between 2.5 and 3 stars. there are a few of these, of course, that are absolutely outstanding. (i especially liked the essays of porochista khakpour, nicole dennis-benn, fatimah asghar, krutika mallikarjuna, alexander chee, daniel jose older, and mona chalabi.) what, though, i think is so meaningful about this collection (and i've read a handful like this over the last number of months) is how wide ranging the countries are. they cover some of the "usual" places you'd expect to read about in a book about immigration, but there are also stories from places that haven't been in any of the other books i've read on this topic (cyprus, ireland, nigeria) which means there are stories unlike any in the other books i've read on this topic. this is a really nice collection.

"What I wanted to say was how it felt to grow up in a country where the consensus seemed to be that Chinese culture looked best as an accessory on a white person." -- Jenny Zhang (Blond Girls in Cheongsams)

"I became an immigrant when I was twenty-two, but when you're a white woman from the United States and you go to live indefinitely in London, people call you an expat. That's just one of your many privileges, the things you get away with. People also ask you when you're going home. That they ask, and don't tell you to go, is a crucial distinction in the way many white British people regard you as opposed to other immigrants. Another advantage." -- Jean Hannah Edelstein (An American, Told) ( )

I was thrilled to find a book with these talented people writing about the immigrant experience. I was already fans of so many of the writers in this book, but this book only increased that. I imagine some of these pieces required huge strength to put out into the world. Some of these essays are like little pieces now lodged in my heart... and that is coming from a girl whose distant relatives have been in this country for quite a while. I like to think I'm very open minded but some of the bits in this book were eyeopening. But everyone should read about immigrant experiences -- whether you're an immigrant or not. I do appreciate reading about the experiences of these amazing writers. These essays are real, risky, raw, required and necessary. ( )

The Good Immigrant is a collection of twenty-six essays by first and second-generation immigrants about what it is like living and producing their art in a country torn apart by racism and xenophobia. It is a collection of essays by people whose lives are directly affected by Donald Trump’s racism, white nationalism, and hate-inspired policies.

What does it feel like to tour the U.S. in a band when you’re all Muslim? What does it feel like to always be the “other”? That are only the surface questions that come up while reading The Good Immigrant. But this collection is not so obvious as that. There are stories such as “Sidra” by Rahawa Haile of the heartbreaking family fractures that can happen. Families fall apart and fathers disappear in immigrant and non-immigrant families, but the questions of why can be very different. I loved Teju Cole’s essay, “The Blackness of the Panther” which takes a contrarian view of the famed film. Chimene Suleyman’s “On Being Kim Kardashian” was thought-provoking, a consideration of the ambiguity of some immigrant identities. Yann Mounir Demange’s “The Long Answer” considers a different kind of ambiguity.

Some essays are very direct, like a memoir. Others are more oblique, written from an angle that demands we think more deeply in order to understand. Some are written simply and others are more complex, but while the approach varies, the theme of being a step outside the main remains constant.

In 2016, a similar collection of the same name was released as an effort to amplify diverse voices. But then Brexit happened, and the idea of “The Good Immigrant” became an urgent counter-argument to the xenophobic narratives of bad immigrants and white nationalism and isolationism. The toxic strains that led to the U.K.’s disastrous Brexit vote are spreading worldwide and helped elect Donald Trump. It is a gift to us, that Nikesh Shukla recruited Chimene Suleyman, a contributor to the 2016 book who now lives in the U.S. to join him in producing this 2019 collection of immigrants to the U.S.

I received a copy of The Good Immigrant from the publisher through NetGalley.

The Good Immigrant at Little, Brown and Company
Nikesh Shukla author site
Chimene Suleyman author site

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2019/04/07/97803165242921/ ( )