Jewish Luck: A True Story of Friendship, Deception and Risky Business

by Leslie Levine Adler, Meryll Levine Page

After Vera dares to approach author Leslie Adler on a Leningrad corner in 1976, forbidden friendship is formed. Leslie becomes Vera's confidante and link to the West. With help from her Minneapolis connections, Vera builds a successful business in Russia despite her disdain for her country and the disruption of Russian mafia attacks. In contrast, Alisa secretly escapes the Soviet Union to a destination that that was not her first choice.

Jewish Luck recounts the intertwined stories of two women, who, in their struggles against the anti-Semitism and patriarchy of the Soviet regime and the rebranded "New" Russia, succeed by creating their own luck. Their sisterhood is kindled when Vera and Alisa grudgingly line up to register for classes at the Institute that produced experts in Marxist-Leninist economics, a field on its way to extinction. For the next three decades, Vera and Alisa fight for their dreams of self-expression and stats. To do so, they must deprogram their minds of Soviet theory and learn the new language of a free market economy. These two women hold different views of their Jewish identity and this continues to be a lifelong dialog between them.

Jewish Luck invites readers to inhabit the lives of Vera and Alla as they fight in in contrasting ways to establish themselves in a time and plea where women, Jews and capitalism were disparaged.

386 pages, Paperback

First published November 2, 2013

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Jewish Luck. The story itself is fascinating and unique. But more importantly, I felt inspired, moved and enlightened by the story. The story was inspiring because it describes how two Jewish women overcome great obstacles to rise from very modest beginnings to dreamlike heights. In addition, I was greatly moved by the various friendships in the book, as what is more moving than seeing individuals connecting to form caring, loving relationships. I gained a whole new understanding of life in Russia. Just like Downton Abbey gives one a feeling of what it would have been like to live in English around the time of WWI, this book gave me a feeling for what it would have been like to live in Russia at the end of the 20th century. But the most enlightening part of the book for me was learning that wonderful things (and great stories) can develop if we just take the time to say “hi” to the stranger waiting at the corner.
Lisa

[Elisa Stancil Levine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this when it first came out and now, with the war on Ukraine, the issue of Judaism in Russia is top of mind. I will re-read with this in mind!

[Peggy Gehlen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found that I learned much about being Jewish in Russia. Very dry read.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gave me insight into to life in Russia, particularly the Communist Russia that existed during my childhood of the 70s and 80s. I found those parts to be fascinating. Seeing the ways that people got around the system and tried to use it to better their lives, to survive was eye opening particularly when contrasted with the means that others used. The fact that these two women became friends is not surprising based upon the ways their families taught them to think for themselves and the drive they instilled in them. I am not Jewish so I gained new insight into Judaism and the persecution of Jews (something that still baffles me).
The only issue I had with the book was that it slipped back and forth in time, especially when shifting from one person to another. Each chapter has a time reference at the beginning of it, but I was reading on a Kindle so it wasn't easy to flip back to another chapter to reference the time frame for it.

[Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a great story, but not very well written. It was hard to keep all the stories and different people straight. I also thought there were way too many footnotes. It took me a little while to get into the story, but once I did I found it very interesting. I didn't know much about the Cold War and life in Russia, so I enjoyed hearing about that. It was crazy how many barriers and corruption there is there! This was my book club book for this month and one of the ladies who attended was from Russia and it was amazing to hear her confirm that this is how life really was, and still is. So crazy.. I would recommend this book if you want to learn more about living in Russia as a woman or being Jewish, but not if you are looking for a good read.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting and well-written story about intertwined yet independent lives over several decades.

[Josie · Rating 3 out of 5]

didn't like it: too confusing. Too much fluff. Don't recommend it