Novel 4

The fourth Novel I read was called "Where All Our Dreams Come True" by Jack L. Cunningham Jr. This book was the first fictional story I've read, and was about three Swedish siblings immigrating to New York in the early 1920s. They knew very little English, and only had each other to rely on until they could afford to bring their parents over as well to this new, and what they imagined to be a land of great opportunity. However, they quickly realize that every land has their problems, and their dreams were further out of their reach than they expected. The only person to get a job was Edward, the eldest brother as a policeman.

The younger brother and sister then moved to Chicago quite early in the book, since they had often been told that many more Swedish people lived there, as well as had more work opportunities. This proved to be true when Susannah (the sister) finds a job at a ritzy hotel, which we later find out is where Al Capone and his gang hold weekly meetings. Soon after, John finds a job at a steel mill, and discovers the reality behind Unions, which soon encourages him to take a different job. They learn more and more about the realities of Chicago and life as the book goes on.

It took a while for me to warm up to this book, since I considered the writing to be mediocre, with plenty of unnecessary and repetitive details. However, I eventually understood the author's writing pattern, and could identify when I could skip over a few lines (he had a tendency to beat around the bush). In the long run, I got an introduction to Unions in the 1920s, which I hadn't even considered before, so I'm quite glad that I got the perspective from this book.