Cover Image

A country you can leave

by Angel-Ajani, Asale,

Format: Print Book 2023
Availability: Available at 8 Libraries 8 of 15 copies

Available (8)
Location Collection Call #
Bethel Park Public Library New Books FIC ANGEL-AJANI Asale
Location  Bethel Park Public Library
 
Collection  New Books
 
Call Number  FIC ANGEL-AJANI Asale
 
 
CLP - Brookline New Books FICTION Angel-Ajani
Location  CLP - Brookline
 
Collection  New Books
 
Call Number  FICTION Angel-Ajani
 
 
CLP - East Liberty New Books FICTION Angel-Ajani
Location  CLP - East Liberty
 
Collection  New Books
 
Call Number  FICTION Angel-Ajani
 
 
CLP - Homewood Fiction Collection FICTION Angel-Ajani
Location  CLP - Homewood
 
Collection  Fiction Collection
 
Call Number  FICTION Angel-Ajani
 
 
Carnegie Library of McKeesport New Book Shelf McN F ANG
Location  Carnegie Library of McKeesport
 
Collection  New Book Shelf
 
Call Number  McN F ANG
 
 
Monroeville Public Library New Books ANGEL-AJANI ASALE
Location  Monroeville Public Library
 
Collection  New Books
 
Call Number  ANGEL-AJANI ASALE
 
 
Mt. Lebanon Public Library New Books ANGEL-AJ ASALE
Location  Mt. Lebanon Public Library
 
Collection  New Books
 
Call Number  ANGEL-AJ ASALE
 
 
Northland Public Library New Books FIC ANGEL-AJANI
Location  Northland Public Library
 
Collection  New Books
 
Call Number  FIC ANGEL-AJANI
 
 
 
Unavailable (7)
Location Collection Status
CLP - Main Library First Floor - New Fiction CHECKED OUT
Location  CLP - Main Library
 
Collection  First Floor - New Fiction
 
Status  CHECKED OUT
 
 
CLP - Mt. Washington New Books ON HOLDSHELF
Location  CLP - Mt. Washington
 
Collection  New Books
 
Status  ON HOLDSHELF
 
 
CLP - Squirrel Hill New Books ON HOLDSHELF
Location  CLP - Squirrel Hill
 
Collection  New Books
 
Status  ON HOLDSHELF
 
 
Coraopolis Memorial Library New Books CHECKED OUT
Location  Coraopolis Memorial Library
 
Collection  New Books
 
Status  CHECKED OUT
 
 
Pleasant Hills Public Library Adult Fiction CHECKED OUT
Location  Pleasant Hills Public Library
 
Collection  Adult Fiction
 
Status  CHECKED OUT
 
 
South Park Library New Books CHECKED OUT
Location  South Park Library
 
Collection  New Books
 
Status  CHECKED OUT
 
 
Whitehall Public Library New Book Collection CHECKED OUT
Location  Whitehall Public Library
 
Collection  New Book Collection
 
Status  CHECKED OUT
 
 

Summary

"From page one, A Country You Can Leave is a riveting, exasperating, and deeply heartbreaking tale of mother-daughter strife and resilience." --Xochitl Gonzalez, author of Olga Dies Dreaming

A stunning debut novel following the turbulent relationship of a Black, biracial teen and her ferocious Russian mother, struggling to survive in the California desert.

When sixteen-year-old Lara and her fiery mother, Yevgenia, find themselves homeless again, the misnamed Oasis Mobile Estates is all they can afford. In this new community, where residents are down on their luck but rich in humor and escape plans, Lara navigates what it means to be the Black, biracial daughter of a Russian mother and begins to wonder what a life beyond Yevgenia's orbit--insistence on reading only the right kind of books (Russian), having the right kind of relationships (casual, with lots of sex)--might look like.

Lara knows that something else lies beneath her mother's fierce, independent spirit, but Yevgenia doesn't believe in sharing, least of all with her daughter. When a brutal attack exposes the cracks in their relationship, Lara and Yevgenia are forced to confront the family legacy of violence and the strain of inherited trauma on the bonds of their love.

A Country You Can Leave is a dazzling, sharp-witted story, suffused with yearning, as Lara and Yevgenia attempt to forge their own identities and thrive in a hostile land. Compelling and empathetic, wry and intimate, Asale Angel-Ajani's unforgettable debut novel examines the beauty and dangers of womanhood in multiracial America.

Published Reviews
Booklist Review: "Lara is nothing like her heavily sequined, chain-smoking mother, Yevgenia, who left Russia in the early eighties and has been nomadic ever since. Brash, always reading, and always complaining about the lack of intellectualism in the U.S., Yevgenia works as a waitress at a rural desert dive bar outside Los Angeles. Lara is Black--half Slavic, half Afro-Cuban--and, thanks to her latent Soviet mentality, Yevgenia sees social class as more pertinent than race, leaving Lara alone to navigate so much. This impressive debut novel follows Lara through her late teenage years as she struggles to make sense of herself, her mother, and her place in the world. Lara is an enchanting protagonist, equal parts skeptic and romantic. She dreams beyond the Oasis, the plot of mobile homes where she and Yevgenia currently reside. Lara's quest morphs into a journey to find friendship, then her father, and then what, exactly, her future might hold. Angel-Ajani's book is breathless and beautiful, and Lara is a gloriously brave American hero."
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "In Angel-Ajani's piercing debut novel (after the nonfiction narrative Strange Trade), a mother and daughter are emotionally paralyzed by the fear of failing each other. After a childhood spent on the move, 16-year-old Lara is no stranger to starting over. So when she and her single mother, Yevgenia, a Russian immigrant, land in a dilapidated mobile home park in the California desert, Lara thinks she knows what to expect. Yevgenia, a bartender, leads a promiscuous sex life and pays more attention to her customers and Lara's friends than to Lara. Yevgenia's also full of opinions on Russian literature, love, and sex--all things Lara knows nothing about, despite continually reading the notebooks full of prescriptive pronouncements Yevgenia has compiled for her. Lara is convinced Yevgenia is ashamed of her for being biracial (her father, who disappeared from their lives, was a Black musician) and fears that following her mother's advice will mean following in Yevgenia's meandering footsteps. Meanwhile, a Black classmate jokingly discourages Lara from trying to find her father ("That you don't have a father is the Blackest thing about you.... And your obsession and longing for him is the whitest"). But after a man attacks Lara, she realizes Yevgenia's motivations are far more complicated--and that Lara herself might need to make difficult choices to set them both free. In perceptive prose and wry dialogue, Angel-Ajani brings to life a mother and daughter trapped by their circumstances. This is exemplary. Agent: Julia Eagleton, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Feb.)"
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Additional Information
Subjects Racially mixed people -- Fiction.
Mothers and daughters -- Fiction.
California -- Fiction.
Publisher New York :MCD / Farrar, Straus and Giroux,2023
Edition First edition.
Language English
Description 308 pages ; 22 cm
ISBN 9780374604059
0374604053
Other Classic View