Butterfly Yellow by Thanh Hà Lại is a novel written from the perspective of various characters, grasping the aspect of war and revival. Within the historical fiction novel, Lại intertwines her own reflection of how determination requires an understanding of mindset.
Set in Texas, in the year 1981, the main character Hằng meets LeeRoy, an 18-year-old aspiring cowboy to go in search of her little brother, Linh. Her trauma stems from when she was separated 6 years ago due to the end of the Vietnam War. Hằng faces the foreignness of being in a new environment, but when reunited with Linh, what she was once familiar with has suddenly become distant.
The book switches between the perspectives of Hằng and LeeRoy adding to the slight confusion of situations of the plot. From multi-language family dialogue to the English lessons Hằng receives from LeeRoy, Lại’s use of language is infused with vivid imagery. Many Vietnamese immigrant families will likely relate to Hằng’s family conflict and discrimination to what they faced when they came to the United States in the 1980s.
The impactful novel appealed to me as identify as a second-generation Vietnamese-American because my parents experienced the same situations as the main character. This book gave them a sense of reminiscence of their past and hopes of a better future for my brother and me. The Vietnamese language was fairly similar to what I learned when I was little such as simple honorifics such as “em” which translates to “little brother.”
Although this novel is not Lại’s most commendable work, it truly defines her views of character development. The title of the book is “butterfly yellow” which reminds readers to be butterflies flying towards the near future.
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