A review by shirleytupperfreeman
A Good American by Alex George

3.0

This is another good immigrant story - narrated by the grandson of a young couple who left Germany in 1904, came through New Orleans and landed in Beatrice, Missouri. The story spans 4 generations and touches on many events in US history. When Frederick and Jette first arrive in America they are helped by an unlikely person and Frederick is told to go "be a good American." He spends the rest of his life trying to do just that while figuring out just what that means. There is an interesting twist at the end of the book. At first I thought there was a unrealistic amount of tragedy in the character's lives but I just read a letter/mini-memoir written by my husband's great grandfather and I am reminded that tragedy and early death wasn't all that unusual. This was an interesting and well-told story but for some reason I didn't get emotionally invested in the characters - the writing style puts some distance between the characters and the reader... or at least this reader.