Reviews

Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card by Sara Saedi

mrsbond's review against another edition

4.0

A memoir that feels like it could be written by the girl next door. At times painfully ordinary, but I believe that was by design. The author is your typical teenage girl, worried about fashion, friends, and sibling rivalry. I could almost hear the gum popping and upward inflection while reading (perhaps she reminds me of some of my "ordinary" students). What sets this family apart is the fact that they have overstayed their visit to America by about a decade. They are working through the appropriate legal channels, finding them time consuming, cumbersome, and frustrating. Told from a very personal point of view, this story follows the typical teenage challenges as they occur alongside the long journey to a green card. I appreciate the historical context on why her family had to leave Iran, and the frustrations she feels toward the typical American view of Iran and its people. Recommend this for middle school to adult readers.

Note: I received this from netgalley in exchange for a honest review.

cook_memorial_public_library's review against another edition

4.0

A 2018 staff favorite recommended by Sonia. Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Samericanized%20saedi__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold

alinurursahar's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

cynthiam0419's review against another edition

3.0

3.5

eslismyjam's review against another edition

3.0

A bit juvenile. I think high school kids- particularly ELLs would enjoy it. It’s a good model for writing memoir. Pleasant enough to read and some good info on immigrating to the US.

sincerelykiwi's review against another edition

adventurous funny informative lighthearted fast-paced

3.5

I've been wanting to read this book for a while mostly because I thought it would be a much more dark read but it read with a more light air mixed in with information about being an immigrant in the u.s. I did find the explanation of references annoying but I understand that this is a YA novel and a younger audience wouldn't know what the author was talking about. Overall, I enjoyed the writing and the walk down memory lane living in the 90s. 

clarkf87's review against another edition

5.0

Book 18: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card. By Sara Saedi.

Honestly, I think Bustle’s review covers most of my feelings of this book: “A must-read, vitally important memoir ... Poignant and often LOL funny, Americanized is utterly of the moment.”

prosebeforehoes's review against another edition

emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

3.25

lisaluvsliterature's review against another edition

4.0

4.5 Stars: As a child of the 80s, this book was a real eye-opener to me about political issues and other history that took place during that decade, as well as the ones before and after. I remember hearing a lot of the terms discussed in the book, but growing up as a white, middle-class child, those were things I heard on the news, that I never watched, and hated the fact that my parents made me turn off whatever afternoon show I would rather watch, or even switch off MTV during a video I loved so that they could see what was going on. Obviously, the author of this book had a very personal connection to issues and people such as the Ayatollah Khomeini, the American hostage situation in Iran, the Iran-Iraq war, and more. The author lived in Iran with her family until she was 2 years old, at which time her mother and older sister moved to America to escape all of the scary things that were going on. To learn that all of the ways we think of for Muslim women to dress, and the other conservative ways actually is newer to the country instead of something that has been a constant, well that blew my mind. So much to learn from this book.

Check out the rest of my review at Lisa Loves Literature.

lazygal's review against another edition

4.0

In many ways this is an update to Funny in Farsi but it's probably easier for current students to relate to Sara's story (for no other reason than she's more contemporary). Sara's struggle to be both Persian and American and her explanations of their culture and the asides give a great insight into one immigrant experience. The fear she has about her lack of a green card and illegal/undocumented status feel a little muted given the ways in which the current government has cracked down on all immigration and those who aren't "following the rules" but may be a good way to begin to understand those lives.