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aliena_jackson's review
3.0
While all of the stories within were splendid, I think some probably worked better in their original spoken-word format.
thatsoneforthebooks's review
4.0
Sofija Stefanovic hosted "This Alien Nation," a regular storytelling event in Joe's Pub in NYC, where immigrants told their stories. The rotating cast told stories that for Stefanovic were "a balm, a way of feeling less lonely." In this compilation of 36 of these stories, she reminds us that "immigration is not simply a word thrown around in the news...but a world rich with unique voices, perspectives and experiences." While the stories range in tone - they'll make you laugh and they'll break your heart, they all bring something special to the table.
Here are two of my favorite stories:
**Laura Gómez, famous as Blanca in Orange is the New Black, writes about how she stops for lunch in this conservative-run B&B where Fox News was playing and the "Boss Lady" spoke of sons working for ICE. Instead of blasting the woman for her beliefs and trying to change her mind (as she very much wanted to do), she listened and connected, acting as a "decent human being who defied whatever stereotypes she has been fed...leav[ing] her thinking, Well, that Dominican lady was actually pretty nice."
**In another story, Mazin Sidahmed describes his family WhatsApp Group and how it provides the "closest thing..to the dinner table" as his family members live across the world. As they share stories, memes, and conversation, it helps keep him rooted throughout life's hard times.
Other stories include: A Mexican girl who grappled with her idea of the "American Dream" on a trip to Disneyland, a story about the role of pets in their life from their current dog back to their eight-year-old robo-dog toy, a woman seeking a limpia from a Dominican Santera in the Bronx, which left her feeling clean and free, and a guy who moved from NY back to Puerto Rico as an 8-year-old and had to come to terms with his Americanization.
The stories within represent a wide variety of national & ethnic backgrounds, and many voices bringing up stories of belonging and home, of trauma and emotion, of Americans who are welcoming and those who are discriminatory and even violent, of the comedy of life and its raw moments, and of all sorts of moments that they've overcome or are still battling with.
Admittedly, this many short stories makes the book difficult to devour as the voices are constantly shifting - for me, it read better in small increments. The chapters are grouped thematically in 7 sections, but the concept of organization wasn't always clear. Overall, this collectivity of voices helps break views of immigrants as monolithic, and this book stretches your mind to see this. Kudos to Stefanovic and the 35 authors who join her for sharing their stories and their voices with us!
Here are two of my favorite stories:
**Laura Gómez, famous as Blanca in Orange is the New Black, writes about how she stops for lunch in this conservative-run B&B where Fox News was playing and the "Boss Lady" spoke of sons working for ICE. Instead of blasting the woman for her beliefs and trying to change her mind (as she very much wanted to do), she listened and connected, acting as a "decent human being who defied whatever stereotypes she has been fed...leav[ing] her thinking, Well, that Dominican lady was actually pretty nice."
**In another story, Mazin Sidahmed describes his family WhatsApp Group and how it provides the "closest thing..to the dinner table" as his family members live across the world. As they share stories, memes, and conversation, it helps keep him rooted throughout life's hard times.
Other stories include: A Mexican girl who grappled with her idea of the "American Dream" on a trip to Disneyland, a story about the role of pets in their life from their current dog back to their eight-year-old robo-dog toy, a woman seeking a limpia from a Dominican Santera in the Bronx, which left her feeling clean and free, and a guy who moved from NY back to Puerto Rico as an 8-year-old and had to come to terms with his Americanization.
The stories within represent a wide variety of national & ethnic backgrounds, and many voices bringing up stories of belonging and home, of trauma and emotion, of Americans who are welcoming and those who are discriminatory and even violent, of the comedy of life and its raw moments, and of all sorts of moments that they've overcome or are still battling with.
Admittedly, this many short stories makes the book difficult to devour as the voices are constantly shifting - for me, it read better in small increments. The chapters are grouped thematically in 7 sections, but the concept of organization wasn't always clear. Overall, this collectivity of voices helps break views of immigrants as monolithic, and this book stretches your mind to see this. Kudos to Stefanovic and the 35 authors who join her for sharing their stories and their voices with us!
aidahdefilippo's review
3.0
Really difficult to rate this collection because out of the 36 separate stories, some are well below 1-star and some are perfect 5s. The collection should not be read as a "book" in a short period of time, which was my mistake, really. The 1-star tales have little to say about immigration or identity beyond the bare surface, while the 5-stars made me reflect on the vulnerabilities that I shared with the author. I would not re-read this collection, but I definitely would show up to a live session at Joe's Pub when the opportunity presents itself.
wolson's review
5.0
I really enjoyed this book. As some reviewers have noted, the stories presented were given as talks, and I think they would have been even better seen live, in-person. Still, to me they presented very interesting and moving slices of life. The complexities of being an immigrant, whether in the USA or elsewhere. I think it should be a must read book. There needs to be this type of sharing of stories, sharing of lives lived, a look behind the curtains into other cultures. I think this also would open hearts to see humanity/humanness as being not so much differences as similarities.
kk0sanda's review
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Oh my gosh, I needed this book! I appreciate the effort that went into “translating” spoken word performances onto paper. I discovered several artists whose stories I clicked with. (I’ve since read Abeer Y. Hoque’s Olive Witch, a memoir I would not have known about if not for Alien Nation.)
It feels like there is something in this collection of stories for anyone who enjoys spoken word performances, comedy, and learning about someone else’s perspective. (The latter is something I value.)
I highly recommend this collection to readers, especially fans of “Own Voices” nonfiction, seeking new authors to read.
It feels like there is something in this collection of stories for anyone who enjoys spoken word performances, comedy, and learning about someone else’s perspective. (The latter is something I value.)
I highly recommend this collection to readers, especially fans of “Own Voices” nonfiction, seeking new authors to read.
sandykay's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
3.5
I thoroughly enjoy hearing someone’s story in their own words. It’s why I am so drawn to biographies.
These stories share the wide variety of the emotions, experiences, and receptions found after immigrating.
Reading the lived experience of individuals living outside of their country of birth is truly something special – that they’ve chosen to share with us the ups and downs of the reality of their choices. Sometimes leaving “home” is a push out and sometimes it is a pull from. Either way, it is a choice to be made and a devil to deal with. Is the devil you know (“home”) better or worse than the devil (the new location) you don’t know?
Reading these experiences, good and bad, makes me want to hug each individual.
It also makes me want to shake so many people of their narrow-minded views based in racism, classism, elitism, all the other -isms. There are so many similarities across the globe that far outweigh our differences, which is clearly shown in the echoes throughout these stories regardless of the place of origin or the destination.
Favorite Stories
A Little Tattle-Tale Around the Nannying Gig: by Christine Yvette Lewis
Three Decades of Unsolicited Fashion Advice from a Migrant Mother: by Alice Pung
Mortar, Porcelain, Brick: by Kay Iguh
Don’t Follow Your Dreams (Especially, the American Dream): by Emma Ramos
I definitely recommend this book and would have loved to see these stories performed on stage.
Stars 3.5
Would I Recommend? Yes
These stories share the wide variety of the emotions, experiences, and receptions found after immigrating.
Reading the lived experience of individuals living outside of their country of birth is truly something special – that they’ve chosen to share with us the ups and downs of the reality of their choices. Sometimes leaving “home” is a push out and sometimes it is a pull from. Either way, it is a choice to be made and a devil to deal with. Is the devil you know (“home”) better or worse than the devil (the new location) you don’t know?
Reading these experiences, good and bad, makes me want to hug each individual.
It also makes me want to shake so many people of their narrow-minded views based in racism, classism, elitism, all the other -isms. There are so many similarities across the globe that far outweigh our differences, which is clearly shown in the echoes throughout these stories regardless of the place of origin or the destination.
Favorite Stories
A Little Tattle-Tale Around the Nannying Gig: by Christine Yvette Lewis
Three Decades of Unsolicited Fashion Advice from a Migrant Mother: by Alice Pung
Mortar, Porcelain, Brick: by Kay Iguh
Don’t Follow Your Dreams (Especially, the American Dream): by Emma Ramos
I definitely recommend this book and would have loved to see these stories performed on stage.
Stars 3.5
Would I Recommend? Yes
drraytay's review
4.0
Alien Nation is a collection of 36 stories of immigrants from all over the world told on stage in NYC. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the stories. Some were funny, some were deeply moving, all were eye opening and worthy of our time. Two of my favorites were True Identity and A Little Tattle-Tale Around the Nannying Gig.
In True Identity, Tatenda Ngwara tells her story as an asylum seeker from Zimbabwe. She was forced out of her country when she started advocating for intersex and transgender people. Her father gave her his last dollar so she could “go somewhere she will be accepted as a human and a citizen who deserves human rights.” She tells of the struggles and roadblocks of being an asylum seeker in America who is also a Black woman who is intersex. “The only way we can break down barriers is to familiarize people with what it means to be intersex. It is biological. It is not a choice.”
In A Little Tattle-Tale Around the Nannying Gig, Christine Yvette Lewis tells her story of moving to into her sister’s home in The Bronx from Trinidad and Tobago to seek a better life for herself and her daughter. She speaks deftly about caregivers knowing their worth after finding a community with the other nannies at a Central Park playground.
In True Identity, Tatenda Ngwara tells her story as an asylum seeker from Zimbabwe. She was forced out of her country when she started advocating for intersex and transgender people. Her father gave her his last dollar so she could “go somewhere she will be accepted as a human and a citizen who deserves human rights.” She tells of the struggles and roadblocks of being an asylum seeker in America who is also a Black woman who is intersex. “The only way we can break down barriers is to familiarize people with what it means to be intersex. It is biological. It is not a choice.”
In A Little Tattle-Tale Around the Nannying Gig, Christine Yvette Lewis tells her story of moving to into her sister’s home in The Bronx from Trinidad and Tobago to seek a better life for herself and her daughter. She speaks deftly about caregivers knowing their worth after finding a community with the other nannies at a Central Park playground.
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