There are as many ways to show love for your family as there are meanings of family. Family could mean the people who birthed and raised you. It could signify the people you’ve chosen to surround yourself with. It could include people you have never met but have ties to, or people you once knew, but have now lost.
Kinship is also inherently political because of the power and responsibilities that are determined by and shared among family members. It is no wonder that family — defining it and protecting it — is always a point of contention in public and in private. The books here touch on the many ways that people define family and remain connected to them, with the bottom line being: family means we are not alone.
“Slow Noodles” by Chantha Nguon (Algonquin Books, March 5, 2024)
Chantha Nguon’s memoir, written with Kim Green, is an uplifting story about surviving wars and remembering a country decimated by Pol Pot’s dictatorship. The title, “Slow Noodles,” is the name of a dish that Nguon’s mother made when they were still living together in Battambang, Cambodia, in the 1960s. Nguon remembers the care and confidence that went into each step, having watched her mother make it hundreds of times.
Nguon came to rely on that care and belief in herself when she and some of her siblings fled Cambodia. Each chapter includes a recipe from Nguon’s childhood, from sour chicken soup to her grandma’s green papaya pickles. They are her ties to a country that has become unrecognizable and to family members who she has lost. The writing in this memoir is vivid, and underscores the point that food is subsistence for the stomach and the soul. — Yvonne Su
“A Small Apocalypse” by Laura Chow Reeve (Northwestern University Press, March 15, 2024)
In this collection of 14 short stories, Reeve examines found family through a group of recurring queer characters and their shifting alliances, friendships, and romances. Set in the swampy climate of Florida, her…
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