Alien Nation
by Sofija Stefanovic
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Book Description:
A collection of 36 extraordinary stories, originally told on stage at the Public Theater’s Joe’s Pub in New York City, that brilliantly and beautifully illuminate what it’s like to be an immigrant in America.
Alien Nation is an exploration of culture shock, of isolation and community, loneliness and hope, heartbreak and promise. The stories in this collection reflect the real occurrences and inner thoughts of immigrants and children of immigrants; those who left in search of newness, opportunity, and survival, and those born in this new place, speaking multiple languages, straddling different worlds, and raised with divided hearts.
My Take:
I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley and HarperVia.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.
All thoughts and opinions are my own.
#NetGalley
I thoroughly enjoy hearing someone’s story in their own words.
It’s why I am so drawn to biographies (here | here | here | here ).
These stories share the wide variety of the emotions, experiences, and receptions found after immigrating.
Reading the lived experience of individuals living outside of their country of birth is truly something special – that they’ve chosen to share with us the ups and downs of the reality of their choices. Sometimes leaving “home” is a push out and sometimes it is a pull from. Either way, it is a choice to be made and a devil to deal with. Is the devil you know (“home”) better or worse than the devil (the new location) you don’t know?
Reading these experiences, good and bad, makes me want to hug each individual.
It also makes me want to shake so many people of their narrow-minded views based in racism, classism, elitism, all the other -isms. There are so many similarities across the globe that far outweigh our differences, which is clearly shown in the echoes throughout these stories regardless of the place of origin or the destination.
Favorite Stories:
A Little Tattle-Tale Around the Nannying Gig: by Christine Yvette Lewis
Three Decades of Unsolicited Fashion Advice from a Migrant Mother: by Alice Pung
Mortar, Porcelain, Brick: by Kay Iguh
Don’t Follow Your Dreams (Especially, the American Dream): by Emma Ramos
The Final Verdict
My rating: 3.5 stars
Would I recommend? Yes
I definitely recommend this book and
would have loved to see these stories performed on stage.
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