Lula is hired to be companion to a high school boy in his New Jersey home. She has a very cushy, but boring job. She gets mixed up with some con men from her home country just after she received her green card. They ask her to hide a gun that has apparently been used in a grocery store robbery. She fantasizes over one of the Albanian men, but he is soon caught and jailed. Interesting characters, but not much plot. ( )

Francine Prose knows how to write the two most important sentences in a story, the last and the first. My New American Life begins with, "The day after Lula's lawyer called to tell her she was legal, three Albanian guys showed up in a brand-new black Lexus SUV." That sentence certainly got my attention, opened several questions, raised expectations, and made me read on. If I had read the jacket blurb I'd have gotten interested too, but not in the way Prose packed so much into that seemingly simple sentence.
The final sentence, too much of a spoiler to quote, sums up and looks ahead and makes me want only the best for Lula.
All the other sentences in this book, all the likely and unlikely occurrences, all the characters with their subtle and not so subtle flaws add up to a story where I rode happily along, not asking questions, enjoying the trip. ( )

Good airport read, quick, easy, forgettable. ( )

Quite funny book that turns the usual immigrant novel on its head, with a couple of killer scenes, including a memorable scary funny college visit. The gun that shows up in Act One reappears at the end of Act 2 in a most unpredictable way. I found the ending a bit soft, but overall, a very good read.

My favorite line Paranoia is Balkan for common sense. Kinda puts things in perspective ( )

"...[M]aybe [he] had sensed some maternal feeling burbling up inside her, or the decency that Lula prided herself on maintaining despite her many character flaws and the world's efforts to harden her heart." (p. 15)

The main takeaway point here, I think, is that people are too complicated to slot them into categories (good/bad) based on any external evidence (immigrant/citizen, poor/rich), or even on their own actions. The characters in this book - Lula, Dunia, Zeke, Mister Stanley, Don Settebello, Savitra - encourage thought but defy judgment. ( )