The Manicurist's Daughter
Susan Lieu's recent memoir, The Manicurist's Daughter, is a powerful exploration of her own journey of losing her mother to a botched cosmetic surgery when she was a child, and discovering herself and her family through the decades-long grieving process. The book not only delves into Lieu's personal experiences but also shines an important spotlight on the second-generation Vietnamese-American experience, highlighting the nuances of finding belonging across two very different cultures.
While her story is unique, it carries with it strong ties to a universal experience of immigrants. By sharing her experience so openly, Lieu hopes those commonalities will help readers feel more compassion towards their elders and themselves.
“There are definitely nuances in my family's immigration journey, but the main throughline is that we're all children of immigrants,” Lieu told me. “There's the intense financial pressure to save money, always be productive, and make choices not only in the interest of your nuclear family, but your extended family who are in great need of remittances and getting sponsored over. There's a deep love for Costco deals, the ominous power of our ancestors, the almost dictatorial parenting style to keep the ship afloat, and this intense longing to fit in among our peers. The undercurrent of our existence is this push-pull dance of assimilation, all while swimming in the unspoken PTSD the family carried over.”
Lieu’s mother, a vibrant entrepreneur and refugee, embraced the American dream by founding nail salons that not only served as economic lifelines but also as cultural sanctuaries. But her ingrained desire to adhere to both Vietnamese and western beauty ideals had fatal consequences. In exploring this, Lieu explores the ways in which those same cultural ideals influenced her own body image.
Directly tied to this physical self-perception, food plays an important role throughout Lieu's memoir, serving as a thread that connects her to her heritage and to her mother. The Vietnamese meals that Susan intricately describes through the book are more than just nourishment; they are rituals of memory and belonging, and they hold both comfort and guilt at different points throughout her life.
As Lieu navigates the complexities of her cultural identity and the profound impact of her mother's death, she embarks on a journey of self-discovery and healing that grows into something bigger than herself. It becomes a communal story of resilience and the evolving nature of identity. By sharing her story, Lieu not only breaks her family's silence but also paves the way for others to acknowledge and voice their struggles.
“I hope readers can see that their feelings were and still are valid. And by doing their own internal healing work, I hope readers know that they are taking the first step in bringing healing to their family and for the next generation,” Lieu shared.
In publishing her book, Lieu felt it was important that it reach the people who could most identify with her story and feel seen in her journey. To ensure this, she started the Intergenerational Healing Book Fund, where the community helped fundraise $52,000 to distribute 1,640 books to fifteen nonprofits in America serving children of immigrants. She shared on the fund page, “I believe healing from intergenerational trauma happens first on an individual level, and reading is an intimate experience to help unpack complicated feelings on family and the immigrant experience.”
The Manicurist’s Daughter does more than tell the story of a tragedy; it opens up a space for dialogue about the complex identities of second-generation immigrants. Lieu's memoir serves as an important reminder of the power of authentic storytelling.
The creative process has been cathartic and freeing for Lieu. “It feels like a sweet dream I am finally getting to enjoy,” she told me, recounting the letters she gets from readers around the world who have shared how much her work impacted them.
In capturing her own search for identity and closure, Lieu offers hope, solidarity and empathy to generations of readers. Her story is a testament to the power of speaking out, which not only helps in personal healing but also creates shared narratives that strengthen entire communities.
