February 1, 2025
Award winner Aliu (Brass) writes about adopted twins who grow up in the U.S. in the 1990s, disconnected from their Albanian heritage. As their lives unfold, their roots, family, and the war in Kosovo twist and blend to shape their bonds. Prepub Alert.
Copyright 2024 Library Journal
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from February 1, 2025
A set of adopted twins have a lot to discover about their Albanian heritage and themselves. Drita and Petrit "Pete" DiMeo, the brother and sister at the center of Aliu's perceptive, poignant second novel, couldn't be more different. She is an academically gifted achiever who made it out of their hard-luck hometown of Waterbury, Connecticut, through work and determination, going first to an in-state university, because it was affordable, and then to graduate school at Columbia University, because she could. Drita has a nursing degree and is studying public health, determined to help the world, but after Jackie, their adoptive mother, suffers a stroke, Drita returns to help her and to work as a visiting nurse in the town she thought she'd left behind. Pete, meanwhile, is a charming ne'er-do-well, a hard-drinking heartbreaker who skipped town with his drug-abusing girlfriend, Shanda, and their sweet-spirited young son, Dakota, and then let shame keep him away from his family. When Pete falls in with a group of Albanians in the Bronx organizing on behalf of the Kosovo Liberation Army and Shanda and Dakota turn up on Drita's proverbial doorstep, each of the twins begins to learn more about their family and identity, each other and themselves, lessons more complex than they first seemed. As she did in her debut, Brass (2018), also set in Waterbury, Aliu tells us an American story with Albanian inflections, deftly toggles time and perspective, and introduces characters--not only Drita and Pete, but also Jackie, Shanda, and others--the reader will not soon forget. Writing with warmth and sensitivity, compassion and a clear-eyed command of the narrative, she brings empathy and generosity to these characters' experiences--their disappointments and hopes, the questionable choices they make and the consequences of those decisions that they, and we, may not have predicted. Family is about more than blood in this tenderhearted and touching novel--a riveting read.
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February 1, 2025
Twins Drita and Pete set the stage for Aliu's (Brass) tangled exploration of family and identity. Responsible and selfless Drita dedicates her life to caring for others, including her ailing mother. Meanwhile, rebellious Pete becomes entangled in the rediscovery of their Albanian roots, the Kosovo War, and the truth about their adoption. This forces both siblings to confront their past and redefine their understanding of family. Set in the late 1990s, the novel skillfully uses the backdrop of a rapidly changing world--where the internet, chat rooms, and online crime were emerging phenomena--to enhance its themes. Aliu's vivid depictions of Albanian culture and traditions provide a fascinating contrast to the fast-paced evolution of the Western world. Character development and nuanced explorations of sibling dynamics are the book's strengths. The relationship between Drita and Pete demonstrates that life's choices and relationships are rarely clear-cut, and their journeys, though divergent, intertwine in unexpected ways, offering a poignant reminder that understanding and reconciliation are possible even in the face of deep-rooted differences. VERDICT This thought-provoking, captivating story is a must-read for people interested in the complexities of family dynamics, cultural identity, and the human spirit.--Jessica Calaway
Copyright 2025 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
February 1, 2025
"What's history but a story anyway?" asks a character in this layered and engaging novel from Aliu (Brass, 2018). Twins Pete and Drita know their story. They were adopted as babies from Albania by an Italian American family. Adulthood finds Drita struggling to hold on to her nursing job while caring for her aging mom. Pete has abandoned his girlfriend, Shanda, and young son, Dakota, trying to keep his own head above water. Running out of options, Shanda shows up at Drita's place looking for help. Hoping to pull Pete off the deadbeat-dad path, Drita attempts to track down her twin, a quest that exposes hard truths about the Kosovo Liberation Army and the battle to free Albanians from Serbian oppression. Aliu piercingly dramatizes the draw of a "tribe" for a rudderless man like Pete and dissects the overlap between past histories and current narratives. The twins' mother's backstory, unspooling in the background, is an especially effective complement to the plot as Aliu considers the many ways families can be torn asunder and yet still hold together.
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