'Pick a Color' is a novel that takes place over a single day at a nail salon

Summary

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NPR's Book of the Day: "Pick a Color" by Suvankam Tamavongsa

Air date: October 13, 2025
Host: Linda Holmes (filling in for Andrew Limbong)
Guest: Suvankam Tamavongsa
Interviewer: Scott Simon

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Episode Overview

In this episode of NPR's Book of the Day, Linda Holmes introduces Pick a Color, the debut novel by acclaimed Canadian writer Suvankam Tamavongsa. The novel unspools over the course of a single day in an unnamed city's nail salon, focusing on Ning, the salon manager, and exploring themes of loneliness, invisibility, and everyday resilience. Tamavongsa joins Scott Simon to discuss how her own life and careful observations informed the book, and reveals the deeper experiences of workers who are so often overlooked.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Setting: A Salon Where Everyone is "Susan"

• Suvankam describes the nail salon, nicknamed Susan's, as a "brightly lit box" where all employees wear name tags reading "Susan" for ease and anonymity.

  "I live in a world of Susans. I got name tags for everyone who works at this nail salon and on everyone is printed the name Susan. So many girls come and go. I don't want to bother getting new name tags each time."
  — Suvankam Tamavongsa [01:31]

• The choice speaks to how clients rarely notice or remember the staff as individuals, emphasizing both invisibility and practicality.

Ning's Perspective: From Prize Fighter to Nail Salon Manager

• Main character Ning draws on her experiences as a former prize fighter to navigate both boxing and nail salon work.
• The discipline and self-protection of boxing inform how she interacts with clients, her vigilance in reading people’s intentions, and maintaining personal boundaries.

  "Things she learned from boxing, like controlling the center line... It's sort of the same way in a nail salon when someone walks in onto the floor, you have to read what they want, what their intentions are, and you react in that moment."
  — Suvankam Tamavongsa [02:31]

Bringing the Salon Workers’ Inner Worlds to Light

• The conversation highlights how salon workers are frequently rendered “invisible” in literature and real life, often little more than side characters.
• Tamavongsa wants readers to truly step into the perspective of a nail salon worker, exposing their interiority and community.

  "A nail salon worker... they're often seen as an invisible figure, a side glance, a prop even. But in the novel, you are made to... feel like you are a nail salon worker."
  — Suvankam Tamavongsa [03:51]

Loneliness, Solitude, and Connection

• The book revolves around loneliness, both Ning’s and her clients’. Even among others, there is a lack of true connection.
• Ning’s emotional state is nuanced: she is both solitary and sometimes lonely, but she takes comfort in routine and her work.

  "She loves being alone and she loves her work. She loves that she has a place to go to every day. Every time the phone rings, her heart beats because she says, ‘someone out there wants me. Today.’"
  — Suvankam Tamavongsa [04:55]

Tamavongsa’s Personal Story and Writing Motivation

• Suvankam Tamavongsa shares her background: born in a Thai refugee camp to Lao parents, who fled across borders and rebuilt their lives in Canada.

• Discusses how her parents’ lack of formal education but profound intelligence inspired the book’s themes.

  "My mom worked in a cake factory. It's really grueling work. She is incredibly intelligent because she can take work that would destroy someone else's soul and see joy in that."
  — Suvankam Tamavongsa [06:29]

• The book draws a distinction between knowledge and intelligence: knowledge can be acquired, but intelligence is what you do with it.

Symbolism and Memorable Scenes: The Pigeon

• Scott Simon brings up a poignant scene where Ning sees a pigeon killed in the street. Ning’s reaction reflects her empathy and need for recognition.
• Ning internalizes that if something happened to her, at least her coworker would notice and acknowledge her existence.

  "She says to herself, you know, if that happened to me, I would have somebody who walks around me like that, and that would be my coworker. She would recognize and know that I'm gone. And that's how I know that I'm alive."
  — Suvankam Tamavongsa [07:53]

Visibility and Notice of the "Susans"

• Suvankam closes by emphasizing the interior richness of her characters, who may be invisible to outsiders but are seen by each other and have meaningful lives.

  "Even though we may feel invisible... we're really not. There's someone out there who's noticing you... you are alive for them."
  — Suvankam Tamavongsa [08:34]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the uniform name 'Susan':

  "None of our clients notice. They come in and we are ready and set to work. That's all that matters to them."
  — Suvankam Tamavongsa [01:31]

• On invisibility in literature:

  "When we do encounter [nail salon workers] in literature, they're often seen as an invisible figure, a side glance, a prop even."
  — Suvankam Tamavongsa [03:51]

• On difference between solitude and loneliness:

  "I think she is lonely, but she's solitary. She loves being alone and she loves her work."
  — Suvankam Tamavongsa [04:55]

• On parental intelligence:

  "She can take work that would destroy someone else's soul and see joy in that."
  — Suvankam Tamavongsa [06:29]

• On being seen:

  "There's someone out there who's noticing you, who pays attention to you, who saw some detail about you that day, and you are alive for them."
  — Suvankam Tamavongsa [08:34]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:02 – Linda Holmes introduces the episode and novel’s premise
• 01:31 – Suvankam Tamavongsa on naming all workers "Susan"
• 02:31 – Connection between boxing and salon work
• 03:51 – Discussion on the invisibility of nail salon workers
• 04:23 – Themes of loneliness and observation of clients
• 04:55 – The complexity of Ning’s internal life (lonely vs solitary)
• 05:23 – Tamavongsa’s personal history and influence
• 06:29 – Reflections on knowledge vs intelligence and her mother’s work
• 07:53 – Symbolic scene with the pigeon
• 08:34 – On visibility and being noticed

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Takeaway

Pick a Color uses the focused lens of a single day in a nail salon—and the life of its manager, Ning—to explore nuanced emotional states, social invisibility, and the quiet dignity of everyday work. Suvankam Tamavongsa’s lived experience imbues the narrative with authenticity and compassion for those whose stories are often overlooked. The episode offers an intimate look at how seemingly ordinary lives are rich with meaning, longing, and intelligence.

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Transcript

[Linda Holmes]

Hi, I'm Linda Holmes, filling in this week for Andrew Limbong, and this is NPR's book of the Day. If you went to a nail salon and all the women who worked there had the same name every time you went, would you notice? Ning, the salon manager at the center of the new novel Pick a Color, isn't sure you would. Author Suvankam Tamavangsa tells Ning's story as one of loneliness, not just hers, but her clients as well. There's not even enough connection for those clients to notice that all the workers are named Susan to save the trouble of getting new name tags. Tamavangsa told NPR's Scott Simon that over the course of a single day, Ning brings the reader into her world, sometimes using a part of her history that recurs again and again in her mind. Prize Fighting this message comes from Amazon Business with Smart Business Buying get everything you need to grow in one familiar place, from office supplies to IT essentials and maintenance tools ready to bring your visions to life.

[Suvankam Tamavongsa]

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[Sponsor/Announcer]

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[Scott Simon]

Ning is the manager of what she calls a brightly lit box in an unnamed city, a place that she calls Susan's.

[Suvankam Tamavongsa]

I live in a world of Susans. I got name tags for everyone who works at this nail salon and on everyone is printed the name Susan. So many girls come and go. I don't want to bother getting new name tags each time. Besides, you know, it's never difficult to pronounce a name like Susan. None of our clients notice. They come in and we are ready and set to work. That's all that matters to them.

[Scott Simon]

Pick a Color is a new novel set over a single day in a nail salon, and it is the first novel of Suvankam Thomavongsa, the highly acclaimed Canadian short story writer and poet. She joins us from our studios in New York. Thanks so much for being with us.

[Suvankam Tamavongsa]

Thanks so much for having me on your show.

[Scott Simon]

Ning was a boxer and that's kind of central to how she sees the world, isn't it?

[Suvankam Tamavongsa]

Yes, and before she landed working in a nail salon, she had been a prize fighter. We only get little snippets of it throughout the day as she works and thinks of that time. Things she learned from boxing, like controlling the center line, she Brings that idea to the face that when you remove eyebrow hair, you try to control the center line. And the idea that when you enter the ring, you have to protect yourself at all times. It's sort of the same way in a nail salon when someone walks in onto the floor, you have to read what they want, what their intentions are, and you react in that moment.

[Scott Simon]

How do you know this world of the nail salons?

[Suvankam Tamavongsa]

I'm a regular client myself and I just observe in terms of the boxing. I trained for a year and a half to learn to describe what it might feel like to. To take a punch, to throw a punch, and to make the language of the boxing world feel natural. But in the nail salon, the staff.

[Scott Simon]

At the nail salon talk about their clients amongst themselves, don't they?

[Suvankam Tamavongsa]

Yes. A nail salon worker. When we do encounter them in literature, they're often seen as an invisible figure, a side glance, a prop even. But in the novel, you are made to. To feel like you are a nail salon worker.

[Scott Simon]

The clients talk about their lives and often seek the advice in front of the workers. And the workers will talk about them in front of the clients. Pretty secure that the clients won't know they're talking about them, right?

[Suvankam Tamavongsa]

Mm. It is a book about loneliness. The narrator is someone who's alone, and every client who comes in, they are alone too. There's something about the way in which they talk. Ning picks out within their conversation points that validate her sense of the world, of being alone.

[Scott Simon]

Is Ning lonely or is she solitary?

[Suvankam Tamavongsa]

Right. That's a really great question. I think she is lonely, but she's solitary. She loves being alone and she loves her work. She loves that she has a place to go to every day. Every time the phone rings, her heart beats because she says, someone out there wants me. Today.

[Scott Simon]

May I ask you to tell us some of your own story? You were born in a refugee camp in Thailand?

[Suvankam Tamavongsa]

Yes. My mom and dad are Lao. They built a raft made of bamboo to get to a refugee camp in Thailand. And that is where I was born.

[Scott Simon]

And.

[Suvankam Tamavongsa]

And after I was a year old, we were sponsored to Canada. My mom and dad are not writers. And when I wanted to be a writer, I didn't know how someone becomes that. So I just printed and bound my own books, sold them out of my school knapsack, on front lawns, at farmers markets and small press fairs. You know, just yesterday my book came out and it was so amazing to see it sitting on a shelf at a real bookstore.

[Scott Simon]

Oh, my gosh. That's beautiful. Do you think there's a part of you that became a writer because you wanted to tell the stories of people like your parents and other people you'd known growing up?

[Suvankam Tamavongsa]

Absolutely. You know, my parents, because of a war, my parents were not educated.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

And.

[Suvankam Tamavongsa]

And my novel Pick a Color makes a real distinction between knowledge and intelligence. Something like knowledge. It's easy. You can get it. You can open up a book, someone can tell you about something you don't know. You can go to school. Whereas intelligence is a lot more interesting to me. It's about what you do with your knowledge, however grand or little you have. And my parents, people like my parents, I think they're such intelligent people. My mom worked in a cake factory. It's really grueling work. She is incredibly intelligent because she can take work that would destroy someone else's soul and see joy in that. I asked her about her work and she said, you know, every day I get to make a cake. I know that it's going to somebody who is celebrating something really special, and I get to be. And for me to hear my mom think in that way out loud, I feel like she's so intelligent.

[Scott Simon]

Wow. There's a section in your book where Ning sees a pigeon run over in the street.

[Suvankam Tamavongsa]

Yeah.

[Scott Simon]

What does that call out in her?

[Suvankam Tamavongsa]

It's run over by a streetcar and she is unable to leave this body there. And she brings it to the curb, and then another pigeon walks several circles around this body. And she says to herself, you know, if that happened to me, I would have somebody who walks around me like that, and that would be my co worker. She would recognize and know that I'm gone. And that's how I know that I'm alive.

[Scott Simon]

I've got to say, I'm left with the impression that all of the people called Susans, they might be invisible to many people, but they have very rich lives.

[Suvankam Tamavongsa]

They do. And I wanted to say in writing this book that even though we may feel invisible, maybe to ourselves and to the people in our lives, we're really not. There's someone out there who's noticing you, who pays attention to you, who saw some detail about you that day, and you are alive for them.

[Scott Simon]

Pick a Color is the debut novel from Suvankam Tamavongsa. Thank you so much for being with us.

[Suvankam Tamavongsa]

Oh, thank you so much for having me. It's been such a pleasure.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

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