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5 Books that Tell the Stories and Experiences of Immigrants

By April 26, 2021Literature, News

Immigrant stories are extraordinary and diverse, and many of the voices have shared tales of their journeys through generations.

Parents and grandparents are usually the ones to offer insights into what it was like to arrive in a new country and what a struggle it was to build a life for their families, bringing with them their own culture, practices, and language.

These recommended books show a glimpse into their worlds, and those journeys. From the witty and engaging to the intimate and heart-wrenching, the stories of immigrants shine in these five compelling novels.

A dystopian story that follows a Candace Chen, a millennial woman in New York feeling The death of her Chinese immigrant parents has created a sense of uncertainty, and she finds comfort in her work and home routines. A plague sweeps the world and Chen soon finds herself alone in the abandoned hellscape of New York, anonymously photographing the ravaged city until a group of survivors come along…

“A send-up and takedown of the rituals, routines, and missed opportunities of contemporary life, Ling Ma’s Severance is a moving family story, a quirky coming-of-adulthood tale, and a hilarious, deadpan satire. Most important, it’s a heartfelt tribute to the connections that drive us to do more than survive.”

This story of Lucy Hull, daughter of a shady Russian father, follows her on an epic road-trip across the Midwest USA with a ten-year-old child she has ‘kidnapped’. The book is highly recommended for its ‘quirky atypical protagonists’ and relatable immigrant reflections written by part-Hungarian author Makkai.

“Lucy Hull, a children’s librarian in Hannibal, Missouri, finds herself both kidnapper and kidnapped when her favorite patron, ten-year-old Ian Drake, runs away from home. Ian needs Lucy’s help to smuggle books past his overbearing mother, who has enrolled Ian in weekly antigay classes. Desperate to save him from the Drakes, Lucy allows herself to be hijacked by Ian when she finds him camped out in the library after hours, and the odd pair embarks on a crazy road trip. But is it just Ian who is running away? And should Lucy be trying to save a boy from his own parents?”

Elaine Castillo’s rich and poignant saga is about identity, origin, and the multitude of lives we can live in one lifetime. The story is about Hero De Vera as she arrives in America still haunted by her life in the Philippines. Her uncle and aunt take her in after she is disowned by her parents, and the only person brave enough to ask about her scars is her American-born niece.

“An increasingly relevant story told with startling lucidity, humor, and an uncanny ear for the intimacies and shorthand of family ritual, America Is Not the Heart is a sprawling, soulful debut about three generations of women in one family struggling to balance the promise of the American dream and the unshakeable grip of history. With exuberance, grit, and sly tenderness, here is a family saga; an origin story; a romance; a narrative of two nations and the people who leave one home to grasp at another.”

Julie Otsuka’s mesmerising and intimate novel tells the story of Japanese ‘picture brides’ in the first person plural, capturing the collective voices of these women as they share this arduous journey, reflecting beautifully on identity, culture, and a shared history.

“In eight unforgettable sections, The Buddha in the Attic traces the extraordinary lives of ‘picture brides’, from their arduous journeys by boat, to their arrival in San Francisco and their tremulous first nights as new wives; from their experiences raising children who would later reject their culture and language, to the deracinating arrival of war. Once again, Julie Otsuka has written a spellbinding novel about identity and loyalty, and what it means to be an American in uncertain times.”

History of Love is about a rediscovered book and how it mysteriously connects an old man searching for his son and a girl as she seeks a cure for her widowed mother’s loneliness. Nicole Krauss, although not an immigrant herself, writes with such depth and power that she does the character of Polish immigrant Leo Gursky true justice, entwining the family stories together.

“Leo Gursky taps his radiator each evening to let his upstairs neighbour know he’s still alive. But it wasn’t always like this: in the Polish village of his youth, he fell in love and wrote a book… Sixty years later and half a world away, fourteen-year-old Alma, who was named after a character in that book, undertakes an adventure to find her namesake and save her family.” 

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