This Land Was Made For You and Me: Immigrant ExperiencesLike this list

18 items

• Exit West

  Hamid, Mohsin, 1971-

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  The story of two young lovers whose furtive affair is shaped by local unrest on the eve of a civil war that erupts in a cataclysmic bombing attack, forcing them to abandon their previous home and lives.

• The Boy on the Beach

  My Family's Escape From Syria and Our Hope for a New Home

  Kurdi, Tima

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  The aunt of Alan Kurdi--the young Syrian boy whose photograph brought attention to the plight of Syrian refugees--discusses her family and her life growing up in Syria, her life since immigrating to Canada, the civil war in Syria, and her efforts to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A River of Stars

  Hua, Vanessa,

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  In a powerful debut novel about motherhood, immigration, and identity, a pregnant Chinese woman makes her way to California and stakes a claim to the American dream.

• It Occurs to Me That I Am America

  New Stories and Art

  Santlofer, Jonathan, 1946-

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  A provocative anthology of original short stories by 30 best-selling and award-winning writers; considers the fundamental ideals of a free, just and compassionate democracy as expressed through fiction and graphic artwork.

• Brother

  Chariandy, David, 1969-

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  Coming of age during a sweltering summer in their Toronto housing complex, two boys, the sons of Trinidadian immigrants, dare to imagine better lives in the face of a violent shooting and the pulsing beats of 1990s hip-hop culture.

• Always Another Country

  a Memoir of Exile and Home

  Msimang, Sisonke,

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  Sisonke Msimang was born in exile, the daughter of South African freedom fighters. Always Another Country is the story of a young girl's path to womanhood - a journey that took her from Africa to America and back again, then on to a new home in…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Americanah

  Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi, 1977-

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  A young woman from Nigeria leaves behind her home and her first love to start a new life in America, only to find her dreams are not all she expected.

• Little Bee

  Cleave, Chris

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  The fates of a 16-year-old Nigerian orphan and a well-to-do British couple seeking to repair their strained marriage with a free holiday are joined when the couple decide to stray beyond the walls of their holiday resort on a Nigerian beach.

• A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea

  One Refugee's Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival

  Fleming, Melissa (Melissa R.),

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  Recounts the powerful experiences of Syrian refugee Doaa Zamel, who was cast adrift in a frigid sea with the children of drowned parents after their dangerously overcrowded ship sank, in an account that details what their experiences reveal about an…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Immigrant, Montana

  Kumar, Amitava, 1963-

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  A student from India attending a university in New York meditatively and idealistically navigates the unfamiliar political and social dynamics of campus life as an immigrant while searching for love in ways that shape his ideas about culture and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• America Is Not the Heart

  Castillo, Elaine

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  Three generations of women from one immigrant family trying to reconcile the home they left behind with the life they're building in America.

• If You See Me, Don't Say Hi

  Patel, Neel,

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  A debut story collection by a first-generation Indian American gives voice to, and undermines, deeply held stereotypes through the subversive choices of protagonists who confront racism, discontinue hypocritical social mores and navigate impossible…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• What We Were Promised

  Tan, Lucy

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  Returning home to Shanghai after years of chasing the American dream, Wei Zhen and his newly wealthy family, including his wife, Lina, and their daughter, Karen, must each confront painful secrets and unfulfilled promises.

• Human Cargo

  a Journey Among Refugees

  Moorehead, Caroline

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  A portrait of the lives of refugees cites an alarming percentage of the world's population that has been forced to abandon home and family in order to survive, sharing the personal stories of people struggling to make lives for themselves in such…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Namesake

  Lahiri, Jhumpa

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  A portrait of the immigrant experience follows the Ganguli family from their traditional life in India through their arrival in Massachusetts in the late 1960s and their difficult melding into an American way of life.

• In the Country We Love

  My Family Divided

  Guerrero, Diane, 1986-

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  Diane Guerrero was just fourteen years old on the day her parents and brother were arrested and deported to Colombia while she was at school. Born in the U.S., she was able to remain in the country and continue her education, depending on the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Behold the Dreamers

  Mbue, Imbolo,

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  Call it a recession novel, or an immigrant tale -- both are true. In 2007, Manhattan-based Cameroonian immigrant Jende Jonga gets a job chauffeuring for Lehman Brothers executive Clark Edwards, easing the financial strain on his family. At first,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Lucky Child

  a Daughter of Cambodia Reunites With the Sister She Left Behind

  Ung, Loung

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  Describes the Ung family's experiences of relocation from war-torn Cambodia and assimilation in Vermont, a transition marked by leaving a sibling behind and the family's struggles to forge a new life in a very different society.