"Stealing Buddha's Dinner" continued

Well I've spent the last few days hiking without cell service or internet access but now I am safe and sound surrounded by the comfort of wifi. Over the past few days I finished "Stealing Buddha's Dinner" and I enjoyed the book very much. It is a perfect read in my opinion for anyone that has ever felt out of place or like an outsider. In the beginning Bich feels like an outsider in America because she does not look like the rest of the white kids, and as she grows older she feels like an outsider among other Vietnamese kids because she can't speak the language and she is unfamiliar with the culture. I liked how Bich resonated with the Joad family from "The Grapes of Wrath" for a few reasons. First of all, its one of my favorite books ever, and secondly, I think it is a very good comparison to draw because the Joad family was searching for security and a sense of home, just as Bich had been doing her whole life. I was surprised that she met her mother in the book because this was something I had not excepted since her mother was hardly mentioned in the book. I also loved how the end of the novel turned its attention towards Rosa and the relationship she had with Bich. For the majority of the novel Bich does not speak very highly of Rosa and does not recognize how hard she works for the kids, but after Bich notices the name Ponderosa she begins to think of her step mother in a new light. She realizes all the sacrifices Rosa has made for them and what a good mother she has been to her and her siblings. Even Bich's real mother is thankful that she was able to grow up with a mother as good as Rosa. I thought Bich's situation was very interesting throughout the entire novel. A native born Vietnamese girl raised in America by a Mexican mother. Bich definitely has a lot of multiculturalism in her life and for awhile she fought it and tried to hide the parts of her that made her different, but she learns to accept and embrace her identity as a whole.