptions of the brutalities that the Vietnamese boat people endured, including rape and murder by pirates.  The descriptions are only short flashbacks, but enough to make me recoil, especially the white worm episode.  Simply put, when I picked up this book with such a beautiful cover, I wasn't prepared for descriptions of these atrocities and horrific experiences. 
 
Butterfly Yellow, although historical fiction, couldn't be more timely in giving us a heightened sense of empathy for what refugees endure every day.  That, combined with an offbeat road trip story would normally rate at least 4 stars.  However, I am only giving this book 3.5 stars because of language I had difficulty understanding and because I feel the cover art and descriptions did not accurately portray the content of the book. 

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a librarian this is a book I want to rip the stickers off and just hand to people who want something 'good' to read. It will sit on the shelf in the teen area - I'll make sure it is face out at my branch - and may not be picked up. I will certainly be thrusting in at people at a respectable 1.5 metre distance, thank you social distancing.

Teen books feature teen characters - they are not just for teens to read. Oh, why am I bothering here ... I'm preaching to the converted! This book is full of heart, humour, warmth, tragedy, hope and many memorable characters.

And, sweet mother, how many books am I going to read this year that require tissues! Not ideal in times of a pandemic that has elicited waves of panic buying.

*looks in listopia for funniest books ever*

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the writing of Butterfly Yellow weak almost to the point of incoherence. It never clicked for me - the sentence structure was jittery and the word choice often incomprehensible, and that threw me out of the story almost as soon as I began. The characters never worked for me, I never understood their motivations or believed their stories, and I had a difficult time with the dialect and so never understood how they could communicate.

A few examples:

A tingle begins in her toes; her cheekbones lift. This, despite a distrust of hope.

Is she - smiling? What are lifted cheekbones?

Living in the Bronx, the cousin always introduces LeeRoy to the latest.

Arghhhh. That’s my least favorite form of dependent clause.

Eating, though, can’t be imagined, not when more time will be spent on this lumbering truck. Not as tormenting as the boat/bus, it still bounces and swerves aplenty.

PICK A WORD. Slashes are for unpublished drafts.

Also, those discourses on grammar (something I’d expect to love!) felt completely different in tone and unrelated to the story. This is an actual paragraph:

Every sentence forces her to contemplate subject-predicate agreement, matching tenses (remembering the tense is determined by the first word in a verb phrase), transitive verbs needing a direct object, or intransitive verbs requiring none, or irregular verbs that can’t add -ed for past tense, then the pronoun must match the noun, then ridiculous articles “a, an, the” (if dismissed the meaning would remain unaltered), dangling modifiers, gerunds that can be subjects or objects, then parts of speech that require dizzying costume changes. After that, she must pronounce the whole scheme and hope her brother can understand.

...Yeah, that didn’t work.

Something I did really like:

He parks underneath a scraggly tree, the only shade near a store. “Be right back.”

Three concise words, without any fat. English at its best.

Mostly, though, the writing threw me out of the story, to the point where I wondered: why does the put-upon LeeRoy stay? Where are the rest of Mr. Morgan’s employees, and what was he planning to do if his neighbor’s not-quite-adopted unforeseen long-lost sister hadn’t shown up, along with a ride somehow persuaded to stay out the summer?

Too much has to be explained after the fact, because the text doesn’t do a good job earlier, to clearly present impact (like the note in that ending), but sometimes the bits which are parceled out slowly are too obvious and repetitive (like the flashbacks, repetitive early, but with so little information that they feel meaningless, and more information is revealed too late).

I wanted to like this; I really liked Listen, Slowly. Alas.

[Brittany McCann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unless you are great with linguistics, even if you are, I HIGHLY recommend the audio version of this book. It adds a powerful element to a novel that features language so much.

This was powerful, and Lai did a phenomenal job bringing these characters to life.

Hằng narrates this tale with her faltering English in an attempt to reunite with her brother, who was separated from her at the end of the Việt Nam War.

Her journey takes her to a ranch with real cowboys, a brother with no memory of her, and a nefarious uncle who fights to get custody of them both.

This was written for older middle-aged grade or lower young adult audiences, yet it is great for any age.

The historical topics of the time period come through, but it has more to do with Hằng trying to assimilate into the American culture primarily through learning the English language.

This resonated with me more than some readers with my familiarity with being on the other side and learning the Chinese language and culture.

Thanhha Lai wrote this poetically, and much culture bleeds through. It is easy to tell that she has first-hand experience with much of the struggles of her MC.

Simply beautiful. 5 Stars.

[Liza Wiemer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Update: I listened to this audiobook nearly two months ago and can't stop thinking about it! Is it on your TBR list? If not, add it ASAP. #wndb!!!!


Butterfly Yellow is a gripping novel that is rich on details, describing the harrowing struggle for survival as Hằng tries to reconnect with her brother Linh. They have been a part for six years, and Hằng's unwavering determination to find Linh will keep readers on the edge of their seats. He's in America and has a new family. Hằng is the sister who sent him away from their home country of Viet Nam. What she endured to find him shows the power of the human spirit in the absolute worst conditions.
There are many things that make this an unforgettable novel. The Texas landscape and Thanhha's description make it bloom before your eyes. You'll feel the the unbreakable ties Hằng has with her family both in Texas and with those left behind in Viet Nam—neither death nor separation can break them. And then there's kind, thoughtful LeeRoy. He becomes the glue in the most unexpected way.

Filled with heart, heartbreak, beauty and hope, this novel explores the horrors of war, hate, family, friendship, and a sweet budding love story that will stay with readers long after the last page.

Highly recommend this audiobook!

[Katie Hanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revelatory.

Butterfly Yellow is one of the most unique historical novels--YA or not--I've read in a long time. It's the story of a young Vietnamese refugee searching for her missing brother in the Texas Panhandle, with the help of a wannabe rodeo star who needs a few life lessons in Hard Work and the Power of Friendship. Thus, the story combines fascinating layers of Southeast Asian culture and a deep exploration of the trauma of the Vietnam War with a non-traditional, but still delightfully recognizable, Western cowboy aesthetic. I loved it.

This book also has the most innovative approach to portraying a language barrier I've ever seen; where the Vietnamese character speaks English "with a Vietnamese pronunciation key," as the narrative puts it, forcing us readers to puzzle out what she is actually trying to say, just as a recent immigrant must puzzle through the dialogue they hear around them. It gives us a taste of what that mental labor is like.

CONTENT WARNING: Brief but intense flashbacks to wartime trauma, including graphic descriptions of human bodies being infected by worms/parasites. The flashback scenes are all in italics, which makes it easier to skim or skip them if necessary.

[Richie Partington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richie’s Picks: BUTTERFLY YELLOW by Thanhhà Lai, HarperCollins, September 2019, 304p., ISBN: 978-0-06-222921-2

“Up to 70 dead after boat capsizes trying to reach Europe from Libya”
-- headline from earlier this month

“I will remember you
Will you remember me?”
--Sarah McLachlan (1995)

“In the final days of the war in April 1975, Hằng thought she was so clever, devising a way to flee while her family strategized and worried. Every day newspapers printed stories about Americans panicking to save hundreds of orphans. There was even an official name, Operation Babylift. She assumed she and her brother would go first, then somehow her family would join them in America. But in line at the airport she was rejected, a twelve-year-old passing as eight. Linh was five, three to foreign eyes, just young enough to be accepted as an orphan. Hằng saw little Linh thrashing as he was carried into a Pan Am.
By the time her brother was ripped from her, nobody cared to hear why she lied. With so many scrambling to flee before the victorious Communists marched in, one more screaming child was just that. An American volunteer with puffy, sweaty hands must have felt sorry for her. He pressed a card into her palm as he pushed her away from the ladder. Sun rays radiated through each strand of his mango-colored hair. She had to stop an impulse to extinguish the fiery puff of gold threads on his head. He was the last to board. Hằng screamed until the Pan Am blended into the sky and left a long loose-curl cloud. For hours, until dusk enveloped her and mosquitoes chased her home, she focused skyward and pleaded for forgiveness. When she opened her palm, the card had disintegrated except for one clue: 405 Mesquite Street, Amarillo, Texas.
Returning home that day, she faced her grandmother with a confession sinking down her tongue. Upon hearing the three words, ‘Em mất rồi,’ he is gone, Bà immediately puckered her lips as if biting a lemon and was helpless against the red rimming around her eyes. After a long lumpy exhale, she concluded her grandson had been kidnapped.
Only Hằng, her mother, and Bà remained in the house after the war. They were told her father had been killed shortly before the winning north rolled their tanks into the southern capital. Her mother sank into bed and stayed. But Bà, vowing they would not become a house of weeping women, wrote down the beginning of hundreds of steps needed to reclaim her grandson. First, they must save money. Next, they must write to her uncle in Dallas, telling him to go to the address.
Hằng never corrected Bà’s assumption. During the day, as Bà clicked her nails and plotted, Hằng could pretend innocence. After all, Bà didn’t ask, how did they get to the airport? Were there other children? Who thought he was an orphan? Why didn’t Hằng scratch, bite, and scream to keep her brother beside her? It was so easy to stay quiet as Bà provided herself with answers.
But while crickets sang and Bà snored beside her, the lie streaked through Hằng’s blood and deposited ashy guilt inside every crevice. The gray guilt had grown heavy, refusing to pause its relentless infusion into her joints and marrow. After all, it was her fault her brother was taken.”

Six years later, in the summer of 1981, Hằng makes it halfway around the world to Texas. By now, her mother and grandmother Bà are dead. There is just the uncle in Texas, who was unable to locate Linh at the address on that business card. He expects eighteen-year-old Hằng to behave like an obedient child. But with all those years of guilt weighing on her, nothing is going to stop this young woman from completing the reunion of siblings for which she is so desperate.

Ignoring her uncle, Hằng boards a Greyhound for Amarillo. But she gets carsick and then fails to get back on board in time before the bus departs after a rest stop break.

Out there in the middle of nowhere, fate brings Hằng together with LeeRoy, a high school graduate and city boy from Austin whose desire is to become a cowboy rather than follow the college path his educated parents have advocated. He’s just left home in search of his dream.

This odd pair of eighteen-year-olds ends up traveling together in search of Hằng’s brother. BUTTERFLY YELLOW is the sweet and incredibly comedic story of what happens after they catch up with Linh.

After a while, you can imagine something happening between these eighteen-year-olds who come to rely upon one another on many levels. But, in terms of boyfriend-and-girlfriend matters, both Hằng and LeeRoy are totally clueless. Their innocence coupled with their bantering and LeeRoy’s adolescent thought processes make this such a fun read. I would be comfortable sharing this one with the younger end of the YA crowd.

The story takes place long ago, but the plight of wartime refugees is still in today’s news. Through Hằng’s story, readers get some intense views at what it’s like to try to escape war at any cost, and how precious it is--back then and, still, today--to find a home in America.

Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com

[Skip · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hằng's takes her 5-year old brother, Linh, to be airlifted out of Saigon in 1975 (Operation Babylift), with Hằng left behind in Vietnam. She has felt guilty ever since, and gathers enough money to come to the U.S. after six years. Along her arduous route, she is eventually helped by a wannabe cowboy, LeeRoy. They go to a small town in Texas, where Linh (now David) is assimilated, and wants nothing to do with her, and Lee Roy is their only bond. However, for me, the book did not work for two reasons: (1) Hằng's English was much too hard to understand, and (2) the backstory of Hằng's trip to the U.S. as a refugee seemed more important than the family issues and main story.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

TW: family separation, death of loved ones, PTSD, and war

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book as much as I hoped to. I felt that not a lot was happening in the story to keep me engaged. It does not have much of a plot and is very character-driven, focusing on Hằng, a Vietnamese immigrant, and this wannabe cowboy, LeeRoy. I did not care about LeeRoy and wished that the author had included Hằng's brother's POV instead. The brother was a character I wanted to read more about and gain insight as to how he was feeling about his sister's sudden appearance. Despite the story revolving around the main character and her brother's reunion, the brother does not have a huge presence in the story and I wish we were able to see more of him and Hằng interacting.

The story was heartbreaking to read at times. There are snippets throughout the book that depicts the horrors that the main character has experienced.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 stars

Assorted thoughts:
-I need to preface this review by saying that this was quite a personal read for me. in the seventies my parents fled Vietnam for pretty similar reasons to the protagonist of this novel. She and my mother are basically the same age, in fact, and they're both from South Vietnam. Yesterday I told my mom I was reading this book and what it was about and how sad it was, and she got this faraway look on her face and said she never read things about this time period because it's hard to write a story about a Vietnamese person in this time period that isn't heartbreakingly sad. I can't ever really know or understand what she and my father went through - it's not a time of their lives they like to say very much about - but I know it's an experience that has deeply impacted them, and I know their experiences have influenced the way they raised me, too. And as someone who reads an enormous number of english-language books, it was kind of an incredible experience to read one that was so seeped in Vietnamese culture and language. So I'm really, really glad I picked this one up.
-okay, now getting into my actual reflections on the book - one of my favorite parts of this book was the integration of Viet language into the narrative. Hanh's struggle with English is all too understandable - and all too relatable, for me seeing how my parents struggle with English even now after two decades of living in America - because of how different the Viet language structure is. Not to mention she's immigrated to a place she could never have possibly imagined, let alone have the language to describe it. I was pretty delighted that I could understand the Vietnamese language that was used - buom vang! sick title reference!!! - but also that Lai used the phonetic structure of Vietnamese to create Hanh's dialogue. So spelling English words the way they would be spelled in Vietnamese. It was a really innovative way of portraying Hanh's struggle with English, how her knowledge of English maps onto her knowledge of Vietnamese, and how her trying to sound out these words might actually look like. Admittedly I have to wonder if it would be easy to understand that device without knowledge of the Viet language but seeing as I don't have that issue lol I enjoyed it a lot, as well as Hanh's slow progression in learning the language throughout the book and how her language gradually evolved as well.
-I didn't grow up in Texas but I did grow up in the south and there's so much that feels authentic in Lai's portrayal of that experience in terms of what it's like to be an Asian in a place where there are very few Asians around you. At the same time it feels like a very compassionate portrayal too, which is needed to balance out the more gruesome parts of the book.
-Speaking of which, oh god are there some hard-hitting parts of this book. The flashbacks to how Hanh actually got to America are hard to read, but I really liked Lai's portrayal of Hanh's trauma. How the memories can come out of seemingly nowhere, triggered by something that seemed innocuous on the surface; how hard it is to talk about what's happened to you; how you've become so used to the trauma and pain that a story that seems happy to you could be incredibly devastating to someone else. and i especially like how Hanh was able to get to a place where she could begin to heal - surrounded by people who care about her and who don't pressure her to talk or do anything she doesn't want to do, to come to them at her own time. it feels very needed.
-Themes of friendship, the complexity of family and identity - all very good and well-explored here, in my opinion. And I like that the story between Hanh and LeeRoy was left a bit open-ended. It feels like she needs more time to heal and recover, and that's okay.
-Just some damned good and hard-hitting writing. Deceptively simple, but all the more powerful for it.

Crits/warnings:
-A lot of triggering content in this book. Hanh is a refugee of the Viet War whose refugee application was expedited due to "extreme trauma". So take from that what you will.
-I have to say LeeRoy's character took a bit to grow on me, but he did by the end. also i'm honestly not, like, the hugest fan of the romantic subplot but i think it was pretty well done for what it was, and that's not really what the story was about anyway.
-I would have liked to see more development in the relationship between her and David, although the implication I guess is they will begin to get to know each other after the end of the story.
-And this is more of a general crit than one of this book but one thing my mom and i discussed last night is that it would be nice to see more stories about vietnamese people not about this time period since most stories about viet people, if they exist at all, tend to be about the viet war. but at the same time i understand the importance of telling stories about our trauma, especially from our perspective, and it's totally unfair to pin all my hopes of representation on one book, and also there are so few stories about and centering on viet people/viet voices to begin with. i hope stories like this pave the way for more stories in the future.

Overall impressions: this one hit me kind of hard, in a personal way. Overall I found this a moving and beautifully written story. Hanh is a wonderfully complex protagonist; I'll be thinking about her for another while yet.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was incredible and it was my first historical fiction in a long time. I didn’t realize how immigrants were treated here in the United States back in the 1970’s until I read this book. I loved the budding romance in the book while T tried to teach H how to speak English and how to read. Parts of the book was definitely comical and it was enjoyable all the way through. I just wish I could’ve felt a little more invested into the storyline. I feel like the romance was lacking towards the end of the novel. However, the character development was amazing and overall it was very enjoyable.

[mads · Rating 1 out of 5]

RTC but before then: I probably should have stopped when the phrase "chubby gooey flesh" was used in one of the first few chapters but alas, I did not.

[Elizabeth☮ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm going to log this as read since I stopped reading about thirty pages from the end.

The story focuses on Hang who has fled Viet Nam following the Viet Nam war. Prior to leaving, she takes her brother Linh to the airport and hands him off to a rescue worker. Her family believes Linh has been kidnapped, so Hang's Ba works to get the family to America to be reunited with Linh.

My interest in the book has to do with the historical aspects of it. I am always interested in learning about different cultures’ assimilation into America. I like the history of Viet Nam prior to the war and the experiences of fleeing the country. This is heartbreaking, but brings the characters alive.

I feel like the story takes a turn when they introduce LeeRoy - a wanna be cowboy that takes Hang under his wing when he is tasked with delivering her to where she believes her brother lives. This portion of the story drags on and doesn't add much to the development of Hang's character.

I read ahead most of the book, but the direction it went it didn't make sense to me any longer. I'm glad I picked it up and I'm glad I learned a new aspect of the perils of making it to America.

[Kelly (Diva Booknerd) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hằng's narrative is heartachingly tender. Her journey unravels to reveal her ordeal, the traumatic circumstances of leaving Việt Nam, losing her family, losing her brother, the traumatisation she endures in silence. Hằng's character is based on a photograph Thanhhà Lai encountered of a young girl at a Buddhist temple she visited, photographs of lives lost. Her journey is distressing and confronting, encouraging readers to examine our privileges. Although Butterfly Yellow is a fictional narrative of the refugee experience, it represents the precarious and volatile conditions in which those seeking asylum are escaping. Encouraging compassion and understanding throughout the western world. A remarkable and thought provoking read that will ignite discussion.

Achingly beautiful.
Visit my blog here for my full review.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently read an ARC of this wonderful upcoming novel about a Vietnamese young woman arriving in the U.S. several years after the Viet Nam War. She is searching for her little brother who was in one of the last rescue airlifts of children. A series of unusual circumstances finds her in the company of a "wanna-be" cowboy headed to meet his rodeo idol. This beautifully written redemption story brought me to tears. In turn, Lai's exquisite writing also had me laughing aloud because she brings these unique characters to life so vividly that I could both see them and hear their voices. This is a YA novel that needs to be in every school library. If I were still teaching YA Literature classes I'd put it on my multi-cultural recommended reading list.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humorous & touching. LeeRoy and Hang become friends--and then more than friends--as LeeRoy helps Hang connect to a long-lost brother. Hang is inspirational in her ability to overcome the inner and outer scars from her hard life in Vietnam and perilous journey to reach America. I look forward to reading more of this author's books.

[Mai Nguyễn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanhhà Lại is one of the rare writers who can infuse humour into painful stories of war, refugees, and missing relatives. She did it so well in her previous two books, Inside Out and Back Again; Listen, Slowly; and now, in Butterfly Yellow. While reading this third novel of hers, I couldn't help but laughed out loud while tears were still running down my cheeks. Hằng and LeeRoy couldn't be more different: one is a girl from Vietnam who barely speaks English and who is searching for her missing brother, one is a boy from Texas who is carefree and on his way to a fun summer. They are both drawn to cowboys, though, and so they meet, and their common adventures begin.

Throughout the book, Thanhhà is generous with witty conversations, humorous observations and vivid descriptions of food, nature, and landscapes. If you are thinking this book is a light read, you are in for a real treat. By turning each page of Butterfly Yellow, you will be peeling away a layer of mystery and shining the light onto Hằng's trauma: the way she dresses, the things that happened to her missing brother, to her parents and grandmother, and how she survived the boat trip across the turbulent ocean. It is via the help of the kind people around her that Hằng will be able to recover. This is so true, as in the cases of many victims of trauma. And Hằng's love for her brother is instrumental for her survival and recovery, too.

What I really enjoy in this book is how Hằng speaks English in the Vietnamese way: adding total marks to English words, so that she can pronounce them like she would Vietnamese language. I bet young readers will enjoy figuring out what Hằng says and afterwards double-checking their guesses against LeeRoy's interpretations.

What a fun and meaningful read. Highly recommended.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must admit that I was attracted to this book initially by the beautiful cover. The fact that yellow is my favorite color and I love butterflies had me feeling like this was the perfect choice for my next read. However, the writing was very stilted and disjointed. The sentences didn't flow well for me at all. This has nothing to do with Hang's attempt at English - I actually found that I was getting better at "translating" it as the book went on. It was more that some of the descriptions - which had the potential to be beautiful - were awkwardly constructed. I also didn't become attached to any other character - except Hang. I wanted more about the relationship she was trying to build with her brother after finding him in Amarillo. The other MC, LeRoy, just didn't feel authentic. I was emotionally invested in Hang's story of her escape from Vietnam and the horrors she endured. I think that's why I connected with her the most - her perseverance and strength were so admirable.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

After six years and two months of careful preparation and unspeakable hardships, Hằng finally arrives in Texas in the summer of 1981.

Hằng knows that her baby brother Linh is waiting for her at 405 Mesquite Street in Amarillo, Texas. She knows that once she finds him she can stop planning, stop preparing. Except when Hằng does find 405 Mesquite Street, Linh isn't the little boy and adoring brother she lost all those years ago. Worse, he may not be the one who needs to be saved anymore.

LeeRoy has one plan for the summer after he graduates high school: he is going to reinvent himself as a cowboy. More importantly, he is going to become a rodeo star. His university professor parents are less than thrilled but they don't understand that LeeRoy has it all figured out. The first, most vital step is meeting Glenn Ford. Once they get to know each other LeeRoy is sure Ford will be only too eager to share tips with his newest protege.

There's only one problem. Actually, if he's being honest, there are a few since LeeRoy doesn't know much about being a cowboy at all. But he can learn all that. The biggest problem is that he's just too darned nice. That's the only explanation for how he gets roped into driving a surly Vietnamese girl all the way to Amarillo to find her brother. LeeRoy tries to argue. After all, he's a man with things to do. But any argument gets shot down as soon as it hits the air.

Hằng and LeeRoy start as strangers. By the end of the summer these most unlikely friends will both realize that there's more to life than plans, than goals. And that sometimes the things--the people--you would never imagine can suddenly become as necessary as breathing in Butterfly Yellow (2019) by Thanhha Lai.

Butterfly Yellow is Lai's debut YA novel. You may already be familiar with her award winning middle grade novels Inside Out & Back Again and Listen, Slowly. The novel alternates between chapters written in close third person following Hằng and LeeRoy's perspectives.

Although they couldn't be more different, Hằng and LeeRoy's stories offer a certain symmetry in Butterfly Yellow. While Hằng has spent six years working towards a reunion with her brother and clings to the past at the cost of all other plans or dreams, LeeRoy imagines a new future where he can become someone else.

Lai uses language--both English and Vietnamese--to great effect throughout the novel creating an utterly unique reading experience complete with sentence trees. While Hằng can understand English when spoken slowly, she quickly realizes she still needs a Vietnamese lens to reframe her new surroundings and begins using phonetic Vietnamese sounds to form her English phrases--words LeeRoy is quick to follow thanks to his ear for language.

LeeRoy, meanwhile, has spent years immersing himself in Texas slang so that even before he could try to walk the walk of a real cowboy he was able to talk to the talk. Although LeeRoy's meandering speech is filled with colloquialisms Hằng can't decipher, the sheer volume of words allows her to understand him when other English speakers prove incomprehensible.

The push and pull between Hằng and LeeRoy drives the story as Hằng tries to get closer to her brother and works toward confronting the traumas she's tried to forget from her journey from Vietnam to Texas and LeeRoy is forced to admit he may not be cowboy material after all.

Both characters struggle with what comes next when they realize that the targets they have been chasing--the benchmarks that would signify success--have changed or may no longer exist at all. Hằng and LeeRoy become unlikely supports for each other as they confront these changes and trade as many moments of comfort as they do barbs in their prickly relationship.

Butterfly Yellow is a gorgeous, evocative story about the people you hold onto at all costs, the choices you make to be your best self even when you aren't sure who that is, and the resilience you need to build a life when it feels so much easier to choose bitterness or failure. Highly recommended.

Possible Pairings: Lovely War by Julie Berry, Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings by Margarita Engle, Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee, Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert, A Step From Heaven by An Na, Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan, This Time Will Be Different by Misa Sugiura, The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was delightful. I suspect some of the grammar nuances and writing quirkiness vanished in the audiobook version because of the first-person telling.

It isn't a perfect book, the plot has some conveniences you are supposed to look around, but the story itself - of two people so dramatically different in the 80s before globalization and the Internet shrunk the world - is poignant and quirky and makes one think about being locked up inside of oneself without an accessible language.

The bigger story, beyond the plot, is what defines a person, a family, a culture? What defines language and how does it define a life?

[Sam Bloom · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars; very good, like her other books, though it took me a while to get through. I’d imagine that, (again) like her other books, this would become a favorite if I gave it a second read.

[Michelle Stimpson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rationed this book. I read little bits at a time because it was so beautiful and I didn't want it to come to an end.

[Lauren Hopkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this for the most part, though found it to be very disjointed, and difficult to read at times because of this, often having to go back and re-read to make sense of what was happening.

Some of that is on purpose due to the language barrier as the main character, Hằng, is from Vietnam and speaks in broken English, which I found appropriate and not disruptive to the story. I actually liked the touch of Hằng using Vietnamese words or syllables to create the English sounds, and while it was sometimes difficult to make out what she was supposed to be saying, for the most part she had her new friend LeeRoy there to translate immediately by repeating what she said, and the rest of the time you could still pick it out contextually...I do understand how this could make the book frustrating for some, but usually when WE the reader couldn't understand, another character in the story couldn't understand it either, which I think was intentional and also highlighted the importance of the connection she made with LeeRoy the moment they met.

Language aside, the storytelling itself felt fragmented, and also just not very clear at times in the flashbacks. Hằng is a young girl who comes to Texas on her own after losing her father during the war and then her mother while they escape Vietnam to look for her younger brother, Linh, who was only five when he was taken from Hằng's arms and brought to the United States to be adopted as an "orphan" of the Vietnam War. Her trip to find him is clearly traumatic, even more traumatic than what she suffered during the war, and we're given her memories in pieces for the most part, until she's able to mentally go back and relive the worst of them. But the description of this is just...too flowery, maybe? There were parts where I was like wait, is this literal or metaphorical, because the author goes back and forth between describing something that actually happened and then using a lot of language that could go either way and for what was going on, it was just TOO MUCH. There's reading between the lines and then there's being fully unable to decipher where the lines even are.

What I loved was the coming-of-age aspect for both Hằng and LeeRoy, the boy she meets by chance while looking for her brother, who at this point was adopted more than five years earlier. I also loved their connection to each other, especially given LeeRoy's reluctance to help her at first, and how their relationship grows throughout the book, leaving us on a kind of cliffhanger, though we have a pretty good idea as to how things will work out for them in the future. I also thought Hằng's inability to connect with her brother – who at 11 is now a full-blown American cowboy with only slight sense memories of his time before being adopted – was done really well, especially with how his refusal to recognize Hằng as his sister showed some deep-seated trauma with having been separated from her and probably subconsciously blaming her for being taken from his family. It's not an easy solve, nor should it be, especially as Linh's adoptive mother Cora fears Hằng will try to steal him away from her and Linh fears potentially losing everything he has ever known. Even at the end, while the relationships between Hằng and both Linh and Cora has improved, it's still not the dream she thought reuniting with Linh would be, and I liked that the author left the continued healing out in the open rather than tying it up neatly with him suddenly remembering things and choosing her over Cora. It was also impactful to see Hằng so easily become connected to LeeRoy, a stranger who was so foreign to her in every way, while struggling to relate to someone she was once closer to than anyone else in the world.

Lots of great things here and definitely four-star worthy for me despite the few drawbacks with how the story was told at times. I think I just would have been more engaged if the connection between Hằng's past and present wasn't so jarring or metaphorical. Her motives could not have been more clear, but it was hard to see her as a three-dimensional person at times because it seemed she was literally ALL motive, and nothing else.

[Mango · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This was a very enimotionally-driven novel and had some powerful themes pertaining to the many losses and suffering the Vietnamese people had to go through during its communist regime under Ho Chi Minh. It's a very heavy books with vivid descriptions of traumatic memories the main character Hang had in her home country and how she's trying to make a better life for her and her brother.

In America, she meets LeeRoy, an aspiring cowboy, who reluctantly agrees to help her in reconnecting with her brother. At first, I didn't like LeeRoy because I was never a fan of the cow-boy aesthetic and that got in the way of me enjoying his character. However, as the novel progressed, his character developed more and I enjoyed him and Hang as a couple.

However, the reason I rated this book 3.5 stars is because of how the author tried to reconnect Hang and her brother, Linh. There were a couple sweet moments, like how Hang used to draw pictures to help Hang remember his favorite tropical fruits back in Vietnam. My favorite one was probably the final moment, when Hang and Linh sung their favorite childhood song, Butterfly Yellow together. But there was no explicit ending that the two of them had reestablished their connection and that Ling actually acknowledged that they were siblings. The overall conclusion to their sibling relationship felt so incomplete and confusing that I had to dock off points.

Another small flaw I noticed was that the author very consistently info-dumped. I felt like often-times she would dump flashbacks about Hang's history without giving context. Half the time, I had to reread what I just read, and the chapter before it to even piece together who was in what scene. These traumatic flashbacks were the center of the plot, of Hang's history, of what made her into this person. Giving the flashbacks more context, or improving the story-telling of them would have significantly elevated the story and brought even more depth to Hang's character than there already is.

Overall, this is a beautiful book. If you need a short book, are a fan of historical fiction, and can handle heavy themes of war, I'd say pick this up. Don't expect perfection, but you will definitely enjoy it.

[Liberty {LittyLibby} · Rating 5 out of 5]

.
🏵BUTTERFLY YELLOW🏵
THANHHÀ LAI

< Bà chose to cultivate a life... tended her garden, stared into love and hate, beauty and ugliness, joy and anguish, healing and pain. To seek one is to accept the other, like chopsticks.. everything has a pair. >

I absolutely love this image, of holding joy and love and grief and pain together in the same hand, inseparable. This book hurt my heart, but also buoyed my heart. It's a story of how a refugee who has experienced extreme trauma can move forward in life, grieve and heal, and carry all of the stories of love and pain with her while not letting it drown her. It's also about lost family, found family, and enduring love. All of these themes I am a sucker for.
I chose this book for one of my book clubs, and I'm eager to hear what my best friend, niece, cousin, and sister-in-law felt about Hăng's story.
Read Butterfly Yellow if you want to learn more about Viêtnamese history, the refugee experience, or the Viêt language. 🏵💛🍈🍌🥭

[Cass Moriarty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Butterfly Yellow (UQP 2020) by Vietnamese / American Thanhha Lai is an extraordinary own voices story of the trauma of a refugee combined with the unlikely friendship between two young people. Inspired by the author’s own experience of being a refugee, this YA novel tells the tale of Hang, a child who – in the last days of the Vietnam War – takes her even younger brother Linh to the airport in a desperate bid to get away to safety. But while Linh is snatched from her arms and put on a plane, Hang is left behind, too old (at 12) to board. The only clue to her brother’s destination is the card thrust into her hand, which reads ‘Amarillo, Texas’.
When she returns home, her family are determined to locate Linh and reunite the family. It takes Hang six years to find her way to America as a refugee, a difficult and troubled journey during which she suffers terrible trauma. When she finally reaches the USA, she stumbles upon a wannabe cowboy, LeeRoy, who is travelling from the city to attend his dream rodeo. Thrown together by chance, LeeRoy grudgingly assists Hang to get to Amarillo, but when they arrive, she discovers not the small brother she remembers, but an 11-year-old boy, now renamed David, who doesn’t remember her or his family, and who seems quite happy and content with his new life in a new country.
This is a literary novel that quite beautifully expresses the experience of grief and loss through lyrical prose that hides sharp barbs of pain and trauma. Hang’s experiences are subtly hinted at throughout the beginning of the novel, then more closely drawn out towards the end, when we realise the extent to which she has suffered and lost in her quest to rescue her brother. The enormity of her disappointment when she realises that what she has found is quite different to what she set out to look for, is confronting and saddening. So too is the realisation that life doesn’t always work out to plan, even if you have made great sacrifices and overcome huge obstacles to reach your destination.
LeeRoy is a wonderful character in the novel – sharp, witty, funny and warm. He and Hang are polar opposites in almost every way, without even a language in common, and yet they are drawn together. The language in fact was the only aspect of this novel that I found difficult to engage with, and that may obviously be more to do with me as a white reader than the author. But Hang speaks in very heavily accented English, often written phonetically as she would pronounce the words in Vietnamese, and I found it quite jarring to have to keep stopping every few lines and attempt to parse her meaning. No doubt other readers will find this less difficult, but for me, I thought it frequently took me out of the story as I tried to interpret her meaning. In fact language is a subject that is dissected and examined throughout the story, as LeeRoy too struggles with Hang’s words, and as he teaches her ‘conversational English’. Nevertheless, this is a well-written and engaging novel that offers much to YA readers in terms of the refugee experience.
Butterfly Yellow is dedicated: ‘In memory of the unknowable number of refugees at the bottom of the sea’ and is an exquisitely painful reminder of the anxiety and trauma faced by people fleeing for their lives and the risks they take. But it is also a book of courage, hope and humour, and the indomitable optimism of the human spirit.