Representation: Asian characters
Trigger warnings: Vietnam War mentioned, refugee experiences, displacement
Score: Five points out of ten.
I own this book. This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.

I read Yellowface by R.F. Kuang before this one about a white author who stole from an Asian author by publishing her manuscript as if the former wrote it. I wondered, what if the events in Yellowface were real? Look no further. I got Noodle Pie since it was part of a library giveaway, and initially, it looked promising. When I read it, I didn't enjoy the story, since it was an uncomfortable read at best and yellowface and cultural appropriation at worst. A white person wrote a story with Asians in it, but got it wrong. It would be better if an Asian author wrote it.

Noodle Pie by Ruth Starke starts with the first character I see, Andy Nguyễn, or Andy for short, who arrives at Vietnam with his father who hasn't visited that location in years ever since going to Australia to escape the war there. Andy soon meets the paternal side of his extended family much to his unenjoyment because he thinks no one in his family likes him. He soon discovers the restaurant one of his aunts runs, Phương Nguyễn, but Andy takes the opportunity to do something with it. Suggesting improvements would be putting it lightly. Here's where the flaws surface: Andy and the other characters are the only the beginning of the problems, as I couldn't connect or relate to them. Andy is particularly off-putting (that's an understatement) since he called all Vietnamese people selfish and impatient, the Vietnamese language lazy, his aunt greedy and equated Vietnamese opera to wailing cats. To call Vietnam a 'Third World' country would be outdated. Please call it a developing or lower-middle income nation.

The first statement is presumptuous. I'm sure only some people are like that. The second example is misleading. Andy has a point: some words have the same spelling, but different meanings in Vietnamese. However, that also applies to English (that's a flaw in the argument.) Not to mention English has many words that can be long-winded, and the inconsistent pronunciation compared to Vietnamese's compactness and monosyllabic nature. Those words Andy said are similar in Vietnamese, but not the same. They have different letters and tones. Speaking of, why didn't the author bother to include them in the first place? She could include diacritics in French origin words like café and crêpe, but not in Vietnamese words.

The third piece of commentary is an attempt to make a character look disgraceful, which I didn't like. Lastly, has the author even listened to Vietnamese opera? I assure you, there are no wailing cats. Comparing the former to the latter would be slanderous. So this is what Vietnam looks like through the white gaze. The family characters also have English titles, and I get that the author could've done that to appeal to non-Vietnamese people, but I would've liked the story more if it incorporated the kinship pronoun system. It's fascinating.

Since when was the Gameboy, Harry Potter and Clinton still relevant? Noodle Pie didn't age well. Andy soon learns about his father's experiences while on a motorbike after Andy tried to overhaul the Phương Nguyễn by renaming it to Noodle Pie, making flyers and increasing the prices for tourists to make more money (I get it. Andy thinks the Phương Nguyễn could be better, but that move goes against his other utterance about his aunt, and that did more harm than good.) Andy's father asks that would it be unfair if there was an eatery where Overseas Vietnamese (Việt Kiều) people had to pay more than those living in Vietnam? Fortunately, Andy thinks not. There is a high note at the conclusion, which I liked, but I can't recommend this one. You can read Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhhà Lại or A Phở Love Story by Loan Le.

Addendum: Due to the inflammatory language, Noodle Pie is YA. ( )

Grade 4-6: an Australian Viet Kieu goes back home to Hanoi along with his 12-year-old son, who narrates his impressions - and his understanding of the cultural differences and the great economic ones. Identity, poverty, family relationships, migration, etc. ( )

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