Here We Are: American Dreams, American Nightmares (Celadon, Macmillan)
Comedic female rage meets father-daughter love story in this big-hearted migrant adventure set in Queens, New York. Teenage Aarti wants to go clubbing, hook up with boys and get into Harvard. Her dad – the dating and dancing police – is her archnemesis. When he gets arrested for selling calculators to a drug cartel, the two discover they’re more alike than they think. From NPR correspondent Aarti Shahani, Here We Are is a memoir at once thrilling and grounding, deeply tragic and bursting with hope.
“riveting…a bruising critique of colonialism”
—NPR (selected as a best book of the year)
"among the finest memoirs written in recent decades—a heartbreaking, hilarious and tender love letter…a vivid, almost cinematic journey that is both beautiful and unforgettable"
—Guy Raz, How I Built This, TED Radio Hour
“an engrossing story about how we say goodbye to places and people, so that the future might remain intact.”
—Kao Kalia Yang, acclaimed Hmong American writer
“searing, searching”
—Ezra Klein, The New York Times
“so honest about the whole range of emotions…resentment…shame…”
—Michel Martin, NPR’s All Things Considered, PBS Amanpour & Company
“Incredible debut…It’s been a while since I’ve read a biography with such breadth, from the intensely personal to a most relevant and infuriating political survey. It’s a story about immigrant experience, being brown in New York City in the golden age of hip-hop, and the ‘multiethnic soul’ of Queens. Turn the page and you’re dropped into the drug war, soon shell shocked by a banality of cruelty and the generational terror of its machinery. Also, kidnapping. And most sincerely, family.”
—Ricardo Cortes, Author & Illustrator, Go the F*ck to Sleep (#1 Amazon Bestseller)
“heartfelt, galvanizing…a coming-of-age story of an ambitious, whip-smart daughter getting to know herself better as her Old World father comes into clearer view”
—San Francisco Chronicle (cover story)
“thought-provoking and thoroughly engrossing”
—Library Journal, starred review
“We loved Shahani’s voice—so genuine, lively, and intelligent—and were moved by her story, or shall we say stories, as there were so many narrative threads deftly woven together.”
—The Brearley School (*Lois Kahn Wallace Writers Award recipient)
"Easily one of the best books I have read in decades!...[It] is simply an essential view of America that most people who live in the US never see or experience. In my opinion, this should be Educated or Just Mercy level popular and influential."
—Tom Rath, NYT #1 Bestselling Author
“You know the feeling you get when you read or watch a great story, and then afterwards, at random moments, you feel as if you’re still living in the story? That’s how I’ve felt, ever since reading [this memoir]…I highly recommend!”
—Susan Cain, NYT Bestselling Author (7 years on best seller list), TED Speaker (26 million + views)
“eloquent and inspiring…a deeply moving story about deportation, father-daughter relationships, love, and redemption”
—Dr. Vivek Murthy, Former Surgeon General of U.S.
"clear-eyed and compulsively readable"
—Shelf Awareness
"timely, bittersweet"
—Publishers Weekly
"provocative…candid and moving"
—Kirkus
"a raw and engaging glimpse into the challenges immigrant families face that are either too traumatic or mundane to land on the news"
—BookPage
On the audiobook: “read exceptionally well by Shahani…including seamlessly shifting between English and the multiple languages her family speaks…gripping”
—AudioFile Magazine
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