From the Bookshelf of DMPL Book Chat…

American Street

Ibi Zoboi

Start date: April 22, 2021

Finish date: May 25, 2021

Why we're reading this: DMPL Virtual YA for Adults Book Club's May selection. Check out our events for more info!……more
[close] DMPL Virtual YA for Adults Book Club's May selection. Check out our events for more info!…

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What Members Thought

Sep 19, 2018 Tegan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2017-releases, contemporary, all-the-feels, glbt, lgbtq, library, magical-realism, young-adult, diverse-books, realistic-fiction

Oh my heart. This book is beautiful and heartbreaking. An amazing audiobook. A 2019 Lincoln award nominee.

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Apr 22, 2018 Celia Buell (semi hiatus) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: decisions, based-on-mythology, relevant-today, gave-away, own-voices, dont-need-print-but-may-revisit, young-adult, fiction, loss, magical-realism

In American Street, Haitian immigrant Fabiola Toussaint comes to Detroit, dealing with the stress of her mother's detainment at the border. She soon finds, however, that many of the problems that she and her mother left Haiti to escape have replicated themselves in America. When she gets tangled up in a drug investigation case with the promise to reunite her with her mother, she has no idea just how deep she's gotten into. As she explores friendship, romance, and living with cousins who are more In American Street, Haitian immigrant Fabiola Toussaint comes to Detroit, dealing with the stress of her mother's detainment at the border. She soon finds, however, that many of the problems that she and her mother left Haiti to escape have replicated themselves in America. When she gets tangled up in a drug investigation case with the promise to reunite her with her mother, she has no idea just how deep she's gotten into. As she explores friendship, romance, and living with cousins who are more like the sisters she's never had, she has to make decisions and seek help from many sources.

There was a bit too much of Fabiola just kind of going through the motions, but all of it built up to a climax that came on suddenly and shockingly.

In American Street, Fabiola discovers romance, secrets, and most importantly, friendship in hidden places. I, however, thought that the story, while wonderfully written, focused too much on events and not enough on the whole humanness of Fabiola and her friends and family. I just didn't connect to her as much as I felt I could have.

Despite this, I really did love the carefully crafted prose of American Street. I love how much Haitian culture and mythology was involved in the story, and was such a vital part of Fabiola's life. It was interwoven so that everyone she met was able to fit into the vodou world she's built around her, as something to believe in. This, I feel, was done exceptionally well, and was one of the major aspects of the plot's development that I especially loved.

As for character development, however, I feel that it was lacking. As Fabiola discovers herself, she doesn't change, even when it seems she has. There are many things that could have gone differently, but she still doesn't know when to draw the line by the end of the novel.

I do understand that I am nowhere close to the Haitian culture, and so maybe my distaste is just due to my inexperience, but I just didn't see the character development as phenomenal. However, I did thoroughly enjoy reading this book, and I am looking forward to discussing it with book club when school starts. I am glad, too, that I got myself a copy so that I can reread it, because it is likely something that I will want to revisit. ...more

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Mar 05, 2017 Jeanine rated it really liked it

Shelves: race, social-issues, pmy-book-club, ya, immigrant, book-club-book

Great book! Very relevant with the immigration topic, as well as the finding the "American dream" in a rough Detroit neighborhood. I thought it was beautifully written!! ...more

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Jul 22, 2018 Beth Knipper rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, magic-realism

Still ruminating

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Oct 17, 2019 Courtney rated it really liked it

The whole house seems to want to squeeze me in, force a deep wail from out of my body because it's only been one day and I am losing myself to this new place. This is the opposite of the earthquake, where things were falling apart and the ground was shifting beneath my small feet. Here, the walls, the air, the buildings, the people all seem to have already fallen. And there is nothing else left to do but to shrink and squeeze until everything has turned to dust and disappeared.
But not yet. Not ...more

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