America for Beginners, Leah Franqui
America for Beginners, Leah Franqui
List: $26.99 | Sale: $18.89
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America for Beginners
A Novel

Author: Leah Franqui

Narrator: Soneela Nankani

Unabridged: 11 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 07/24/2018

Categories: Fiction, Women, Sagas


Synopsis

Recalling contemporary classics such as Americanah, Behold the Dreamers, and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, a funny, poignant, and insightful debut novel that explores the complexities of family, immigration, prejudice, and the American Dream through meaningful and unlikely friendships forged in unusual circumstances.Pival Sengupta has done something she never expected: she has booked a trip with the First Class India USA Destination Vacation Tour Company. But unlike other upper-class Indians on a foreign holiday, the recently widowed Pival is not interested in sightseeing. She is traveling thousands of miles from Kolkota to New York on a cross-country journey to California, where she hopes to uncover the truth about her beloved son, Rahi. A year ago Rahi devastated his very traditional parents when he told them he was gay. Then, Pival’s husband, Ram, told her that their son had died suddenly—heartbreaking news she still refuses to accept. Now, with Ram gone, she is going to America to find Rahi, alive and whole or dead and gone, and come to terms with her own life.Arriving in New York, the tour proves to be more complicated than anticipated. Planned by the company’s indefatigable owner, Ronnie Munshi—a hard-working immigrant and entrepreneur hungry for his own taste of the American dream—it is a work of haphazard improvisation. Pavil’s guide is the company’s new hire, the guileless and wonderfully resourceful Satya, who has been in America for one year—and has never actually left the five boroughs. For modesty’s sake Pival and Satya will be accompanied by Rebecca Elliot, an aspiring young actress. Eager for a paying gig, she’s along for the ride, because how hard can a two-week ""working"" vacation traveling across America be?Slowly making her way from coast to coast with her unlikely companions, Pival finds that her understanding of her son—and her hopes of a reunion with him—are challenged by her growing knowledge of his adoptive country. As the bonds between this odd trio deepens, Pival, Satya, and Rebecca learn to see America—and themselves—in different and profound new ways.A bittersweet and bighearted tale of forgiveness, hope, and acceptance, America for Beginners illuminates the unexpected enchantments life can hold, and reminds us that our most precious connections aren’t always the ones we seek.This audiobook includes an episode of the Book Club Girl Podcast, featuring an interview with Leah Franqui about America for Beginners.

About Leah Franqui

Leah Franqui is a graduate of Yale University and received an MFA at NYU-Tisch. She is a playwright and the recipient of the 2013 Goldberg Playwriting Award, and also wrote a web series for which she received the Alfred Sloan Foundation Screenwriting award (aftereverafterwebseries.com). A Puerto Rican-Jewish Philadelphia native, Franqui lives with her Kolkata-born husband in Mumbai. AMERICA FOR BEGINNERS is her first novel.


Reviews

This is the story of a mother who travels to America to find his missing son. There are a lot of relevant contemporary themes embedded in it. The topics pertaining to the pressures faced during migration to a different country, difficulties of people belonging to the LGBT community, how cons......more

An original and charming story. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Pival Sengupta lives in India, and she is recently widowed. A year prior, her son, Rahi, told his parents he was gay and fled for California. Before he died, Pival’s husband told her that their son had died. Pival packs her bags and heads to the United Stat......more

Goodreads review by DJ

Favorite Quotes: They had raised Rebecca with strong assurances that she could be anything she wanted to be, and then, like so many American parents, were surprised and dismayed when she believed them. He ate ravenously at every meal, piling on plate after plate of rice and patting his nonexistent st......more