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*STARRED REVIEW
She has two names, Moe Thet War and Pyae Pyae (pronounced “puh-yay, puh-yay”). Both were carefully chosen by her parents. As a Myanmar-born, U.S.- and British-educated, Myanmar-returned resident with a perfect American accent, Pyae Pyae unabashedly explores her “liminality … the place that I’d been occupying my whole life.”

Once the “lone mythical Myanmar unicorn in every writing space I attended,” she claims her own expanse in this vivacious debut nonfiction collection showcasing wise-beyond-her-years insight (she’s 25 in her first essay), biting impatience, and plenty of unfiltered humor. She deftly skewers gender inequity, defying the Myanmar concept of hpone – “an innate, mystical power that men supposedly possess” – in “Laundry Load,” challenging body-shaming in “Htamin sar chin tae” (Do you want to eat rice?), and rejecting the pressures to choose motherhood in “good, Myanmar, girl.”

English fluency and nonwhite identity get brilliantly dissected in “Unique Selling Point,” “Tongue Twisters,” and “Myanglish.” In other essays, learning to swim proves lifesaving, especially in being able to ask for help; she documents the demise of her almost-seven-year relationship with her white lover, dubbed “Toothpick”; and she exposes racism in the professional culinary industry in “A Baking Essay I Need to Write.”

How sweet publication proves to be: “I did not think young girls who had names like mine were allowed to call themselves writers.” Hers is a well-earned moniker indeed.

YA/General Interest: YAs will be struck by these illuminating, entertaining essays about coming of age between languages, cultures, and born-into and chosen families.

Review: “Nonfiction,” Booklist, April 1, 2022

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 2022