"The New American" by Micheline Aharonian Marcom is a powerful and timely novel that offers a poignant exploration of the immigrant experience in America. Set against the backdrop of contemporary California, the story follows the journey of an Armenian-American woman named Emilio, who grapples with questions of identity, belonging, and cultural heritage as she navigates the complexities of love, loss, and family.

Marcom's writing is lyrical and evocative, immersing readers in Emilio's world and inviting them to reflect on their own notions of identity and heritage. Through Emilio's eyes, we are given a glimpse into the immigrant experience, from the struggles of assimilation to the enduring ties that bind us to our roots.

The characters are richly drawn and complex, each grappling with their own hopes, dreams, and fears. Emilio's journey of self-discovery is both deeply personal and universally resonant, as she confronts the challenges of reconciling her Armenian heritage with her American identity.

Overall, "The New American" is a thought-provoking and beautifully written novel that challenges readers to consider the complexities of the immigrant experience and the enduring power of love, family, and cultural heritage. Micheline Aharonian Marcom has crafted a masterpiece that is sure to leave a lasting impression on readers long after they've turned the final page.

This is an interesting novel about the experience of one Guatemalan college student who discovers he’s in the US illegally and is going to be deported. It’s controversial because it’s written by a non-Latinx writer, but it is well-written and brings attention to an aspect of the broken immigration system.

So my review is bound to be controversial. The book American Dirt came out about six months before this one and was met with contempt because the author wasn’t ethnic enough to write with authority. Curious that this book didn’t receive the same criticism. I feel like the stories were so similar that I am wondering what this will do for sales. I felt that the author was narrating a beautifully visual movie that has very little action to a blind person. The author is clearly a wordsmith who loves descriptors. The plot was tragic in many regards but the story was basic as probably one can expect about illegal immigrants trying to get into the US. Hardship, hardship, hardship. Thanks to NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

Requested without doing research and seems too similar to AD. Not sure this was the author's story to tell. I'll probably read this eventually and with a critical eye, but not at the moment.

I wanted to love this one, but I didn't- here's why. I expected (from the description) the story would begin with Emilio at school prior to his deportation, so we could witness the events in the order that they happened and follow along on his journey in real time- instead, it felt like the book started off abruptly in the middle of the story, and I found it so choppy and confusing the way the timeline jumped back and forth- it was really abrupt and difficult to follow. I also really didn't like the romance- it seemed out of place, unnecessary, and almost gross to have that in the story, given that Matilde had just been brutally raped. This one was, unfortunately, a miss for me.

DNF - I'm not interested in a Latinx immigration story that includes gratuitous violence and suffering, especially one told by a non-Latinx author. As was the case with American Dirt, we have to consider the harmful effects of novels that include over-generalizations about immigrant experiences, especially when these traumatic narratives are often written to invoke sympathy from the white audience.

With all the problems legal immigrants face daily, I had trouble picking up this book and reading it. It is a heart wrenching story of Emilio who thinks he is an American ‘dreamer”, but he’s not. He was not born here. He was born in Guatemala, before his parents emigrated. He thinks he can remain hidden and does until a car accident brings ICE into his life and he is deported. After deportation, an American lawyer works on his return. Emilio decides to return to America. And that is when the story really gets hard to read. The trek through Mexico is filled with dangers from the environment and from cartel thugs who delight in hurting migrants. There’s hope in the story as well, in the many people who offered them assistance. Micheline Aharonia Marcon has taken migrants out of the barrage of news and made them human, giving them a chance to tell their own story. It is a gripping, difficult story to read. I can’t imagine what it would be like living the story.

It's well written but I am conflicted that it wasn't written by a latinx author. If you can get past that fact it's a heart pounding edge of your seat reading. Check it out. I am giving it four stars because it's so well researched and the writing is solid. Happy reading!

Thoughtful and painful, this is the story of Emilio, an undocumented 21 year old college student who finds himself deported to the Guatemala he does not know. This has, sadly, been a very real situation. Emilio decides to try to get back to the US and this is his journey. It's a dark and dangerous trip, with the potential for death at every corner, especially in the desert. It's not an enjoyable or light read but it's enlightening. I'm curious how this will be received in the wake of the American Dirt situation. Both novels have an important message and should be read with an open mind. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

Thank you for this e-copy for review. My full review will be posted on my social media accounts, Amazon, and Goodreads.

Emilio is a college student, a Dreamer, living in California with his family and attending UC Berkeley. Unfortunately, he is a victim in a car accident with his friend, resulting in his deportation back to Guatemala. He is determined to return to California and reclaim his American life, the only one he has ever known.

The New American is the story of Emilio’s journey home. It is long, dangerous, and brutal — Not one I envy, and one that frankly, no one should have to experience. I admit to having limited knowledge on the topic of U.S. immigration, however, the harsh conditions and frequently hostile attitudes Emilio and his companions encountered, felt realistic.

Early on in his trek, Emilio meets a group traveling together, William, Jonatan, Pedro, and Matilde, who are hoping to make it to Arizona. As they continue, the group suffers from hunger, robbery and corruption, physical exhaustion and abuse, and obviously fear. With all of these treacherous elements at hand, do any of them make it? I felt for each of the characters in their struggles — How rough is life in Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and elsewhere, to be willing to risk it all for a chance — not a guarantee — at a better one?

I had a hard time with the romantic interest in this story. It felt hasty, and somewhat inauthentic, though I recognize shared tragedy and a sense of urgency can bond people. I also didn’t care for the diversions into characters’ thoughts and I think, dreams or memories — These pieces, while short, were frequent and felt unnecessary to me. The New American for the most part, however, kept me engaged. I was eager to find out the result of Emilio and the rest of the group’s journey — 3.5 stars.

This is likely to evoke emotions and opinions about immigration for any reader (no matter your stance). It's pretty well written and kept me mostly engaged. This author has been published a number of times and knows how to create a good plot.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

Once upon a time everyone was a new American. Nowadays the prevalent mentality has shifted too far to recognize or remember that fact. The eponymous protagonist is indeed a very new American, one of the Dreamers, whose family came over from Guatemala when he was just a kid. Most of his family is actually in the country legally, but because of how he came to be here with his father, he actually isn’t legal, the fact he wasn’t even aware of until he turned 16 and wanted to get a license. And so he speaks English without an accent, attends UC Berkeley, has a white American girlfriend and his life is on track until a random search gets him detained and then deported back to Guatemala. Determined to get back to his American life, he sets off to get back to US and so his nightmarish journey through hostile territories and hostile conditions begins. The author has done serious research on the subject, so it’s more than likely that the situations the characters of the book find themselves in are probably someone’s real life stories and they are all the more terrifying for it…theft, rape, beatings and more. All the things a person would subject themselves to for a chance of a new start in a more prosperous (however unwelcoming) country. Without a question, a very timely book. Seems like there’s a fair amount of immigrant stories right now on literary shelves. I’m actually surprised to be the first person reviewing this, seems like it should be read more. Or maybe it’s just too sad. Emotionally the journey in the book is absolutely devasting, straight down to the gut punch of an ending. Glad I read it, a well written book with a compelling protagonist that makes you think and emotionally engage is always a great find. There are questions too…how does someone without any legal papers get to attend college? On a scholarship no less. What are the logistics there? Also, probably a more incendiary one…but one of the themes in the book is that citizenship is an almost roulette like matter, some get born into first world, some into third. A chance thing. And those born into third are aware of how terrible their circumstances are, how terrible life in their countries is…it’s terrible enough to risk horrific dangers just to get out of and yet they continue (quite enthusiastically) to bring more lives into this sort of life. And yes, I understand that safe sex, abortions and so on are much tougher in the developing countries (and possibly soon in the US), but still…there are ways. And yet…our protagonist’s love interest at just 22 already has 2 kids. She’s perfectly aware of the kind of life she was leading in her native country, of the world surrounding her and thought…well, why not bring some kids into this? Really? So that now she can leave these kids and risk her life trying to get to a country seems to vehemently (or so the news tells us) not want her, a country whose language she doesn’t speak, where she will have no rights or legal protection, hoping to secure some menial low paying job to send some money back to her kids. It’s admirable in a way, but also probably doesn’t win anyone with antiimmigrant ideas over to her side of the argument. But at any rate, the situation is much more complex than the individual stories comprising it. Central America has become a war zone, it should warrant political asylums being granted. In a different world, it seems. In this one there are books, smart, sad, politically correct books that ought to be read if only to exercise some compassion muscles. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.