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A Good American

A Good American Paperback - 2013

by Alex George

  • Used
  • very good
  • Paperback

This is the story of the Meisenheimer family, told by James, a third-generation American living in Missouri. But above all, it is about the music in Frederick's heart, a song that began as an aria, was jazzed by ragtime, and became an anthem of love for his adopted country that the family still hears to this day.

Description

Penguin Publishing Group, 2013. Paperback. Very Good. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
Used - Very Good
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Details

  • Title A Good American
  • Author Alex George
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reprint
  • Condition Used - Very Good
  • Pages 448
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Penguin Publishing Group, NEW YORK
  • Date 2013
  • Features Deckle Edges, Price on Product - Canadian
  • Bookseller's Inventory # G0425253171I4N00
  • ISBN 9780425253175 / 0425253171
  • Weight 0.85 lbs (0.39 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.2 in (20.83 x 13.97 x 3.05 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Themes
    • Topical: Family
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Summary

A LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
A BOOKPAGE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Everything he’d seen had been unimaginably different from the dry, dour streets of home, and to his surprise he was not sorry in the slightest. He was smitten by the beguiling otherness of it all.
 
And so began my grandfather’s rapturous love affair with America—an affair that would continue until the day he died.
 
This is the story of the Meisenheimer family, told by James, a third-generation American living in Beatrice, Missouri. It’s where his German grandparents—Frederick and Jette—found themselves after journeying across the turbulent Atlantic, fording the flood-swollen Mississippi, and being brought to a sudden halt by the broken water of the pregnant Jette.
 
 A Good American tells of Jette’s dogged determination to feed a town sauerkraut and soul food; the loves and losses of her children, Joseph and Rosa; and the precocious voices of James and his brothers, sometimes raised in discord…sometimes in perfect harmony. 
 
But above all, A Good American is about the music in Frederick’s heart, a song that began as an aria, was jazzed by ragtime, and became an anthem of love for his adopted country that the family still hears to this day.

From the publisher

Alex George is an Englishman who lives, works, and writes in the middle of America. He studied law at Oxford University and worked for eight years as a corporate lawyer in London and Paris before moving to the United States in 2003.

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Media reviews

“There’s plenty of storytelling charm on display here, with echoes of John Irving’s humane zaniness.”—The New York Times Book Review

"As epic as an opera, as intimate as a lullaby, A Good American swept me through an entire century of triumph and tragedy with the wonderful Meisenheimer family...Alex George has created that rare and beautiful thing—a novel I finished and immediately wanted to start again."—Eleanor Brown, New York Times bestselling author of The Weird Sisters

“A sweeping, lush intergenerational novel about a family…learning to live in twentieth-century America.”—O, The Oprah Magazine
 
“This lush, epic tale of one family’s journey from immigrants to good Americans had me alternately laughing and crying, but always riveted. It’s a rich, rare treat of a book, and Alex George is a first-rate talent.” —Sara Gruen, New York Times bestselling author of Water for Elephants and Ape House
 
“Richly drawn, tragic, yet laced with humor…remarkable.” —Beth Hoffman, New York Times bestselling author of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt
 

About the author

Alex George is an Englishman who lives, works, and writes in the middle of America. He studied law at Oxford University and worked for eight years as a corporate lawyer in London and Paris before moving to the United States in 2003.

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