Quick Synopsis

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.

Publisher’s Synopsis

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.

Review

Despite owning both of the books to which Sunshine Nails is compared, I have yet to read either of them. Diving into this book, I only had the synopsis and cover to go on. The cover is definitely fun, colorful, and cute… so I expected the same from the story.

Sunshine Nails is a the story of the Trans, a Vietnamese Canadian family who have owned a nail salon in Toronto for 20 years. Shortly after their eldest daughter, Jessica, moves home, a new chain nail salon opens across the street, threatening the Trans’ livelihood.

When I skimmed the synopsis, I grew excited for a light-hearted book with catty drama and a petty war between nail salons. What I found as I read was something much different, especially in tone. Sunshine Nails is ultimately a story about one immigrant family and their experience with gentrification.

I love an underdog story or one that sticks it to the proverbial man. So a book about small business owners fighting, and potentially triumphing, against the Starbucks of nail salons sounded right up my alley. While I enjoyed Sunshine Nails overall, I was left wanting more.

The best way I can think of to describe Sunshine Nails is that it is more of a 30 minute sitcom of a book, rather than a 2 hour movie. There was no deep look at anything that happened in the story or at any emotions. In this way, the novel is light-hearted. However, the subject matter it contains is not. Financial ruin, gentrification, losing a community, microaggressions, and corporate entities taking advantage of employees are not simple issues that should be glossed over. If it is supposed to be lighthearted, there should have been comedy to break up the tension or the issues (think how millennials use memes to cope). You could say that I am suffering from late stage capitalism and failed to see the humor in it.

I understand not receiving the raise you deserve. I understand hating your job where you are the recipient of microaggressions. I understand raising rents and being broke. I understand parental conflict and lies. And I definitely understand dating mediocre white men. While I felt the plight of each member of the Tran family, I did not connect with any of them, because there failed to be much to connect with.

As a reader, I was able to grasp each member of the Tran family as an individual; yet, I was unable to connect with them. Since each family member has their own storyline/subplot, I was able to form an idea of their pasts and present. But the characters are not developed enough to connect with them outside of empathy for what they are experiencing. Their emotions and motivations are unknown, despite the circumstances of the plot. For the most part, any conflict or tension are glossed over in Sunshine Nails, while I craved confrontation and discussion of their experiences.

Essentially, there was opportunity to say something with this book, whether it be about the immigrant experience, gentrification, corporate culture, or family dynamics. But Mai Nguyen did not take advantage of the story she crafted. In summary, I guess this story only for the sake of a story did not feel appropriate to me.

Despite enjoying my experience reading Sunshine Nails, I was hoping for more from the story. Sunshine Nails only scratches the surface of its characters and the issues at hand. I recommend it if you are not looking for an in-depth story and do not mind a book that tells a story simply for the story’s sake.

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