A GREAT COUNTRY by Shilpi
Somaya Gowda is a novel which uses suspense and family dynamics to explore
attitudes towards race, immigration, class, and privilege. Early on, Gowda
writes about how “a country whose global advantage was its diversity born of
immigration was turning its back on what had made it great.” She describes the
lives of two hard-working immigrants, husband and wife Ashok and Priya
Shah, who recently moved from Irvine to the wealthier enclave of Pacific Hills.
Running their own business, they “keep their heads down” and seem to be
fulfilling the American Dream. All of that is disrupted when their 12-year-old son,
Ajay, is arrested by an over-zealous cop who fails to account for Ajay’s age
and communication difficulties likely attributable to autism. There are two
older sisters, Deepa – a rebel at heart who prefers their old neighbors and
tries to open her parents’ eyes to “the challenges of being a visible minority
and an obvious foreigner” – and Maya, a young high school student desperately
trying to fit in and loosing her own identity in the process. A timely and
well-crafted look into American society and a family in crisis, A GREAT COUNTRY received a starred review from Publishers
Weekly who wrote “Readers won’t want to put this down.” I concur – I
read this novel in two days – definitely recommended. Teachers, students, and book
groups will find much to discuss; as Gowda prompts in her author’s note when referring
to the South Asian American post-pandemic experience: “the minority group often deemed to be 'model' in the US was being forced to
reconsider its role and comfort level in this country. Should we be seeking
common cause with other communities of color? Or protecting ourselves in
dangerous times? What did it mean to be an American in this new context, hyphenated
or otherwise?”
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