THE LAZARUS PROJECT by Aleksandar Hemon

FIC
HEMON
In 1908, Lazarus Averbuch, and Easter European immigrant, is shot and killed by the Chicago Chief of Police when he attempts to deliver a note at the chief's home. One hundred years later, Vladimir Brik, a Bosnian immigrant, investigates this act of violence by tracing Lazarus's journey from Russia where his family was the victim of an infamous pogrom.
Brik ends up in Sarajevo, which he has not visited since the war, only to be confronted by another act of violence.

CARAMELO by Sandra Cisneros

FIC

CISNEROS
This is the epic tale of the Reyes family as it moves from 1920s Mexico City to 1950s
Chicago. This multigenerational story of a working class immigrant family has as its center Lala Reyes as she grows from childhood to young adulthood. Lala is the youngest in a family of seven and the only girl who regularly makes the trip from Chicago to The Awful Grandmother’s house in Mexico. She gradually forms an uneasy bond with her grandmother,inheriting from her the family stories, legends, and scandals. The family members’ destinies include experiences in the U.S. military, blue collar jobs, poverty and homelessness. Despite the harsh struggle to survive, the family never loses sight of its culture and traditions.