Skip to content

A Good American

A Good American Hardcover - 2012

by Alex George

  • Used
  • very good
  • Hardcover

Description

Penguin Publishing Group, 2012. Hardcover. Very Good. Former library book; May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
Used - Very Good
NZ$10.00
FREE Shipping to USA Standard delivery: 4 to 8 days
More Shipping Options
Ships from ThriftBooks (Washington, United States)
The BIBLIO Guarantee | Ask Seller a Question

Details

  • Title A Good American
  • Author Alex George
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition First Edition
  • Condition Used - Very Good
  • Pages 387
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Penguin Publishing Group, New York
  • Date 2012
  • Bookseller's Inventory # G039915759XI4N10
  • ISBN 9780399157592 / 039915759X
  • Weight 1.35 lbs (0.61 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.5 in (23.11 x 16.26 x 3.81 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Library of Congress subjects Immigrants - United States, Life change events
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2011047109
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

About ThriftBooks Washington, United States

Biblio member since 2018
Seller rating: This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.

From the largest selection of used titles, we put quality, affordable books into the hands of readers

Terms of Sale: 30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.

Browse books from ThriftBooks

Summary

An uplifting novel about the families we create and the places we call home.

It is 1904. When Frederick and Jette must flee her disapproving mother, where better to go than America, the land of the new? Originally set to board a boat to New York, at the last minute, they take one destined for New Orleans instead ("What's the difference? They're both new"), and later find themselves, more by chance than by design, in the small town of Beatrice, Missouri. Not speaking a word of English, they embark on their new life together.

Beatrice is populated with unforgettable characters: a jazz trumpeter from the Big Easy who cooks a mean gumbo, a teenage boy trapped in the body of a giant, a pretty schoolteacher who helps the young men in town learn about a lot more than just music, a minister who believes he has witnessed the Second Coming of Christ, and a malevolent, bicycle-riding dwarf.

A Good American is narrated by Frederick and Jette's grandson, James, who, in telling his ancestors' story, comes to realize he doesn't know his own story at all. From bare-knuckle prizefighting and Prohibition to sweet barbershop harmonies, the Kennedy assassination, and beyond, James's family is caught up in the sweep of history. Each new generation discovers afresh what it means to be an American. And, in the process, Frederick and Jette's progeny sometimes discover more about themselves than they had bargained for.

Poignant, funny, and heartbreaking, A Good American is a novel about being an outsider-in your country, in your hometown, and sometimes even in your own family. It is a universal story about our search for home.

From the publisher

Alex George is an Englishman who lives, works, and writes Missouri. 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. To learn more about Alex George, please visit www.alexgeorgebooks.com.

Media reviews

"This lush, epic tale of one family's journey from immigrant 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

"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. By turns laugh-out-loud funny and achingly sad, the story of the residents of Beatrice, Missouri, and all their glorious, messy secrets and dreams is a winner from the first page. 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

"Richly drawn, tragic, yet laced with humor-A Good American is a remarkable, multigenerational story of a German immigrant family struggling to find roots as dreams collide with honor and secrets lead to heartache."
-Beth Hoffman, New York Times-bestselling author of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

". . . at once funny and sad and spectacularly real. A must-read."
-Speer Morgan, editor of The Missouri Review

"A Good American is a novel to be savored. It's brave, tender, and funny. As George promises in the opening line of this multigenerational story, 'Always, there was music.' "
-Rebecca Rasmussen, author of The Bird Sisters

"Alex George's A Good American is good, old-fashioned storytelling, and his characters, both recognizable and startlingly fresh each time, linger in the mind and heart like the strains of a treasured melody. By turns funny and heartbreaking, A Good American lifts the reader from the first sentence and carries her all the way to the powerful end with the swiftness and confidence of the big muddy river running through the little town of Beatrice, Missouri. It was truly a joy to read."
-Lise Saffran, author of Juno's Daughters

A Good American has been chosen as one of Bookpage’s Best Books of 2012

About the author

Alex George is an Englishman who lives, works, and writes Missouri. 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. To learn more about Alex George, please visit www.alexgeorgebooks.com.

Hang on… we’re fetching the requested page.