A Great Country
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Vikas Adam
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Written by:
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Shilpi Somaya Gowda
About this listen
From the New York Times bestselling author, a novel in the tradition of Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere, exploring the ties and fractures of a close-knit Indian-American family in the aftermath of a violent encounter with the police.
Pacific Hills, California: Gated communities, ocean views, well-tended lawns, serene pools, and now the new home of the Shah family. For the Shah parents, who came to America twenty years earlier with little more than an education and their new marriage, this move represents the culmination of years of hard work and dreaming. For their children, born and raised in America, success is not so simple.
For the most part, these differences among the five members of the Shah family are minor irritants, arguments between parents and children, older and younger siblings. But one Saturday night, the twelve-year-old son is arrested. The fallout from that event will shake each family member's perception of themselves as individuals, as community members, as Americans, and will lead each to consider: how do we define success? At what cost comes ambition? And what is our role and responsibility in the cultural mosaic of modern America?
For readers of The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett and Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid, A Great Country explores themes of immigration, generational conflict, social class and privilege as it reconsiders the myth of the model minority and questions the price of the American dream.©2024 Shilpi Somaya Gowda (P)2024 Doubleday Canada
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What the critics say
"A deeply moving, layered portrait of the hopes, dreams and fears a family carries as 'other' in the face of the modern American Dream, where social currency and privilege threaten even the most basic of instincts: to protect one's child at all costs. Shilpi Somaya Gowda has the incredible gift of telling poignant, empathetic stories that make us think differently about the world we live in, and A Great Country is no exception." —Ashley Audrain, New York Times bestselling author of The Push and The Whispers
"Poignant and propulsive, Shilpi Somaya Gowda's A Great Country grips you from the very first page and refuses to let you go. Filled with empathy and nuance, this thrilling exploration of immigration, the American dream and the model minority myth will touch your heart and mind. A gorgeous read!" —Jean Kwok, New York Times bestselling author of The Leftover Woman
"Shilpi has done it again with A Great Country—a tender, multi-layered meditation on family and community and how we find our way to belonging in both. The novel is also a poignant reminder that politics (and social justice) is always personal. I know other readers will fall as hard for the Shah family as I did and be enriched by the deep levels of empathy this engrossing story evokes." —Christine Pride, author of We Are Not Like Them
What listeners say about A Great Country
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- .C.
- 2024-05-19
Thought provoking
Excellent social commentary that strikes a balance between critical and thoughtful, something that seems increasingly rare to do
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- Anonymous User
- 2024-04-28
Well written story!
The story and how relatable it was given the times we are in right now. I realized a better understanding of racial profiling and how one person's perspectives have wide reaching consequences.
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- Anna Jacyszyn
- 2024-07-22
I love the story it reminds us to understand different cultures and how knowledge helps us love what we were once afraid of
I will always read a book I can learn a moral tale from that is why I enjoyed this good read
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- Daniela Barber
- 2024-09-14
Great and relevant book
This Canadian author wrote a very real and relevant story about an immigrant family. The narrator Vikas Adam brought the book to life and made it hard to put down.
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