American Fever

I loved this book. I've read many coming-of-age stories, many coming-to-America stories, and this one is jarringly memorable.

The narrator, Hira, who's found herself in a small town in Oregon for an exchange program, adroitly pinpoints and unsparingly skewers a range of unexamined American beliefs and behaviors. From the assumption that of course she must be grateful to have ‘escaped' Pakistan to her disgust about toilet paper, I found her observations and monologues - both inner and outer! - utterly immersive.

I'm surprised by how many reviewers have called Hira unlikeable, bitter, or worse. Sure, she has her issues - as do we all, especially as teenagers! - but she's by no means unaware of them, especially since she's telling the story retrospectively. (She's looking back from some unspecified time later in life, which I think was a smart choice on the writer's part.) I actually found her to be sympathetic and relatable; even though our life experiences are wildly different, she brought me right back to what it felt like to be sixteen. Also, let's be honest: it's not like her complaints about America are entirely off-base.

While I rarely recommend ebooks over physical ones, reading on my Kindle was so helpful since it made it easy to look up words and references I wasn't familiar with. There were still non-English banter and phrases I couldn't follow, but I could get the gist from the context. I would say the first third of this book, when Hira is still in Pakistan, is a little more work because of that, but I don't say that as a negative - books don't have to be easy to be worthwhile, and this one definitely was.

Thanks to Skyhorse Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.