The ETSU Sherrod Library is hosting a discussion book club of “The Other Americans,” written by Pulitzer Prize finalist Laila Lalami.
It is a captivating novel with several genres rolled into one, including murder mystery, love story and family-centered troubles. The novel touches on the divide in different cultures in the United States and how we perceive and interact with those people of different circumstances.
This book is especially important to read because it gives numerous perspectives of people involved in this story, including that of the life of an immigrant family, of which the author knows exactly what it is like to be in that position.
Lalami herself was born in Rabat, Morocco, and received her education in Morocco, Great Britain and the United States. She has a good handle on different cultures and how those people react to immigrants and people who think differently than they do.
Especially now, during the pandemic, people are in need of something to do to get their minds off of their daily routine and get off the screens. This discussion book club can provide just that to ETSU staff and students.
I think the beauty and art of reading books has been lost with the development of new technology. I know there are still some people -myself included- who love to read, but it is no longer the thing that people do for information anymore.
I think that discussion, especially when held on controversial topics like the ones in “The Other Americans,” can serve to help us recognize that the world does not revolve around us and that any prejudices we harbor are our own individual faults.
The club’s second meeting is scheduled for April 5 at 3 p.m. All meetings will be following the social distancing guidelines as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the university’s code.
Interested participants are asked to register for the meetings, which they can find under the library events tab of the ETSU events website. For questions, contact Evan Schmoll at schmoll@etsu.edu
