American Street

American Street

Ibi Zoboi

ISBN:  9780062473042

A coworker of mine is starting a Young @ Heart book club, focusing on titles that appeal to readers who are, obviously, young at heart.  While many of the titles are young adult, not all of them are.  The characters, however, are all young adults facing a variety of challenges and experiences.  This title is scheduled as their first selection.

Summary

On the corner of American Street and Joy Road, Fabiola must figure out what her version of the American dream will look like now that she is facing a new life in America without her mother.  Recently immigrated from Haiti, Fabiola struggles to fit in with her rambunctious American cousins, understand the culture of Detroit, explore a new romance, and retain her Haitian and vodou roots.  As she finds herself moving deeper into her new reality, she quickly realizes that freedom is not free, and she must find out what she really wants.

What I Liked

I loved that this book integrated elements of Fabiola’s Haitian and vodou roots in a realistic, respectful way.  Not only are Fabiola’s beliefs an important part of her life and rher decisions, they are described with beautiful detail and realism.  The author does an excellent job of blending both Fabiola’s home culture and her new American surroundings while being respectful of both.  Throughout the story, the reader clearly feels the tension of trying to reconcile two very different worlds to create an individual dream.

What I Didn’t Like

I’ll admit, it’s been awhile since I’ve read a young adult book, so it took me a while to get into the dialogue and slang that was used by the characters.  While I was still trying to figure out the “voices” of the characters, I had a hard time getting into the story.  I also didn’t really care for the stories of the different characters that were dropped into the overall plot.  While I appreciated the background that they provided about different characters, as a whole, I found them a little disruptive and hard to reconcile with the rest of the writing.

Overall Feeling

I enjoyed this book, but it definitely wasn’t my favorite read.  As a young adult book, it’s a fairly quick read once you get into the story.  The story does do a great job of making you think about the cost of your dreams and what you would be willing to sacrifice for your family.  It’s also an interesting look at different cultures and how they come together to make up individuals.  The story raises important questions, but for me, they were sometimes lost in the writing.  I’d recommend reading it as a good coming of age story that forces you to think about the issues impacting families today.