First published 2003
Luba grows up in a Ukrainian immigrant neighborhood in Chicago where her parents cling to old country traditions while embracing their American dream. The year is 1968, and student protests fill the streets. Luba decides she wants nothing to do with Ukraine or her heritage. She enrolls in college as Linda and buys a used car to drive toward her American future. But the car becomes a vehicle for family obligations first. She drives her father to medical appointments, transports a Ukrainian celebrity to events, helps a sick neighbor get home from work, and shuttles her childhood friends to school. Through these journeys, Linda slowly transforms back into Luba. She realizes she cannot simply abandon her Ukrainian identity to become fully American. Instead, she must find a way to carry both cultures within herself. The road she travels leads not away from her heritage but toward a place where Ukraine and America can coexist.
Genres: american-fiction, 20th-century, american, coming-of-age
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Chicago, Ukraine
Period: 1968
230 pages · Paperback · Algonquin Books