The Americans

by Chitra Viraraghavan

A systems administrator uncovers a government plot to deport him. A nine-year-old boy tries to make sense of a less-than-special world. A woman discovers life is no romance novel. A teenager flees the nets of family. A housekeeper wakes up from the American dream. A college student brings a poem to life. A paperless songwriter is forced to become a hero. A doctor diagnoses her own terminal condition: motherhood. An IT engineer’s protocols fail to match that of his wife’s. A retired teacher in a foreign land turns pioneer. A woman linked to them all discovers new worlds.

Genres: Fiction, India

287 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Jolene]

**Thank you HarperCollins/Fourth Estate India and Edelweiss for providing this in exchange for and honest review**

3.5 Stars

Okay, so I'm not really sure how to review this book. Normally I'd start off with a book description involving the plot, then move on with my opinions of the story, setting, and characters.

This book doesn't have a single storyline. Its has many mini stories. I just barley hesitate to call it an anthology. If it wasn't for the fact that each POV is continuous through out the book, I'd say that's actually what this is.

The Americans is told from 12 different POVs. This book was entirely character driven. Thankfully Viraraghavan's character development was phenomenal. Each voice was unique and distinctive. Each POV was told in 10-20 page sections. I'll admit there was a time or two where I couldn't place a character at first. However just a sentence or two into the section I'd be able to remember everything about them. Not all the characters were likable, but they were very realistic. I felt like I was reading about real human beings.

Some of the setting were great, but others not so much. For this particular title, that didn't really bother me. The surroundings that were important to the story were strong. The settings that didn't need to be more then the equivalent of background noise were exactly that.

The only thing that really took away any enjoyment for the book was the vague endings. Most of the POVs ended with a unfinished feel to them.

I would definitely read more books by this author

One thing I want to mention is the Table of Contents list only 11 of the 12 characters in the story. My version is a ARC, so this might be something they change during the editing process.

[Dianne]

More of a series of vignettes or novellas than one full book. At times it is very difficult to keep everyone straight and how they may interact with each other. I never did understand just how this was all supposed to come together( I wrote this book review at 90%, once I got to 100% I could see that the secondary character's had some sort of relationship to Tara) and felt that most of the stories had no endings and that left me feeling cheated.

This book is important because of how the author chooses to portray Americans. I find that to be very telling.

[Deedee]

The genre of loosely connected short stories or vignettes that read like a novel seems to be gaining popularity, and this is a good example. Although I was sometimes confused about the multitude of characters, all of them Indian-Americans or Indian expats, the central character was likable and compelling with a mixed bag of experiences in her years in both countries.

[Aruna Kumar Gadepalli]

Stories of immigrants Indians particularly, the characterization and narration are good. Easy and quick read well.

[Jodi]

This book was compared to Jhumpa Lahiri's books and I loved them so I eagerly picked this one up. Meh! Just couldn't get into it or connect to any of the characters.

[Sarah-Hope]

Chitra Vararaghavan’s The Americans is a compelling, wide-reaching read. The novel, though written in third person, presents the perspectives of a wide cast of characters, most of whom are Indian-America. There’s Tara, who is unwillingly leaving India to help manage her sister’s U.S. home while that sister seeks treatment for an autistic son. CLN is a widower who has heard little from his daughter since her immigration to the U.S.; suddenly, she wants him in her home, though she has almost no time for him as she pursues her own work and interests. Akhil, a university tech worker, grows increasingly paranoid in the post-9/11 climate in the U.S. Vinod is attempting to escape an arranged marriage via an affair with a much-younger artist. Shantanu is an undocumented restaurant worker, who fears his criminally engaged employers. There are another half dozen or so characters additional characters, including an Israeli-immigrant housekeeper and an African-American student in a basic writing course.

Many of the reviews of this book, describe it as more a collection of short stories than a novel, but I think this misses a key point: this is a novel, one whose central character is an entire community, not just a single individual. Viraraghavan introduces us to a wealth of carefully depicted characters—but their identities become richer as we see them functioning within their relationships with one another.

The variety of characters also allows Viraraghavan to evoke a variety of moods: distraction, disappointment, humor, hope, sharply honed honesty. When I began The Americans, its multitude of characters and brief chapters led me to think it would be an easy book to pick up, put down, and pick up once more. In fact, I found myself reading it in a single sitting. I didn’t just want to understand events from the perspective of each chapter’s focal character; I wanted to see how these events would influence the experiences of other characters.

We’re just two-thirds of the way through 2015, but I am absolutely confident that The Americans will be one of my favorite titles when I look back on my reading over this year.

[Dana]

I received this book for free to read & review through Goodreads First Reads.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel. It contained voices and viewpoints that are often under represented in literature. I think the author did a great job of creating these characters and I am interested in reading more from Chitra Viraraghavan.

However, twelve viewpoints in one book is a lot. It was, at times difficult for me to keep up with which character's story I was currently following, especially if life got in the way and I had to break from reading for more than a day. I also feel like most of the storylines ended in ways that felt too unfinished.

I really think the author created many characters and storylines that could have been fleshed out better had they not been competing for space by other characters. A few really could be their own standalone novels or novellas. The author is very talented in creating characters and writing from very, very different perspectives in a believable way. I just would have preferred fewer storylines that were more in depth.

[Linda]

Chitra Viraraghavan did a decent job with "The Americans". This is a Goodreads ARC, thank you. The 11 characters in this book, some more developed than others, were at times confusing. Each character had its own chapter throughout the book. It was not until close to the end that it really came together that Tara was the link among the characters. The story felt more like an American telling the story of these 11 Indians either living in or visiting America. Some of the characters assimilated well into society while others truly struggled, but it is not easy living in a country that is not your own. They had their own caste, family interactions and racial issues to deal with, not to mention generational as well.
I would try another book by Chitra Viraraghavan so I can learn more of her writing style.

[Hema]

I really liked the premise of this book, tying together different people in the Indian diaspora and their widely different immigrant experiences. But the execution lacked something. For one, the way in which these characters are tied together seemed contrived, and there was too much effort put into turning headlines about Indian-Americans into stories readers would care about. Moreover, the author's bias seemed pretty clear throughout, where the only characters who ended up happy were the ones who chose to go back to India.

The most compelling character and subplot in the book was the least explored. I hope the author will consider writing a stand-alone book about the elderly father who comes to America to visit his daughter.

[Nada]

The Americans by Chitra Viraraghavan promises a “poignant” story about the immigrant experience. It is not quite a collection of short stories, but it is also not quite a novel for it never comes together in a single whole. It also is not the insight into the immigrant experience that the cover seems to indicate. Ultimately, it is unfortunately not the book for me.

Read my complete review at: http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2015...

Reviewed for the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program

[Nelda Brangwin]

If I had to use one word to describe this collection of stories it would be unsettling. All but one of the characters is from India, some residing in the US others visiting. Each is character has a separate story with most of them dealing with some sort of conflict, whether it is an autistic child, mental illness, poverty or marital dissatisfaction. The concluding chapters about each were unfinished…bringing no conclusion to the issues, but I imagine that was intended because that is life. (LibraryThing review copy)

[Suzanne]

An interesting view of the immigrant experience, especially for Indian or Asians in a post 9/11 America. There were so many characters that it was hard to warm up to any one, I would have rather she took any few of her very interesting people and told a fuller story of them alone.

[Lizzie]

Still reading...

[Yeshasvi]

https://isenseireflect.wordpress.com/...

[Murphy Daley]

Good read, lots of characters to get interested in. The ending was a little vague