Sunshine Nails: A Novel
A Real Simple Must-Read Book of Summer 2023
“Mai Nguyen has proven herself to be a real standout.” —Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author
A tender, humorous, and page-turning debut about a Vietnamese Canadian family in Toronto who will do whatever it takes to protect their no-frills nail salon after a new high end salon opens up—even if it tears the family apart. Perfect for readers of Olga Dies Dreaming and The Fortunes of Jaded Women.
Vietnamese refugees Debbie and Phil Tran have built a comfortable life for themselves in Toronto with their family nail salon. But when an ultra-glam chain salon opens across the street, their world is rocked.
Complicating matters further, their landlord has jacked up the rent and it seems only a matter of time before they lose their business and everything they’ve built. They enlist the help of their daughter, Jessica, who has just returned home after a messy breakup and a messier firing. Together with their son, Dustin, and niece, Thuy, they devise some good old-fashioned sabotage. Relationships are put to the test as the line between right and wrong gets blurred. Debbie and Phil must choose: do they keep their family intact or fight for their salon?
Sunshine Nails is a light-hearted, urgent fable of gentrification with a cast of memorable and complex characters who showcase the diversity of immigrant experiences and community resilience.
“Mai Nguyen has proven herself to be a real standout.” —Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author
A tender, humorous, and page-turning debut about a Vietnamese Canadian family in Toronto who will do whatever it takes to protect their no-frills nail salon after a new high end salon opens up—even if it tears the family apart. Perfect for readers of Olga Dies Dreaming and The Fortunes of Jaded Women.
Vietnamese refugees Debbie and Phil Tran have built a comfortable life for themselves in Toronto with their family nail salon. But when an ultra-glam chain salon opens across the street, their world is rocked.
Complicating matters further, their landlord has jacked up the rent and it seems only a matter of time before they lose their business and everything they’ve built. They enlist the help of their daughter, Jessica, who has just returned home after a messy breakup and a messier firing. Together with their son, Dustin, and niece, Thuy, they devise some good old-fashioned sabotage. Relationships are put to the test as the line between right and wrong gets blurred. Debbie and Phil must choose: do they keep their family intact or fight for their salon?
Sunshine Nails is a light-hearted, urgent fable of gentrification with a cast of memorable and complex characters who showcase the diversity of immigrant experiences and community resilience.
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Community Reviews
Sunshine nails was a tough one for me. If we broke down the synopsis for this book, I would only say that the points that line up with what you can expect from reading the book or maybe the different levels of them challenging the general, Jennifer Quetion of the neighborhood The relationship struggles between Debbie and Phil, her husband, and the slight involvement of their children when it came to their salon. Outside of that, there wasn’t a lot of humor in the story as I was expecting.
And I was expecting there to be this unified tether to all the characters as the story progressed but as we got further further into the book it was clear that they were on their own paths, and when it came to the heart of it only, Debbie had to clear his head and she was focused on the salon, and she had her children, her niece and her husband like at the forefront of all of her motivations.
This book is really a family drama I think that’s a better string of words to describe sunshine nails. I don’t think it’s ever fully confirmed in the beginning of the book if Phil has a drinking problem besides the DUI but he is struggling and grasping for straws when it comes to the salon and his family.
He has intentions are good, but with his own internal struggles, Phil falls behind when it comes to being open with communication when it comes to Debbie their financial struggles and what he’s doing behind her back. It was really heartbreaking to get to this point I was like 70% into the book to see if they were still struggling and to see how Phil gave Debbie no choice when it came to her trying to get out of the debt that he put them in again.
I felt that Jessica‘s character besides the beginning of the book she falls out of the narrative for a large portion of the book. And their son Dustin is so separated from the families central goal and narrative. He’s also just trying to figure out what he wants to do when he realize that his job is basically dead end, and his purpose its more empty and superficial than he originally thought all these years. I
gave this book the rating that I did also because at 80%. I think it was in the book. The characters still haven’t come together and with the five character narratives of this book, it mostly felt like they were divided and had different goals rather than following them on a journey that was meant to bring bring them closer together.
I want to say more but I don’t want to mention spoilers.
And I was expecting there to be this unified tether to all the characters as the story progressed but as we got further further into the book it was clear that they were on their own paths, and when it came to the heart of it only, Debbie had to clear his head and she was focused on the salon, and she had her children, her niece and her husband like at the forefront of all of her motivations.
This book is really a family drama I think that’s a better string of words to describe sunshine nails. I don’t think it’s ever fully confirmed in the beginning of the book if Phil has a drinking problem besides the DUI but he is struggling and grasping for straws when it comes to the salon and his family.
He has intentions are good, but with his own internal struggles, Phil falls behind when it comes to being open with communication when it comes to Debbie their financial struggles and what he’s doing behind her back. It was really heartbreaking to get to this point I was like 70% into the book to see if they were still struggling and to see how Phil gave Debbie no choice when it came to her trying to get out of the debt that he put them in again.
I felt that Jessica‘s character besides the beginning of the book she falls out of the narrative for a large portion of the book. And their son Dustin is so separated from the families central goal and narrative. He’s also just trying to figure out what he wants to do when he realize that his job is basically dead end, and his purpose its more empty and superficial than he originally thought all these years. I
gave this book the rating that I did also because at 80%. I think it was in the book. The characters still haven’t come together and with the five character narratives of this book, it mostly felt like they were divided and had different goals rather than following them on a journey that was meant to bring bring them closer together.
I want to say more but I don’t want to mention spoilers.
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