Brass by Xhenet Aliu

I intended to sit, relax, and read today while my husband works.  I started this yesterday afternoon.  I won't be reading it today as I read it in one evening.  I could not put it down.  It was THAT good. 

When this came in on a water money order, I was interested by the cover.  The cars in the picture are the kinds my family would've turned into race cars for Waterford in the early 90s.  So when I flipped open the cover, read the jacket description, and saw this was set in Waterbury in 1996, I added it to my "take out this summer after inventory" list.  I'm so glad I did.

Let's review a few important facts.  I was 16 in 1996.  Our main character was 19.  Waterbury isn't too far away.  A LOT of what Elsie describes is within my own memory.  Industry leaving Connecticut, city diners, grunge.  I had pregnant friends in 1996.  Fast forward to Luljeta's story, Elsie's daughter.  Some of those kids, the children of my pregnant friends, have now been my students, awaiting their college acceptance letters just like Luljeta.  Lulu grows up not knowing her father except for her mother's disdain for him.  She doesn't know her family right in Waterbury, family that doesn't know what happened to the baby girl she once was.  I grew up not knowing the cousins I had just two streets over.

For me, this story hit so close to home.  I cried a lot.  I smiled at Elsie's memories that could've been my own.  I felt I knew Luljeta as one of my former students.  I know I'm sounding mushy which is not typical of me, but seriously, this may go on my all time favorite list. 

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