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Bố’s Grandfather
The daughter of a village chief in a rural area near Hải Phòng, who marries Bố’s manipulative and violent grandfather at a young age. She is not actually biologically related to Bố (whose father was born before his grandparents ever met), but nobody ever makes or acts upon this distinction—for all intents and purposes, her relationship to Bố and his family is like any other grandmother’s, and indeed she plays an important part in raising him. But Bố’s grandmother also suffers repeated twists of misfortune throughout her life: her husband steals her valuable opium jars and runs away and the government expropriates her land during the Land Reforms. Then, when she moves to Sài Gòn, fighting between the South Vietnamese army and the local mafia (Bình Xuyên) destroys her remaining opium jars, the only store of wealth that allows her to live independently from her husband. Lacking money, Bố’s grandmother eventually reconciles yet again with Bố’s grandfather. Like her grandson, she gets severe tuberculosis but survives. She lives in Bàn Cờ for many years, eventually with Má, Bố, Lan, Bích, and Thi. But Bố’s grandmother falls ill just before the rest of the family flees Việt Nam for Malaysia, so they make the difficult choice to leave her behind in the care of Má’s mother and father. This tragic decision reflects the profound danger the family would have faced had they remained in Việt Nam and demonstrates the deep personal cost of their decision to leave their country behind in search of freedom.
Bố’s Grandmother Quotes in The Best We Could Do
The The Best We Could Do quotes below are all either spoken by Bố’s Grandmother or refer to Bố’s Grandmother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 5 Quotes
Every casualty in war is someone’s grandmother, grandfather, mother, father, brother, sister, child, lover.
In the decade of the First Indochina War, while my parents were still children learning their place in the world…
…an estimated 94,000 French soldiers died trying to reclaim France’s colony.
Three to four times as many Vietnamese died fighting them or running away from them.
This was the human cost of ending France’s colonial rule in Southeast Asia…
…and winning Việt Nam’s independence.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Bố’s Grandmother Character Timeline in The Best We Could Do
The timeline below shows where the character Bố’s Grandmother appears in The Best We Could Do. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4: Blood and Rice
...near Hải Phòng, “a dapper gentleman” arrives and manages to find a job and seduce the village chief’s daughter . But his son, whom he brings to the village, becomes an outcast. This son...
(full context)
...gentleman”) convinces both Bố’s mother and Bố’s father to steal opium from his wife, Bố’s grandmother, and run off into the jungle. But they cannot get to the town they want...
(full context)
...to the village in an attempt to manipulate his wife into taking him back. Bố’s grandmother cares for and feeds him, and the whole family—Bố included—disowns Bố’s father when he goes...
(full context)
Chapter 5: Either, Or
Thi turns to Bố’s life after his move to Hải Phòng. His grandmother and grandfather open stores and he becomes “citified.” Thi draws all the changes, from Bố’s...
(full context)
...wants to return to Sài Gòn in the South. Plus, the land reforms mean his grandmother will lose her property—and the whole family could be killed. Bố and his grandfather pack...
(full context)
Chapter 6: The Chessboard
...Bố and his grandfather live well when they get to Sài Gòn in 1955. His grandmother comes shortly thereafter, but refuses to live with his grandfather until she nearly gets caught...
(full context)
Bố’s grandmother and grandfather buy a cheap house, which Bố explains to Thi is “really just the...
(full context)
...with all the buttons undone, [his] hair long and [his] pants tight.” Bố and his grandmother both get tuberculosis, which nearly causes him to fail out off school, but he still...
(full context)
...which they fell in love with after seeing a documentary set there. They leave Bố’s grandmother and grandfather in Sài Gòn, and they expect a carefree “honeymoon period.” But this is...
(full context)
Chapter 7: Heroes and Losers
...confessions about their and their families’ complicity in the war. Teachers start disappearing, and Bố’s grandmother worries, since she remembers the land reforms.
(full context)
...to report suspicious behavior.” Má and Bố plan another escape, which also fails. Meanwhile, Bố’s grandmother falls ill and Má gets pregnant. Legally, she is required to abort, but the doctor...
(full context)
...her pregnancy. The family takes a bus to the city of Cần Thơ, leaving Bố’s grandmother in Sài Gòn, in the care of Má’s parents. After a stressful day of waiting,...
(full context)
