Curated by literary expert Sally
Allen, author of Unlocking Worlds: A Reading Companion for Book Lovers
(Griffins Wharf Publishing) Sally spent her childhood going back and forth from
America to her grandparents’ home to a little island in Greece.
In this listicle, here are her
top ten novels that best describe the American Experience – for better or worse
– and why they perfectly encapsulate our country. Growing up between two
cultures, Greek and American, heightened my awareness, from an early age, of
America not only as a physical place but also a shifting, continually evolving
idea. While Greece meant shared history and traditions, America meant reinventing
and coexisting, too often uneasily, among diverse histories and traditions. The
American experience is an intersection among those who came to America seeking
“a better life” with those who were brought against their will and enslaved
with those whose way of life was destroyed.
Though far from definitive, the
following 10 books provide a starting point for exploring, to paraphrase James
Baldwin, the various, beautiful, and terrible American experiences.
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman
Melville
Melville’s discursive classic sweeps readers from the docks
of New Bedford, Massachusetts to the stormy waters of the Atlantic. Ishamel, the
narrator, chronicles his friendship with Polynesian harpooner Queequog and their
experiences on a whaling ship.
Its captain, Ahab, is consumed by a secret
mission of revenge against the white whale responsible for his missing leg.
The Good Lord Bird by James
McBride
John Brown’s life in the years
before and through his ill-fated 1859 raid on Harper’s Ferry is narrated by Henry
Shackleford, a young slave whom Brown kidnaps/rescues. Henry’s playful
irreverence is revealed in the first two lines and holds up to the very last
page of this remarkable novel that makes us laugh out loud even as we’re
shedding bitter tears.
The Buddha in the Attic by Julie
Otsuka
The collective “we” tells the
stories of Japanese “picture brides.” Women of every class and background, they
were sent to the U.S. at the beginning of the 20th century to marry men they
knew only from their photos. In prose that blooms poetry and music, the novel
opens readers’ minds to what it would have been like to step into a world
turned upside down and have no way out but through.
Roman Fever by Edith
Wharton
Wharton’s
novella opens with two upper class New York women sitting together on a balcony
overlooking Rome. As their daughters gallivant around the city, the ladies
reminisce about their younger days doing the same. It all appears quite
civilized until their tangled relationship gradually emerges, exposing the
decay underlying the gilded surface. The last line delivers an epic sucker
punch.
Passing by Nella
Larson
In
1920s Harlem, Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield, two mixed-race women who grew up
together, reconnect, with tragic consequences. Irene is married to a black
doctor and is an active participant in Harlem’s black community while Clare is
passing as white, including to her racist husband. Her social overtures toward
Irene build to a shocking climax in this difficult and important novel that
confronts the anguish and rage racism causes.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper
Lee
Harper Lee’s classic brings to life the Depression-era Deep South, its
veneer of gentility and its underlying brutality. The novel’s soul is Atticus,
who represents the ideal of American justice: equal treatment under the law for
all. His battle to defend a wrongly accused black man exposes how tragically
unrealized this value is.
Harvard Square by Andre
Aciman
A
Jewish Egyptian doctoral student (unnamed) and a Tunisian Muslim taxi driver,
Kalaj, briefly connect in this lyrical, absorbing novel. At its outset, both face
seeing their “American dream” slip through their fingers. The doctoral student
has failed his oral exams and is in danger of being expelled while Kalaj is
fighting deportation. As they move toward their separate outcomes, their bond
deepens, alongside their animosity.
Homegoing by Yaa
Gyasi
In late 18th
century Ghana, Effia marries a British officer overseeing the slave trade while her
sister Esi is captured and sold as a slave in America. Alternating chapters
tell their descendents’ stories in both countries, from the 18th century to the
present. Chapters often end
just as a significant event has happened to or around characters. We may,
or may not, discover their fates in future chapters, a potent reminder of the
African and African-American stories irretrievably lost.
Brown Girl Dreaming by
Jacqueline Woodson
Woodson’s memoir in verse recounts her experiences growing up in South
Carolina and Brooklyn in the 1960s and 70s. Her poems capture the felt sense of
memory – scents, images, set pieces. They craft snapshots of the Civil Rights
era South, the Great Migration, and New York City life as well as sibling
rivalry and love, friendship and jealousy, family and loss, and finding
inspiration and purpose.
The Absolutely True Story of a
Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Arnold Spirit, Jr. makes the painful decision to transfer from his
Spokane Indian Reservation's high school to an all-white one.
With equal parts humor and heartbreak, the autobiographical novel
explores a question at the heart of American experiences: How do we move
forward in a way that honors the past, acknowledges that any choice is
imperfect, and allows us to choose life, even in the midst of mourning?
Sally Allen is an award-winning
author who holds a PhD in English Education from New York University, with an
emphasis in writing and rhetoric, and an MA in English Language and Literature.
She has taught writing and literature at New York University and Fairfield
University, and is the recipient of New York University’s Willy Gorrissen Award
for Dedication and Skill in the Academic Development of Student Writing.
Currently, Allen is a faculty member at Post University where she teaches
literature, writing, and communications. She is the founder of Books, Ink at
HamletHub, a website dedicated to Connecticut books news, where her writing has
earned her three Connecticut Press Club awards.
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