March Bookclub
Bookclub book
This month’s book was Wandering Should by Cecile Pin, chosen after it was selected for the longlist for the 2023 Women’s Prize. I’d not heard of it before the longest was released but I loved the synopsis (you can read it here). I also liked that it was under 300 pages for our first book club.
This post will include spoilers, so if you are keen on reading then bookmark and come back.
I was so invested in this book, it was written so well. I actually managed to read all within one sitting; whilst I was waiting for my daughter to wake up for a night feed I chose to stay up to finish rather than sleeping, which, I think proves it is a great book. The picture above taken whilst in my pjs wrapped up in a fluffy jumper!
Cecile Pin grew up in Paris and New York before moving to London for her Philosophy degree, she started writing her debut novel in 2019 writing after she finished her day job until the early hours of the morning. She has been writing in English for the last 10 years, but her mother tongue is French, this was a fact that just baffled me.
Her debut novel is based on her own mother’s family history as Vietnamese boat people. In the 240 pages we follow Anh the eldest sibling (13), when she parts from her parents and younger siblings to migrate to Hong Kong with her two brothers Thanh and Minh. Although from the synopsis it was clear that her parents and siblings do not make it to Hong Kong alive it didn’t make it any less gut wrenching. The initial plan was to make it to the USA where her uncle, aunt and cousin resided. But after some rash decision from Anh they find themselves in the UK. It was shocking that Anh’s and her siblings age is totally ignored by others in the camp and the safety as well as responsibility that is thrust on Anh for a young teen is astronomical. She is still a child herself when they locate in a camp in the UK and rather getting her the help and support she needs she is essentially kept in a camp with her needs ignored until she is old enough to be eligible for a council property, which, she is given a one bed flat with on double bed that they all share?
I liked how it was told from both Anh’s perspective, Dao and an unknown source giving facts about atrocities that the Vietnamese people have faced, whether that were the rapes and massacres from Koh Kra to the much more recent 2019 Essex lorry refugee deaths. Dao (the younger brother who dies trying to cross from Vietnam to Hong Kong) I found truly emotional she captured his vulnerability impeccably.
Although this is set in the 70’s-80’s the depiction of treatment of refugees is still unbelievably true today. Anh and her siblings move to Thatchers Britain, but in 2023 in it’s depressingly no better. In Wandering souls, there is a quote from Magaret Thatcher about her preference of white migrants who are able to “fit in” better, this I feel was also mirrored when there was an outpouring to help Ukrainian migrants, there was no such public rush with Syrian refuges or Palestinian. Unfortunately although we are 50 years on, it feels that there has been little to no progress made.
I enjoyed that the prose was overall quiet simple, that it still felt extremely impactful and moving without having too much padding or elaborate language. At first I thought that the chapters told by the ‘‘unknown’’ source was a little jarring, however I liked how these were factual and it worked out for the best. personally I would have loved the last section of the book when Anh meets her partner and starts her family to have gone on for longer, the story didn't feel rushed, I just didn’t want it to end.
Did you enjoy the book? Let me know your thoughts!