Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam by Thien Pham
Reviewed by Emily Osburn, Cassie Padilla, Julien Perez, and Riley Pietsch
Review:
Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam is not only Thien Pham's visually stunning autobiographical journey of becoming an American, but is an honest reflection of cultural loss and subsequent remembrance: a familiar experience for many young people that immigrate to the American melting pot.
On the basis of theme, Pham fluently translates his own personal nostalgia for the foods and culture of his native Vietnam into a truly relatable story, no matter if one is Vietnamese or an immigrant. Pham is able to shape what it means to be American through his parents' many sacrifices, his own adjustment into American society, and his resulting integration of his love for his culture and wanting to have a voice for his community through attaining the right to vote. Pham's memoir is more than a collection of memories influenced by the foods of his youth, but a succinct and sentimental cultural narrative that honors both his family's history and his future in America.
Visually, Family Style is gorgeous in its simple and cartoonish form, with the initial rawness and following subtle refinement making the story feel like it is told from an evolving child mind to an adult one. While it sometimes is lacking in the overwhelming detail of traditional graphic novels, Family Style's art style prioritizes the emotions of a particular scene by only depicting what is important. Pham seamlessly blends the critically thinking adult author and the innocent child living these memories through his creative choices, giving the story an especially authentic quality in its depiction of immigrant families in totality.
Overall, Family Style is smart, authentic, hearfelt, and sometimes biting in telling Thien Pham's story of immigration to the US from Vietnam. Pham doesn't shy away from the hardships of restarting a family's path in a new country, but also never loses the brightness of a child's mind in his reflections. By attaching a meal to each chapter, sometimes a tradtional Vietnamese food and somtimes one of American culture, readers are very directly guided through Pham's feelings about the relationship between food, family, and culture. And in true family style dining, Pham presents us with a feast of memory, letting us take portions of his experiences and filling our own plate with familiar, yet unique, intances of a Vietnamese immigrant's American Dream.
Biography:
Thien Pham was born in Vietnam in 1974 or 1975 and immigrated to California in the United States of America when he was five years old. He currently lives in the Bay Area as a graphic novelist, comic book artist, and educator. He endured many hardships during his childhood, as his family fled Vietnam by boat to escape communism. Pham's family had fears of reprisal, losing freedom, opportunities being taken away, and the disastrous economy, leading the whole family to flee with the desire for a better life. At first, they settled in a refugee camp in Thailand, and then relocated to the United States. Throughout the journey of this trip, Pham tried various kinds of food that, according to him, produced many positive childhood memories. Even after he came to California, the challenges of life were far from over, as he was in a new country with an entirely different culture and language. As a result, he did not read until he was about ten years old. For Tet, a Vietnamese holiday like New Year's, Pham received a one-dollar bill, representing good luck. With this dollar, he bought a Spider-Man comic, which prompted his newfound love for reading and comics, as he was able to understand the words alongside images. From there, his dream of becoming a comic writer began. At first, Pham was hesitant to create a graphic novel about his life story because he had little memory of his childhood, so he wrote his first stories, Level Up, Sumo, and Between the Panels. From there, he began to remember moments of his childhood through the foods he remembered loving, such as rice balls and chips, so he wrote his autobiography, Family Style, named by NPR one of the Best Books of 2023.
Instructional Resources:
1. Interview with Thien Pham on 24hrkpop: Interview with Thien Pham video. The interviewer hits many points about the book: the food, influence on family, student reactions, and other in-depth questions about the novel. Interviewer asks about roadblocks writing the story & Pham's response about finding his voice; timestamp for question begins at 9:20
2. Comix Experience Interview with Thien Pham: 1 hour 20 minute long interview done over a livestream with an in-person audience as well. Introduction begins at around 1:00. Question on why comics, as a story telling medium, to Pham & Pham explains his history with comics; timestamp for question at 1:37. Timestamp 47:22 audience member asks about a possible movie & Pham responds with a Reservoir Dogs style, but can't see that happening, but explains how his family, despite the conditions of the refugee camp, had a good time there due to the community.
3. Sampan article with Thien Pham: Interview for Sampan "the only bilingual Chinese-English newspaper in New England". 6 questions asked in interview that Pham responds with concise answers.
4. Thien Pham Talks with Roger: Interview published by The Horn Books for column Talks with Roger. Roger Suttons expresses how the pirate attack is depicted and the "page turn" which Pham responds that the "page turn" was important due to the nature of page turning can either reveal dramatics or resolution. As the comic was originally posted on Instagram during the beginning of quarantine before being published later on, those "page turns" were important in expressing the story being told. Useful for discussing the pirate scene in the first chapter.
5. Pham's Graphic Novel Is an Immigration Story Told Through Food: Published for ¡Hella Hungry! column found in KQED which is a Bay Area based PBS station. Interviewer asks Pham that despite having published his first graphic novel, Sumo, a decade prior, why was Pham ready to tell the story of Family Style? Question about the connection between food and family & Pham's response to how he should have appreciated his mother's efforts growing up. Acknowledging that it was his mother explaining the events of their past that helped him be able to tell his story.
Instructional Activity:
Preview:
The goal of this lesson plan is for students to discuss the connection between the drawings in Family Style by Thien Pham to the themes on display in the graphic novel. Journal writing will allow students to make individual analyses of the text. Working in small groups will allow students to build on each other's ideas and hear other perspectives. Analyzing individual panels in each group promotes detailed readings, where students closely look into the image/dialogue they are assigned. Finally, the final activity allows students to relate the book to their own lives in a creative way, drawing a graphic panel specific to their personal life stories.
California Common Core Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.1
Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.3
Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).
Resources and Preparation:
This lesson plan requires students to bring their notebooks for journal writing, as well as something to write with. They must bring their copy of Family Style so they can analyze certain panels from the text. The following handout will be provided, as well as colored pencils, so students can be creative with their drawings.
Instructional Plan:
This lesson is aimed towards ELA students in a seventh-grade classroom who have finished reading Family Style by Thien Pham.
1. Class will begin with a ten-minute session of journal writing. Students will be asked to write about a specific moment or image that stuck out to them, including textual evidence and page numbers.
2. Getting into groups of three, students will discuss the scene they chose and why, allowing each student time to share their journal writing.
3. In these small groups, students will be assigned an individual panel from the book. Panel options:
Together, they must analyze what is happening in the scene, what themes are presented, how the graphic adds to these themes, and how the setting contributes to the story. 4. Then, each group will share its findings with the class, providing an opportunity for a greater class discussion.
5. Finally, each student will receive a handout, where they will be asked to draw a scene from their life that represents a formative moment in their life. Drawings can use stick figures, as long as they show a clear image along with dialogue. Students will share their drawings with their group at the end of the class period.
Bibliography:
Blumenberg, Mia. “Graphic Novelist Thien Pham Shares Stories & Food with 7th Grade.” Synergy School, 18 Dec. 2024, synergyschool.org/graphic-novelist-thien-pham-shares-stories-food-with-7th-grade/.
Chazaro, Alan. “Thien Pham’s Graphic Novel Is an Immigration Story Told through Food.” KQED, 16 Oct. 2024, www.kqed.org/arts/13930458/thien-pham-family-style-graphic-novel-food-memoir-vietnamese-refugee-san-jose-hella-hungry.
Pham, Thien. Family Style. Macmillan Publishers. us.macmilla.com/books/9781250809711/familystyle/.
Loewinsohn, Briana. Thien Pham. Macmillan Publishers. us.macmillan.com/author/thienpham.
Pham, Thien. Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam. First Second, 2023.
“Thien Pham: Authors: Macmillan. ” Macmillan Publishers,
us.macmillan.com/author/thienpham.
Velentzas, Irene. “Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam. ” The Comics
Journal,
2023, www.tcj.com/reviews/family-style-memories-of-an-american-
from-vietnam/.
