A review by sakisreads
How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

What a great short story collection 🥹 As the author will be going to the Bangkok Literature Festival, I could not wait to get into this one 🙋🏻‍♀️

‘How to Pronounce Knife’ was an eponymous story which was SO interesting. I notice code switching so often, so the apparent refusal to do so was immediately noticeable. I think I loved this one!

The ‘Mani Pedi’ story got me though. I don’t know why but in the space of a very short story, I thought Raymond might actually get a happy plotline 😳

‘Chick-a-chee’ was so wholesome 🥹 I thoroughly loved every minute of the excitement for Halloween! ✨

‘A Far Distant Thing’ was endearing; friendships are so exciting (but hard!) to navigate and this story felt like it highlighted that 🥲

‘Picking Worms’ was quite the vibe.
Of COURSE James the white boy was going to get the manager job 🙃 But I LOVED the way in which the main character ultimately rejected him for prom and he was found banging on the door. Power play ✨

4 out of 5 stars for me, thank you ❤️✨
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