Book Club: A Good American

A few months back some friends invited me to join their book club.  Under usual circumstances I probably would have declined as I don't like being told what to read.  In fact, I usually refuse to read things that come highly recommended by friends because I'm afraid I'll loathe the book entirely and then be forced to explain why on earth I detest said book.  However, I may have had a couple of adult beverages on board when I was invited and the appeal of hanging out with a handful of friends once a month over wine casually discussing (or not discussing) a book didn't sound too bad.  I must say, book club has been a pleasant surprise.  I've stepped away from the stack of nerdy research studies that usually fill my free time and started reading novels again.  I had forgotten what an escape reading can be.

This month's book was A Good American by Alex George.  The book has gotten good reviews and I love the idea of this kind of story.  Very basically, it's the story of a family lineage from the arrival of immigrant ancestors to current residents.  It's the story of a family's personal adaptations brought on by real and perceived social expectations on what it means to be a good American.  I've thought may times of what a story like this would look like about my family.  I've wondered if my little family is living up to the expectations my ancestors had when they fled in search of the America of their dreams...

I finished the book yesterday and I'm still processing my opinion of it.  I loved the first half of the book.  It was fast paced and briefly touched on social turmoil without putting a whole lot of judgement on it.  It skimmed through history much the same way a conversation with my grandparents might.  It swooped through painful and sentimental moments with ease and didn't dwell on any one particular strife. It seemed to stay true to the perspective of the narrator being a story teller and not a participant.  But then it shifted, and as the story came into the lifetime of the narrator I began to lose interest.  It began to stagnate on things that didn't seem as important to the story at large, things only important to the narrator.  I wasn't impressed with the shift.  While the story ended well and tied off many of the loose ends, I was left wanting more of the back story and not really caring about the narrator at all.

So, I read it.  I didn't give up on it partway through, which I have been know to do.  Is it my favorite book?  No.  Is it worth reading?  Yes.  It has characters that stay with you a while, and that you actually want to care about.  It's a book that does make you reflect a little.  And that is perhaps my favorite part of reading novels.  Have you read it?  What did you think?