America Ferrera

1.75 stars. this was definitely not as much as what i had hoped, but is still valuable and worth some time. many of these individual stories aren't written by writers, so they don't carry the weight that maybe they could otherwise, but more importantly to me, they tried to be too funny and too positive. i don't need every story about immigration to be awful and heart breaking, but so many of these stories praised the american dream as possible and it was just a weird take, for me. some of these were really poignant and others not so much.… (meer)

I listened to this one and it was such a great audiobook. The different chapters were narrated by the writers themselves. And what a wonderfully diverse group of essay writers! I love that they were from so many different ethnicities and cultures and backgrounds. These are not just people who write for a living (of course there are plenty of writers in the mix) but there are also politicians, people in sports (like Michelle Kwan and Jeremy Lin), people on TV/stage/screen (like Padma Lakshmi, Lin Manuel Miranda, and Wilmer Valderrama), activists like transgender advocate Geena Rocero.

They all have amazing stories to tell about being American - some wanted to blend in, wanting those white-bread sandwiches that would help them feel less different, others determined to stand out and be different.

Listening to this as an audiobook was a great choice. I loved hearing them read out their stories, and it was nice to put a voice to an unfamiliar name.

As America Ferrera writes: "I believe that culture shapes identity and defines possibility; that it teaches us who we are, what to believe, and how to dream. We should all be able to look at the world around us and see a reflection of our true lived experiences. Until then, the American story will never be complete."… (meer)