Structure

The Best We Could Do is divided into ten chapters of unequal length. The chapters are ordered more thematically than chronologically, although various narrative threads do appear in a overall chronological fashion. For example, Thi jumps back and forth between her family life and childhood in America and her parents' history in Vietnam. However, the overall arcs of her parents' stories from childhood to eventual immigration are presented chronologically. Although these arcs are broken by narrative deviations back to America and the present day, readers can easily follow the progression of her parents lives. At the same time, the story does open and close in present day America. Thus, the book has the overall structure of a frame story in which her parents history are filled in along the way, allowing readers to gradually discover how they came to be the people they are today.

When tracing...