pamb81 's review for:

A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

5.0

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I read this book in one setting -- the story, the characters, the setting, all written with depth and understanding. Set primarily during a two-week period in southern California, Ashok and Priya Shah emigrated from India over 20 years ago to find fulfilling work, a home, success and start a family. They believe their struggles have paid off when they move into a gated, expensive neighborhood called Pacific Heights. While Ashok and Priya are at a neighbor's dinner party, their 12-year-old son -- undiagnosed but probably on the Asperger's/autism spectrum -- sits in a jail cell after being arrested for trespassing at a small airport near the family's home and flying a drone over the runways. Meanwhile, the Ashok's two daughters, Deepa and Maya, have taken different paths after the move to the new house. Deepa, a budding protestor and civil rights advocate, has snuck off to a protest at the southern border instead of picking up her siblings. Maya, a talented field hockey goalie, has enmeshed herself in the wealthy Baker family's life -- becoming best friends with their daughter, swooning over their handsome son, and doing whatever she can to be like them.

Shilpi Gowda captures the immigrant experience so fully -- I felt so immersed in these characters' lives. The reader really understands what has been going on for years regarding prejudice, racial profiling, the chaos and fear many people experience in our criminal justice system. This would make a perfect book club selection, and I plan to recommend it to my book club.

Thank you to Mariner Books for providing me with an Advanced Reader's Edition.