5 Great Fiction Books About The Immigration Experience

Immigration and globalization is a hot topic right now, particularly in the American landscape where immigration is hotly debated.

I am a big fan of reading about the immigration experience whether it is biographical or not. I hope that by reading these books that it will allow you a window into the experiences of the immigrant and their personal journey.

On a personal note, I am drawn into works on immigration literature because I have my own immigration story. Many of us have family or fore-fathers who emigrated from their native country to seek opportunities in another land or for political asylum. My experience is the latter, of seeking political asylum in the U.K.

One of my favorite works on immigration literature is Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt. This memoir goes back and forth between America and Ireland and is insanely good. In addition, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is excellent as well. Set in Afghanistan, it’s a story of friendship and where the protagonist tries to get refuge in the U.S.

The immigrant experiences in the following books are diverse and unique. They are only a sample of some great works of immigration literature in the recent decade. There are plenty other great works that exist too.

The following list is in no particular order. Covers link to Amazon.

The Leavers by Lisa Ko.

Goodreads synopsis:

One morning, Deming Guo’s mother, an undocumented Chinese immigrant named Polly, goes to her job at the nail salon and never comes home. No one can find any trace of her.

With his mother gone, eleven-year-old Deming is left with no one to care for him. He is eventually adopted by two white college professors who move him from the Bronx to a small town upstate. They rename him Daniel Wilkinson in their efforts to make him over into their version of an “all-American boy.” But far away from all he’s ever known, Daniel struggles to reconcile his new life with his mother’s disappearance and the memories of the family and community he left behind.

Set in New York and China, The Leavers is a vivid and moving examination of borders and belonging. It’s the story of how one boy comes into his own when everything he’s loved has been taken away–and how a mother learns to live with the mistakes of her past.

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue.

Goodreads synopsis:

Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem, has come to the United States to provide a better life for himself, his wife, Neni, and their six-year-old son. In the fall of 2007, Jende can hardly believe his luck when he lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers. Clark demands punctuality, discretion, and loyalty—and Jende is eager to please. Clark’s wife, Cindy, even offers Neni temporary work at the Edwardses’ summer home in the Hamptons. With these opportunities, Jende and Neni can at last gain a foothold in America and imagine a brighter future.

However, the world of great power and privilege conceals troubling secrets, and soon Jende and Neni notice cracks in their employers’ façades.

When the financial world is rocked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Jongas are desperate to keep Jende’s job—even as their marriage threatens to fall apart. As all four lives are dramatically upended, Jende and Neni are forced to make an impossible choice.

Little Bee by Chris Cleave.

Goodreads synopsis:

From the author of the international bestseller Incendiary comes a haunting novel about the tenuous friendship that blooms between two disparate strangers—one an illegal Nigerian refugee, the other a recent widow from suburban London.

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Goodreads synopsis:

As teenagers in a Lagos secondary school, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love. Their Nigeria is under military dictatorship, and people are leaving the country if they can. Ifemelu – beautiful, self-assured – departs for America to study. She suffers defeats and triumphs, finds and loses relationships and friendships, all the while feeling the weight of something she never thought of back home: race. Obinze – the quiet, thoughtful son of a professor – had hoped to join her, but post-9/11 America will not let him in, and he plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London.

Years later, Obinze is a wealthy man in a newly democratic Nigeria, while Ifemelu has achieved success as a writer of an eye-opening blog about race in America. But when Ifemelu returns to Nigeria, and she and Obinze reignite their shared passion – for their homeland and for each other – they will face the toughest decisions of their lives.

The Mango Bride by Marivi Soliven.

Goodreads synopsis:

Banished by her wealthy Filipino family in Manila, Amparo Guerrero travels to Oakland, California, to forge a new life. Although her mother labels her life in exile a diminished one, Amparo believes her struggles are a small price to pay for freedom…

Like Amparo, Beverly Obejas—an impoverished Filipina waitress—forsakes Manila and comes to Oakland as a mail-order bride in search of a better life. Yet even in the land of plenty, Beverly fails to find the happiness and prosperity she envisioned.

As Amparo works to build the immigrant’s dream, she becomes entangled in the chaos of Beverly’s immigrant nightmare. Their unexpected collision forces them both to make terrible choices and confront a life-changing secret, but through it all they hold fast to family, in all its enduring and surprising transformations.

Have you read any of these books? Are there any immigration literature you’d like to add?