{"id":46465,"date":"2020-02-10T11:12:30","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T16:12:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/?p=46465"},"modified":"2020-02-10T11:32:42","modified_gmt":"2020-02-10T16:32:42","slug":"how-to-pronounce-knife-stories-by-souvankham-thammavongsa-in-library-journal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/how-to-pronounce-knife-stories-by-souvankham-thammavongsa-in-library-journal\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Pronounce Knife: Stories by Souvankham Thammavongsa [in Library Journal]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-46253\" src=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2019\/12\/How-to-Pronounce-Knife-Souvankham-Thammavongsa-BookDragon-530x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"530\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2019\/12\/How-to-Pronounce-Knife-Souvankham-Thammavongsa-BookDragon-530x800.jpg 530w, https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2019\/12\/How-to-Pronounce-Knife-Souvankham-Thammavongsa-BookDragon.jpg 608w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><strong>*STARRED REVIEW<\/strong><br \/>\nIn under 200 pages, Canadian poet Souvankham Thammavongsa showcases 14 spectacular stories in her fiction debut. Born to Lao parents in a Thai refugee camp and raised and educated in Toronto, Thammavongsa parses her own culturally amalgamated heritage through most of her narratives here, some previously published. The collection opens with the Commonwealth Short Story Prize short-listed title story, a poignant, eyes-wide-open exploration of a young girl\u2019s embarrassed realization of how little her immigrant father seems to know.<\/p>\n<p>Other lingering standouts are many, including the 2019 O. Henry\u2013prized \u201cSlingshot,\u201d which introduces a did-that-really-happen relationship between a 70-year-old woman and her 32-year-old neighbor; \u201cRandy Travis,\u201d in which the famous singer unknowingly plays a vital role in a refugee family\u2019s lives; \u201cMani Pedi,\u201d about a would-be boxer who becomes a popular worker in his sister\u2019s nail salon; \u201cEdge of the World,\u201d about a daughter who recalls the circumstances of her missing mother\u2019s distinct laugh; and \u201cYou Are So Embarrassing,\u201d in which a mother\u2019s only contact with her adult daughter is to observe her life from afar.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Verdict<\/strong>: Cosmopolitan aficionados of pristine short fiction \u2013 think Paul Yoon, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Phil Klay\u2014will want to read in.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Review<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.libraryjournal.com\/?reviewDetail=how-to-pronounce-knife\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">&#8220;Short Stories,&#8221; <em>Library Journal<\/em>, February 1, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Readers<\/strong>: Adult<\/p>\n<p><strong>Published<\/strong>: 2020<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>*STARRED REVIEW In under 200 pages, Canadian poet Souvankham Thammavongsa showcases 14 spectacular stories in her fiction debut. Born to Lao parents in a Thai refugee camp and raised and educated in Toronto, Thammavongsa parses her own culturally amalgamated heritage through most of her narratives&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9,6,6535,7,3047],"tags":[89,6608,10,8920,51,25,70,39,8921],"class_list":["post-46465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-readers","category-canadian-asian-pacific-american","category-fiction","category-repost","category-short-stories","category-thai-american","tag-anthology-collection","tag-bookdragon","tag-family","tag-how-to-pronounce-knife","tag-identity","tag-immigration","tag-library-journal","tag-parent-child-relationship","tag-souvankham-thammavongsa"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.14 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How To Pronounce Knife: Stories by Souvankham Thammavongsa [in Library Journal] - BookDragon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/how-to-pronounce-knife-stories-by-souvankham-thammavongsa-in-library-journal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How To Pronounce Knife: Stories by Souvankham Thammavongsa [in Library Journal] - BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"*STARRED REVIEW In under 200 pages, Canadian poet Souvankham Thammavongsa showcases 14 spectacular stories in her fiction debut. Born to Lao parents in a Thai refugee camp and raised and educated in Toronto, Thammavongsa parses her own culturally amalgamated heritage through most of her narratives...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/how-to-pronounce-knife-stories-by-souvankham-thammavongsa-in-library-journal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-10T16:12:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-10T16:32:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2019\/12\/How-to-Pronounce-Knife-Souvankham-Thammavongsa-BookDragon.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"608\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"918\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SmithsonianAPA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How To Pronounce Knife: Stories by Souvankham Thammavongsa [in Library Journal] - BookDragon","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/how-to-pronounce-knife-stories-by-souvankham-thammavongsa-in-library-journal\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How To Pronounce Knife: Stories by Souvankham Thammavongsa [in Library Journal] - BookDragon","og_description":"*STARRED REVIEW In under 200 pages, Canadian poet Souvankham Thammavongsa showcases 14 spectacular stories in her fiction debut. 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