Mama Reviews...Alex George's "A Good American."

I am happy to be participating in my first ever session of the BlogHer Book Club.  I do like to read, as you may well know by now, and I love discussing what I read.  I think it's empowering to be able to raise your own ideas & questions about a book or article within a group, don't you?

Photo courtesy of barnesandnoble.com

Alex George's A Good American was sounding a little too much like Annie Proulx's Accordion Crimes, for the first few chapters and that had me a little nervous.  I was happy when it eventually diverged from many of the commonalities I was noticing and headed off in its own direction, leaving my thought that it might turn out to be Accordion Crimes Lite in the dust.

The novel begins in Germany in the early 1900's with a young couple, Frederick and Jette.  Frederick finds success, eventually, by wooing Jette with operatic arias sang a cappella through a hedge in a local park, weekend after weekend.  Their story moves quickly, and before long they are leaving life in Germany behind, along with everything they have ever known, to start a new life in America.

Near the beginning of the story, when Frederick and Jette dock in New Orleans, I got my first glimpse of how truly hopeful Frederick was about his new home:

The Negroes' dark muscles gleamed in the afternoon sun.  Some laughed and joked as they hauled cargo along the gangplank and onto the quay.  Others whistled and sang.  Frederick thought of the grim-faced men at Bremen who had silently loaded the same cargo two weeks earlier.  His heart ballooned.  What sort of country can this be, he wondered, when even the hardest jobs are performed with such joy? 

I found myself feeling like I wanted to hug Frederick or pat him on the head in this moment, as his sentiment seemed so innocent, almost childlike (a trait that surfaced more than once).  Here was the perspective of someone who was from the outside, banking on America as being an optimal place to live.  Mr. George uses instances similar to this one throughout the book that made me really feel for Frederick and Jette, although they elicited very different feelings, individually.  I'm not sure I can relate to that level of hope.  Yes, I've started new jobs, given big presentations, become a mother.  Hope is relative, but I don't know if I can relate, at all, to placing all the hope you've got in a place you know nothing about.  And then to think about how many thousands and thousands of immigrants did just that...it's kind of amazing.

As a descriptive person and a language lover, I appreciated Mr. George's free use of excellent vocabulary throughout the book.  I didn't have to read the book with a dictionary open next to me, but I did feel a kind of satisfaction in knowing that I was reading something I could sink my teeth into, so to speak.  I didn't find that the vocabulary was gratuitous either; it was well-placed and enhanced the story.

Music and food remain themes throughout the book, as they do in so many Americans' lives, I think it's safe to say.  Music and food are two things everyone needs in their life, and two things people have needed for a very, very, very long time.  These threads weave through the years represented in the book and are traditions to which readers can relate.

I don't know about any of the other readers, but I certainly got to thinking about what makes a "good American," and whether or not I, myself, am one.  While I don't agree that the book is the roller coaster of emotion, vacillating from hilarity to anguish as is described in some of the book reviews on the cover, it made me think and I certainly enjoyed it.  If you are looking for an uncomplicated, thoughtful, historically-based novel, give A Good American a go.

I was provided with a copy of A Good American and am being compensated for this review.  However, all ideas and opinions expressed above are purely my own.

For more information on A Good American and to see the discussion questions posed to participants each week throughout the campaign, click here.