American Like Me
Written by America Ferrera
Narrated by America Ferrera, Bambadjan Bamba, Joy Cho and
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
From Academy Award–nominated actress and 2023 SeeHer award recipient America Ferrera comes a vibrant and varied collection of first-person accounts from prominent figures about the experience of growing up between cultures.
America Ferrera has always felt wholly American, and yet, her identity is inextricably linked to her parents’ homeland and Honduran culture. Speaking Spanish at home, having Saturday-morning-salsa-dance-parties in the kitchen, and eating tamales alongside apple pie at Christmas never seemed at odds with her American identity.
Still, she yearned to see that identity reflected in the larger American narrative.
Now, in American Like Me, America invites thirty-one of her friends, peers, and heroes to share their stories about life between cultures. We know them as actors, comedians, athletes, politicians, artists, and writers. However, they are also immigrants, children or grandchildren of immigrants, indigenous people, or people who otherwise grew up with deep and personal connections to more than one culture. Each of them struggled to establish a sense of self, find belonging, and feel seen. And they call themselves American enthusiastically, reluctantly, or not at all.
Ranging from the heartfelt to the hilarious, their stories shine a light on a quintessentially American experience and will appeal to anyone with a complicated relationship to family, culture, and growing up.
America Ferrera
America Ferrera is an Academy Award–nominated actress, producer, director and activist. Ferrera is best known for her breakthrough role as Betty Suarez on ABC’s hit comedy, Ugly Betty, for which she won Golden Globe, Emmy, Screen Actors Guild, ALMA, and Imagen Awards. She produces and stars in the acclaimed NBC workplace comedy, Superstore, currently in its fourth season. In 2016 Ferrera cofounded HARNESS, an organization connecting storytellers and activists to amplify the cultural narrative around social justice. She speaks throughout the country as an advocate for human and civil rights and was the opening speaker at the monumental Women’s March on Washington in January 2017. Ferrera resides in New York and Los Angeles with her husband Ryan, their son Sebastian, and their two golden retrievers.
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Reviews for American Like Me
93 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beautiful inspiring book, I strongly recommend. I truly enjoyed reading.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I 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." - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Probably the most uplifting non-fiction book I've read all year.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5It’s hard to give a book of earnest essays about overcoming adversity a negative review, but much of the writing was amateurish and the messages trite (the big exception being Jenny Zhang's hilarious story about her family's obsession with Sizzler).I confess that I only made it halfway through the book before I gave up, so maybe there are more gems to be found if you have the patience.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Celebrities from immigrant backgrounds tell their family stories.