Thank you Mariner Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of A Great Country in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Mariner Books
Published: March 26, 2024
Summary:
From the New York Times bestselling author, a novel in the tradition of Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere, exploring the ties and fractures of a close-knit Indian-American family in the aftermath of a violent encounter with the police.
Pacific Hills, California: Gated communities, ocean views, well-tended lawns, serene pools, and now the new home of the Shah family. For the Shah parents, who came to America twenty years earlier with little more than an education and their new marriage, this move represents the culmination of years of hard work and dreaming. For their children, born and raised in America, success is not so simple.
For the most part, these differences among the five members of the Shah family are minor irritants, arguments between parents and children, older and younger siblings. But one Saturday night, the twelve-year-old son is arrested. The fallout from that event will shake each family member’s perception of themselves as individuals, as community members, as Americans, and will lead each to consider: how do we define success? At what cost comes ambition? And what is our role and responsibility in the cultural mosaic of modern America?
For readers of The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett and Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid, A Great Country explores themes of immigration, generational conflict, social class and privilege as it reconsiders the myth of the model minority and questions the price of the American dream.
My thoughts:
Somehow this is the first book I’ve read by this author, though I do have one or two of her other books sitting on my shelf. And after reading this one, I definitely plan on moving those other ones up on my tbr.
This book is such a thought-provoking and timely read and one that I have not stopped thinking about. I was riveted to the pages once I started and just know this book would make an ideal book club pick – there is so much to unpack here. With themes of immigration, social class, generational trauma, privilege and so much more, it really is a book that I almost think everyone would benefit from reading.
For a short book, this one certainly packs quite an emotional punch. It’s suspenseful, very readable and with all the messages it imparts, it’s not preachy at all. I loved it and highly recommend it!
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