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A review by amymorgan
Brass by Xhenet Aliu
5.0
Thank you Edelweiss for my review copy of this book. This book was amazing! This is the next must read for fans of The Nix.
Elsie dreams of nothing more than saving enough money from her job at the Betsy Ross Diner so she can get a car and get out of Waterbury, CT to start a new life. The brass mills have shut down and life in this town is nothing but a dead end.
Bashkim is a line cook at the Betsy Ross. He left a wife behind in Albania to make a better life in America. Chasing the American dream, anything is better than living in a country where you aren't even allowed to own your own cows because nothing belongs to the people. In a country where there is no dreams or freedom everything in America looks pretty good right now.
An unlikely pair Elise and Bashkim soon find themselves expecting a baby. Even though Bashkim claims he wants a life with Elise and the baby circumstances intervene and Elise becomes unsure of her or her daughters place in Bashkim's world. After a deciding event makes Elise strike out on her own to raise her daughter without Bashkim she spends the next 17 years raising her daughter Luljeta on her own.
Luljeta spends her life believing whatever her mother has told her about her father and does not seem overly affected by his absence in her life. Until one day Luljeta learns that her mother has been less than truthful in regards to her father and his family.
Told from alternating points of view this is an engaging story of a mother and daughter and each one's unique struggle to realize their dreams which are not as different as they may think.
Elsie dreams of nothing more than saving enough money from her job at the Betsy Ross Diner so she can get a car and get out of Waterbury, CT to start a new life. The brass mills have shut down and life in this town is nothing but a dead end.
Bashkim is a line cook at the Betsy Ross. He left a wife behind in Albania to make a better life in America. Chasing the American dream, anything is better than living in a country where you aren't even allowed to own your own cows because nothing belongs to the people. In a country where there is no dreams or freedom everything in America looks pretty good right now.
An unlikely pair Elise and Bashkim soon find themselves expecting a baby. Even though Bashkim claims he wants a life with Elise and the baby circumstances intervene and Elise becomes unsure of her or her daughters place in Bashkim's world. After a deciding event makes Elise strike out on her own to raise her daughter without Bashkim she spends the next 17 years raising her daughter Luljeta on her own.
Luljeta spends her life believing whatever her mother has told her about her father and does not seem overly affected by his absence in her life. Until one day Luljeta learns that her mother has been less than truthful in regards to her father and his family.
Told from alternating points of view this is an engaging story of a mother and daughter and each one's unique struggle to realize their dreams which are not as different as they may think.