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Formats
Ebook Details
  • 08/2024
  • 979-8-9907824-1-9 B0D5WXZPGT
  • 298 pages
  • $9.99
Paperback Details
  • 08/2024
  • 979-8-9907824-0-2
  • 298 pages
  • $12.99
Bill Day
Author
Great Again
Bill Day , author
Jack O’Mally despises liberal elites, fake news media, and everything else that has made America less than what it was. He also harbors a deep-seated prejudice against people of color and foreign immigrants. But this doesn’t mean Jack is a bad guy. Like old Scrooge, he just needs to have his eyes opened to the better side of himself. And who better for the job than Sofia Rivera, a 16-year-old undocumented immigrant drop out with a bad case of “failure to assimilate.” From the sparks of their unexpected entanglement, Jack and Sofia are propelled on a transformative journey that redefines what it means to be “Great Again.”
Reviews
Day debuts with a provocative and timely novel delving into the tangle of political polarization, immigration, and personal transformation in contemporary America. When disgruntled conservative Jack O’Malley—injured after a fall from his roof while cleaning gutters—needs a cleaning service to get his house in shape to sell, he hires 16-year-old Sofia Rivera and her mother, undocumented immigrants from El Salvador, kickstarting an uneasy alliance that challenges preconceptions and explores the potential for understanding across deep societal divides. Sofia’s teenage defiance incites Jack’s military compulsion for law and order, propelling the two into an entertaining give and take that leaves them both deeplyreflective.

“Somehow, this train wreck of a girl has blown past the perimeter and reached command and control. She has nailed him in the worst way. She has made him see something of himself in her” Day writes of Sofia’s unique talent to crawl under Jack’s skin and leave him feeling vulnerable. Though the premise of an unlikely duo coming together to bridge ideological gaps is not new, Day's execution feels fresh and relevant to current societal tensions, and he avoids easy resolutions, opting instead for a more realistic and nuanced exploration of how people can change when their worldviews are challenged.

Some readers may find the initial characterizations of Jack and Sofia stereotypical, but the narrative rewards patience, as the characters undergo a profound transformation while gaining depth and complexity. Readers will be captivated as Jack’s exterior softens and he begins to stand up for Sofia and her mother, just as much as they will be when Sofia’s interactions with Jack prompt her to reflect on her own life choices, including her excitable boyfriend, Memo—who loves bombs, overpromises, and drips emotions at every second—and her desire to return to El Salvador. The book concludes with a tender picture of reconciliation—and rebirth.

Takeaway: An unlikely friendship is the catalyst for personal transformation.

Comparable Titles: Jodi Picoult, Celeste Ng.

Production grades
Cover: B-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: B
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

Formats
Ebook Details
  • 08/2024
  • 979-8-9907824-1-9 B0D5WXZPGT
  • 298 pages
  • $9.99
Paperback Details
  • 08/2024
  • 979-8-9907824-0-2
  • 298 pages
  • $12.99
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