Banyan Moon

Banyan Moon is a 2023 debut novel by Vietnamese-American author Thao Thai. Thai based the novel in part on her own experiences as an immigrant, but the story is not otherwise autobiographical. The novel received positive reviews, and was longlisted for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. Banyan Moon spans several decades, telling the story of three generations of women from a Vietnamese family as they navigate life in the United States. It utilizes some of the conventions of Southern Gothic fiction as it explores the grief process and the challenges of familial relationships.

This guide uses the 2023 HarperCollins e-book edition of Banyan Moon.

Content Warning: This novel contains instances of domestic violence, murder, and anti-Asian racism.

Plot Summary

Banyan Moon has three narrators: Ann, a woman in her late 20s who lives with her rich boyfriend, Noah; Hương, Ann’s mother, a woman in her early 50s who lives in Florida; and Minh, Hương’s mother, a woman in her late 60s whose health declines after she suffers a fall. Ann has not visited or spoken to her mother in years, though she has always been close with her grandmother. As Hương cares for her dying mother, she both misses and resents her daughter. Minh lives in the Banyan House, a sprawling mansion she inherited from a former cleaning client. The house has a large banyan tree outside. At a fancy party for Noah’s parents, Ann realizes that she is pregnant and learns that Noah has been cheating on her. Her mother calls her to tell her that Minh has died, and Ann chooses to return to Florida without Noah.

Ann and Hương start clearing out the Banyan House, though the relationship between them remains very tense. Minh’s ghost contemplates her life as she watches her daughter and granddaughter sort through all kinds of junk that she bought and kept over the years. In 1965, when she was 17, Minh conceived Hương out of wedlock with a boy her age named Bình. She married another young man, Xuân, before Hương was born; they later had a baby boy together, Phước. Xuân died of an illness in his mid-20s. In 1973, as the war in Vietnam reached a fever pitch, Minh brought her children to America. She never remarried, and she never told Hương who her real father was. She sometimes told Hương the Vietnamese folktale of Chú Cuội, a man who found a magical banyan tree that could heal any illness. One day, the tree started to float away. Desperate to keep it, Chú Cuội held its roots and was pulled up into the sky, becoming the man in the moon.

As they sort through the Banyan House, the relationship between Ann and Hương gradually improves. Ann tells Hương about the pregnancy, and the two visit a Vietnamese temple to get a blessing. Noah tries to keep in touch with Ann, but she grows distant from him. She reconnects with Wes, her high school boyfriend, and Crystal, her childhood best friend. Wes is still interested in her, though his son and ex-wife live in California. Crystal explains that her friendship with Ann disintegrated during their adolescence because Minh did not think that Crystal was good enough for Ann. Ann learns that her baby will be a boy. Minh’s lawyer informs the family that Minh has left the Banyan House to Hương and Ann in her will. Phước is furious. He is an ambitious man who wants the house for himself, his wife, and his daughters. He tries several times to persuade Hương to give the house up, to no avail.

Through flashbacks, Hương recalls her life. In her mid-20s, she was working at a community college bookstore when she met a man named Vinh. She found him very charming, and the two married after just six months. Hương wanted a nuclear family, something she felt she had missed out on. On her honeymoon to an unpleasant little cabin by a lake, Hương saw a different side of Vinh. He had an intense temper and threatened her with a broken beer bottle. Hương flinched, accidentally slicing off the tip of her finger. Her husband was unsympathetic. Once they returned home, their marriage got even worse. Vinh started physically abusing Hương. After Ann was born, just a year into their marriage, Hương realized that she needed to leave with her baby. She fled to the Banyan House, where Minh helped her care for Ann.

One day, Vinh came to the Banyan House, breaking a window and trying to strangle Hương. Hương was terrified that Ann would get hurt. At the last minute, Minh came home and slit Vinh’s throat with a knife that Xuân gave her decades earlier. Knowing that the authorities would not believe them if they said they killed Vinh in self-defense, they agreed to keep the crime a secret. Minh disposed of the body in a swamp. Neither of them ever told Ann what happened to her father; Hương gave her a fake name and told her that her father returned to Vietnam. She considers telling Ann the truth, but she cannot bring herself to say anything. 

While cleaning out the house, Ann finds a trunk full of a few keepsakes that Minh brought over from Vietnam. In the trunk is a photograph of Bình inscribed to Minh. Ann immediately sees the resemblance between Hương and Bình and realizes the truth. She wonders whether she should tell Hương the truth about her parentage, resenting Minh for forcing her to make this decision. She decides not to say anything, believing that Hương would be too deeply hurt if she learned that Xuân was not her biological father. She burns the photograph. Eventually, she tells Noah that she is pregnant, and he comes to the Banyan House. He wants to get back together, but Ann refuses, though she still wants him to be a part of the baby’s life.

Noah spends the night at the Banyan House during a thunderstorm. During the night, Phước sets the Banyan House on fire (though Thai’s writing leaves room for interpretation on this point as lightning strikes the house at the same time). Ann, Noah, and Hương get out of the house safely, but they are unable to salvage anything from the wreckage. Minh’s ghost finally moves on, reuniting with Xuân. She realizes that she has always loved him. Hương realizes Phước’s culpability but says nothing, not wanting to create more strife within the family. Ann and Hương buy a cottage together, resolving to overcome their differences. Wes chooses to go to California to be more involved in his son’s life. Ann gives birth and names her son Bình. Noah agrees to be involved in baby Bình’s life, though he still lives in Michigan. Ann illustrates a children’s book about Chú Cuội.