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4.31 AVERAGE
4.31 AVERAGE
A fascinating collection of essays, as much about America's long shadow over the world as the immigrant experience of America.
This is a super compelling collection of essays, all engaging with the immigrant experience and what that has meant and looked like for each of the writers. Stand outs for include the contributions by Alexander Chee and Fatima Farheen Mirza. Great companion read to books like Tell Me How It Ends by Valeria Luiselli, Everyone Knows You Go Home by Natalia Sylvester, and American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins.
As the title suggests, The Good Immigrant is a collection of essays from 26 immigrant writers reflecting on their experience in America.
I had high hopes for this book as I was looking for a book that explores racial/cultural identity as first generation immigrants (compared to 2nd generation or mixed-race native born Americans, there’s a huge difference in terms of sense of belonging and identity ambiguity).
Unfortunately the book is a disappointment. I found a few essays (no more than 5) poignant, relatable and offer interesting perspectives that help me deal with my own immigrant identity. But the rest of the essays are just plainly boring, unrelatable, and lack depth. The editors did make an effort to be inclusive so the writers' ethnical backgrounds are quite diverse.
This book also has a UK version and seems to have better reviews. I'll still give that a try and I’m curious about the UK immigrants perspectives.
I had high hopes for this book as I was looking for a book that explores racial/cultural identity as first generation immigrants (compared to 2nd generation or mixed-race native born Americans, there’s a huge difference in terms of sense of belonging and identity ambiguity).
Unfortunately the book is a disappointment. I found a few essays (no more than 5) poignant, relatable and offer interesting perspectives that help me deal with my own immigrant identity. But the rest of the essays are just plainly boring, unrelatable, and lack depth. The editors did make an effort to be inclusive so the writers' ethnical backgrounds are quite diverse.
This book also has a UK version and seems to have better reviews. I'll still give that a try and I’m curious about the UK immigrants perspectives.
If you want to better understand immigration- this book is for you. If you have never had hard discussions with immigrants on their realities- this book is also for you. Bottom line- read this book. It is a beautiful collection of essays to learn from.
A diverse and varied collection of essays by 26 immigrant writers on their thoughts on the intersections of sexuality, culture, and family as well as other topics that relating to their American identity. Each essay was unique in its approach to the subject but there often was a commonality that linked them together and not simply because they all wrote about the same subject. What it means to be an immigrant can be specific to each individual as shown by this collection, but it is not hard to also find parallels too.
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
A beautiful collection of immigrant stories; coming together to creative a bigger prism reflecting a more multi faceted American dream.
Having absolutely adored ‘the original’ UK version, I was a little disappointed with this by comparison. For me there were too many contributors who were creatives who moved to the US as adults, which just isn’t particularly compelling compared to the diaspora narratives that dominate the original.
Also, not for nothing, I don’t happen to find America and the American Dream particularly interesting to read about, because I can’t go a day without having some form of commentary either criticising or defending it shoved down my throat.
Worth reading for the stronger essays, but a number of these felt indulgent and poorly strung together, especially compared with the UK edition.
Also, not for nothing, I don’t happen to find America and the American Dream particularly interesting to read about, because I can’t go a day without having some form of commentary either criticising or defending it shoved down my throat.
Worth reading for the stronger essays, but a number of these felt indulgent and poorly strung together, especially compared with the UK edition.
This is a must-read, an incredible collection of essays spanning the breadth of the American immigrant experience.
Content was interesting but it wasn’t capturing my attention. might come back to it.