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tl;dr Review:
A beautifully written story capturing the migrant experience and immigration in America across three generations.
Full Review:
The explanation may not make much sense as you read it right now, but it will once you read the book. As a daughter of a Jamaican mother, I always love books that detail the experiences of others as they make their way in this country. I can’t say this is my absolute favorite book on the topic, but the writing and story are well done.
The publisher’s description gives some hint that it will be a rollercoaster of a tale.
How many lives fit in a lifetime?
When Hero De Vera arrives in America–haunted by the political upheaval in the Philippines and disowned by her parents–she’s already on her third. Her uncle gives her a fresh start in the Bay Area, and he doesn’t ask about her past. His younger wife knows enough about the might and secrecy of the De Vera family to keep her head down. But their daughter–the first American-born daughter in the family–can’t resist asking Hero about her damaged hands.
An increasingly relevant story told with startling lucidity, humor, and an uncanny ear for the intimacies and shorthand of family ritual, America Is Not the Heart is a sprawling, soulful debut about three generations of women in one family struggling to balance the promise of the American dream and the unshakeable grip of history. With exuberance, grit, and sly tenderness, here is a family saga; an origin story; a romance; a narrative of two nations and the people who leave one home to grasp at another.
There is something to be said about how it brilliantly showcases what it’s like growing up the product of a culture and a country, yet without feeling like you fit in anywhere. You’re not white enough to be white, not fully (here, Filipino, but fill in the blank for anyone who has experienced it) to be considered a native of the country since you were born in America. Yet you grew up with the traditions and the stories and the food and the culture. Maybe this review makes sense to some, maybe it doesn’t. But then again, I think that perfectly sums up this book. It will either hit you in the gut with its precise descriptions or you’ll feel removed from the experience.
Overall, I give it 3.5 thumbs up.
