This month we'll be discussing WELCOME TO AMERICA by Linda Boström Knausgård. We'll talk about the novel's structure, our favorite passages, and what the author is trying to accomplish, among other things! Enjoy complimentary baklava from Aleppo Sweets and meet new book friends!

ALL ARE WELCOME TO JOIN THE DISCUSSION. FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

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ABOUT WELCOME TO AMERICA:

AT A GLANCE:

“Here, restraint and ambiguity prevail, whether it’s about the intensity of the abuse Ellen sustained or the veracity of her assertions. Regardless, it’s a taut portrait of how difficult it can be to reconcile ideals about faith and family with their messier realities. An intense, recursive book that evokes the chill despair of a Bergman film.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Knausgärd is an impressive writer, and she has created a unique, powerful lead in a world all her own.” —Publishers Weekly

“Knausgård’s story of a family in crisis is shocking and imaginative. Everything is written in beautiful and sparse prose which suggests that, after all, from darkness comes light.” —JURY, AUGUST PRIZE

SYNOPSIS:

A family on the brink of silence

Ellen has stopped talking. She thinks she may have killed her dad. Her brother’s barricaded himself in his room. Their mother, a successful actress, carries on as normal. We’re a family of light! she insists. But darkness seeps in everywhere and in their separate worlds each of them longs for togetherness. Welcome to America is an exquisite portrait of a sensitive, strong-willed child in the throes of trauma, a family on the brink of implosion, and the love that threatens to tear them apart.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

LINDA BOSTRÖM KNAUSGÅRD is a Swedish author and poet, as well as a producer of documentaries for national radio. Her first novel, The Helios Disaster, was awarded the Mare Kandre Prize and shortlisted for the Swedish Radio Novel Award 2014. Welcome to America, her second novel, was nominated for the prestigious Swedish August Prize and the Svenska Dagbladet Literary Prize.

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