What We All Long For by Dionne Brand

Summary
Tuyen lives in Toronto in an apartment downtown by herself. Her family immigrated to Canada from Vietnam before she was born. They run a successful Vietnamese restaurant. Tuyen has cut herself off from them and only goes home when she needs money. She has a mad crush on her neighbour, Carla. Tuyen's oldest brother, Quy, was lost on the move to Canada. He disappeared mysteriously as the family was getting onto a boat. This has devastated the family. Quy's parents never recovered from the loss.

After disappearing, Quy became a part of the East Asian criminal underground. He's on his way to Toronto. Cue suspenseful music.

What I liked
The story and the characters were interesting. The description of Toronto was just like I remembered it. Although I felt that Brand was a little hard on the city... the city probably deserves it. This story is about immigrants and minorities, and their children who are in limbo between the cultures of their parents and the culture of their city. Above them is an impenetrable ceiling of white heterosexual homogeneity, preventing them from escaping their places in cultural limbo.

What I didn't like
The book was a little academic. I found the story interesting at first, but as it went on it seemed more like Brand was trying to make a point and not that she was trying to tell a story. That kind of irritated me.

Conclusion
An interesting read, not one that I invested into too much, but definitely worthwhile. 3.5/5 lesbian Vietnamese-Canadian visual artists.