Sandi K W. (Sandiinmississippi) reviewed on 5/12/2015 + 265 more book reviews

A Good American by Alex George begins in 1904 Germany where Frederick, a tubby amateur opera singer, falls in love with Jette, an ungainly higher class woman, and they find themselves expecting a baby. Their plan to immigrate to America is an impulsive act to get away from scandal, thus they find themselves mistakenly bound for New Orleans instead of NYC, eventually settling in MO amongst other German-speaking immigrants. This is their opening to security and to the books story of their family through several generations. I should have loved this book. The immigration story and time period is somewhat like mine; instead I just liked it. As it chugged along it didnt live up to its initial promise. There were spots where I wondered if the author had been accidentally symbolic with that in terms of the American dream because a big part of the book is Fredericks desire to always behave as a good American contrasted with Jettes disillusionment with their decisions. Characters drift in and out in a totally unlikely coincidental way. A family secret isnt much of a secret. Lots of the dialogue is pretty wooden. But it held my attention and the parts about the two world wars, and how the family became successful was interesting.

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