Finalist

Assessment:

Idea: In Generation Zero, Sabreet Kang Rajeev relates the archetypal American Experience of coming to these shores and raising American-born children, in the hope that they'll fulfill the promise of the American Dream and the prayer that they'll continue to honor and respect the culture of their ancestry. A magnificent tribute to the spirit that embodies the very best in the dreamers who built this nation.

Prose/Style: Gifted with enormous insight, compassion, and empathy, Kang Rajeev has written a memoir that recalls A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in its ability to re-create her family history not only through her own eyes, but through the eyes of her mother and father. Shifting seamlessly from one point of view to another, the author conveys the unspoken fears, the tremendous sacrifices, the small triumphs, and the devastating setbacks experienced by many immigrant families.

Originality: What sets this book apart is its author's ability to objectively depict harsh realities with great love and deep respect. Many who were raised in America by immigrant parents will relate to the sometimes painful process of lives spent trying to straddle the line between the new world and the old, but few have reflected so deeply as Kang Rajeev on the heroism and dignity of parents who left everything and everyone they cherished to create a life in America.

Character Development/Execution: Kang Rajeev is able to convincingly convey her family's lives and history not only through her own eyes, but through the eyes of her parents. Moreover, even when life is hard and conflict arises between the values of the old world and the new, there is never bitterness on the author's part. Kang Rajeev loves and reveres the people she is writing about, and her reader will do the same.

Blurb: Kang Rajeev has written a memoir that recalls A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in its ability to re-create her family's history not only through her own eyes, but through the eyes of her mother and father. Written with warmth, humor, unsparing honesty, and tremendous love and respect, Generation Zero recollects pain without bitterness, embraces imperfections, and glows with gratitude.

Date Submitted: January 29, 2021