I was thrilled to be chosen to review Alex George’s A Good American for BlogHer Book Club.
I’ve been on a classics trend in my reading lately: Les Miserables (I’m now 1/3 of the way done!) and Little Women are my most recent reads. I wanted to mix things up and read something a little more modern, but nothing was particularly catching my eye at the library, until I was chosen to review A Good American by Alex George.
The novel follows three generations of the Meisenheimer family: Frederick and Jette, their children Joseph and Rosa, Joseph’s children, including the narrator, James. The story focuses on the family’s immigration from Germany, their bar and restaurant in Beatrice, Missouri, their musical talent and their loves and losses.
I was 100% in love with this book until I hit the plot twist towards the end. The story was great as it was, and the “surprise ending” just didn’t feel necessary. Otherwise, the story was well-written and interesting, and kept a good balance between the three generations.
Final Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
(despite the unneeded plot twist at the end)
I was compensated for this BlogHer Book Club review but all opinions expressed are my own.
Alex and I actually live in the same time, and we’re in the process of working on a local charity cookbook project together. Such a great guy. I read this book over the summer and absolutely loved it!
I didn’t know BlogHer had a book club. I must be totally dense.
That’s awesome! And you should join the book club — I’ve gotten some great books through them!