Reviews

Nussia by Michele Tracy Berger

rixx's review

1.0

[Nussia](https://www.thebooksmugglers.com/2018/06/nussia-by-michele-tracy-berger.html) is a short story that describes the first alien exchange student, who comes to a black family in the Bronx. The writing felt very uneven, and the plot a bit directionless, so even though the idea is nice, the story didn't capture me at all.

booksandbosox's review

3.0

Wanted to like this a lot more than I did, though I did enjoy the ending.

thefox22's review

2.0

I just found this SO boring. And maybe it's because I'm not an alien fan in general, since I tend to stay away from books with those creatures in them. Or maybe it's that it's set near the end of the 1970s, which I didn't really care to read about. But whatever it was, it was so dull to me, and I didn't really like any of the characters except their grandma. And the MC, Lindsay, was okay. Her voice was just so young, which makes sense because she's only 13/14, but I couldn't get into the story. Ugh. SADNESS.

angelinebadams's review

4.0

I enjoyed the alt history angle and how the racism of 1973 (higher expectations placed on a minority family, and how hosting Nussia could change their lives) took this to a whole other level than what a reader might be expecting (i.e. the standard 'aliens as metaphor for accepting difference' line).

I don't want to spoil things for other readers, but I will say that the mood of the story reminded me very much of Nicholas Fisk's "Grinny", which I re-read over and over as a kid and which had a similar premise.