America Calling

A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility

Non-Fiction - Memoir
284 Pages
Reviewed on 10/17/2021
Buy on Amazon

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.

    Book Review

Reviewed by K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite

America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility is a work of non-fiction in the memoir subgenre and was penned by author Rajika Bhandari. This touching and exploratory memoir is best suited to mature young adults and adult reading audiences owing to its complex discussions of culture, immigration, and personal identity. We find ourselves exploring the life of Bhandari as she succumbs to the pressure to move to the West and gain an education in America instead of her native India, only to find that the gilded promise is not what it first seems. In turn, she becomes a guide and advocates for others experiencing all the hidden difficulties that lie behind the ‘Made In America’ dream.

Author Rajika Bhandari gives a heartfelt account of her own experiences as a foreign student and foreign-educated person while also balancing this with a poignant examination of socioeconomic values and problems in modern education today. One of the things which most impressed me about the quality of this book was Bhandari’s experienced perspective, which was both logical and emotive in its reasoning. The stories she tells of her own struggles moving from one country to another and the shaping of her identity and new life because of it are touching and insightful. Expanding this, later in the work, to her new profession and hundreds of other students she sees, each with their own individual plight, only serves to emphasize the importance of this book. Look no further than America Calling to open your eyes to current issues of culture, identity, politics, and education.