My New American Life
by Francine Prose (9780061713798)

A darkly humorous, bitingly real portrait of a particular moment in American history, where people longed for an ideal promised by the Founding Fathers but found themselves enmeshed instead in a culture of lies and fears, rife with thorny immigration issues and disturbing images of men in prison suits at Guantanamo. It is 2005, and 26-year-old ALbanian Lula is waitressing illegally and sharing a tiny apartment with three other immigrant hopefuls in New York?s Alphabet City. When she lands a job as caretaker to a high school senior in suburban New Jersey and moves in with Mister Stanley, an idealistic college professor turned Wall Street executive, and his rebellious son Zeke, it seems that the security, comfort, and happiness of the American dream might finally be within reach. In true American fashion, everyone gets what he wants and feels good about it. Things take a different turn, however, when Lula?s Albanian ?brothers? show up in a brand-new black Lexus SUV. Hoodie, Leather Jacket, and the Cute One remind her that all Albanians are family, but what they ask her to do is no small thing. Lula?s new American life suddenly becomes more complicated, as she struggles to find her footing as a stranger in a strange new land. Is it possible that her new American life is not as completely different from her old Albanian one as she once imagined?

USD $14.99