Lenin Lives Next Door: Marriage, Martinis, and Mayhem in Moscow

by Jennifer Eremeeva

"You can't make this stuff up." So says American writer, imperial Russia enthusiast, and veteran expatriate, Jennifer Eremeeva, who has lived for the last twenty years in Russia with HRH, her Handsome Russian Husband (occasionally a.k.a. Horrible Russian Husband) and their growing daughter. Luckily for Eremeeva, she didn't need to make up most of the events that inspired this, her first work of fiction. When she (and her alter-ego heroine, coincidentally named Jennifer) quit her job to write full time, she became enthralled with the dingy gray building across the courtyard from her apartment, where, it turned out, Vladimir Lenin's embalmed corpse was routinely freshened up and preserved. The result is Lenin Lives Next Marriage, Martinis, and Mayhem in Moscow . 
Based on Eremeeva's two decades in Russia, Lenin Lives Next Door knits together vignettes of cross-cultural and expatriate life with sharp observation, colorful historical background, and engaging humor. Each thematic chapter is an anecdotal exploration of an aspect of life in today's Russia, told with the help of a recurring cast of eccentric Russian and expat characters.

Lenin Lives Next Door introduces readers to Russians in their everyday at their dachas, in three-day traffic jams, and celebrating their 300-plus public and professional holidays with mayonnaise-based salads. Lenin Lives Next Door is an inside look at Russia by a recovering Russophile. Accolades for Lenin Lives Next Next Generation Indie Awards 2014
                    Travel/Travel Guide  
               Humor/Comedy

National Indie Excellence Awards 2014

              Comedy-Humor
              Travel The International Book Awards                           General
             Best New Fiction Readers' Favorite Book Awards      General Fiction       Humor Fiction             Culture Fiction 

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Humor, Travel, Russia, Biography

298 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Jennifer Eremeeva is an American writer, photographer, Russian historian, blogger, and humor and cooking columnist based in Moscow Russia.

Jennifer created the award-winning blog “Dividing My Time: Finding The Funnier Side of Life in Russia,” which highlights humorous and quirky aspects of her life as an expatriate in Russia, her cross-cultural marriage and offers up very digestible doses of Russian history, culture, politics, literature and her own wry observations of daily life in the world’s largest country. In 2011, Dividing My Time was re-christened “Russia Lite” and launched with a new visual design.

In 2011, Jennifer parlayed her passion for running great food to ground in Moscow in The Moscovore, an English-language site dedicated to gathering cooking resources, news, and recipes together in one place.

Jennifer is a regular contributor to The Voice of Russia, BBC Russia Service, and is the Cooking and Humor columnist for “Russia Beyond The Headlines:” a monthly color supplement to The Washington Post, The Daily Telegraph, Le Figaro, El Pais, La Repubblica, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and The Times of India. She has contributed pieces to online forums such as expat+Harem and Powder Room Graffitti.

Jennifer was born in Oklahoma City, and raised and educated in New England and the United Kingdom. She received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Russian Area Studies from Columbia University in 1989.

Since 2006, Jennifer has pursued writing and photography on a full time basis. She researches, writes, and speaks on a wide range of topics including Russian history, social history, culture, current events, cuisine, art and architecture; the Romanov dynasty, cooking, culinary history, European Royalty from 1837-1918, travel, and personal finance. Jennifer is the author of Lenin Lives Next Door: Marriage, Martinis, and Mayhem in Moscow, based on her twenty years living and working in Moscow, and Have Personality Disorder, Will Rule Russia: A Concise History of Russia.

You can follow Jennifer on Facebook and Twitter, or send an e-mail.

Jennifer and her husband and daughter divide their time between homes Russia and the United States.

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free audio copy of this book. This is my honest review:

This book slices me right in half. There was love and there was not. I love the whole expat in Russia thing. Oh, how I love that. I love any expat-in-the-east story. But the life that the author leads while in Russia is so far removed from any life I know or care to know. It was just so keeping-up-with-the-Bulshovichs. I wanted to hear about LIFE in Russia, not so much the office politics and catty goings-on of the expat ladies' book club. But that's just how I feel. I think this book has an audience and an appeal, I just don't fit into that lot. The writing was good, the subject just didn't appeal to me for the most part. I think I would have had a more successful experience if I had read the book opposed to listening to the audio. There are some lines that may be charming on paper but are a bit cloying when narrated. For example, the author says, "If you ask me, and no one ever, ever does..." a lot. This probably works much better in the book format than in the audio. She also says the nickname "Radio Magellan Dude" many, many times. That was a bit much for narration. But again, the author was a good writer. This just wasn't my cup of tea.

[BooksnFreshair (Poornima Apte)]

The book’s premise sounds very interesting. Jennifer Eremeeva with her HrH (Handsome Russian Husband, although “there are days when I think of him as Horrible Russian Husband,” she admits) finds herself living next door to a Moscow institute that is dedicated to preserving and maintaining Lenin’s embalmed corpse. Eremeeva, an American expat, promises a lively account of her life in Moscow but I couldn’t get much past the devastating descriptions of some of her fellow expats: “Dragana was married to Sunter Galveston, a dull WASP with an excellent, if exhausted, pedigree. No one knew exactly how dragana had got her talons into Sunter, and many marveled that she had not ruined his career through her abject rudeness.” Yet another person is described as a “nasty piece of work from a Republican red state.” More persistent readers might discover the account gets better later but I stopped about a quarter of the way through. “I warn you Tance--this is all going in my book,” Eremeeva says to yet another expat who manages to annoy her. Sadly it did.

Not rating because I didn't finish the book.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. I struggled with this book quite a bit. At times, it read like an expat version of Sex and the City. The author seemed particularly determined to impress how wealthy and privileged she is on the reader. The cast of supporting characters was reminiscent of over the top caricatures of people no one actually wants to know or care about. I've read her blog before and enjoyed it, but for most of the book, all I thought was, "Ugh!" At the same time, she writers well and when she takes herself and her cohort of pretentious friends out of the equation, the book is much more enjoyable. The chapters about Russian attitudes towards health and medicine and the discussion of Defenders of the Fatherland were particularly well done. I really wanted to like this book and I went in expecting more. I'm disappointed that it did not live up to the standard set by her previous blog.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

When it was good, I really got into the author's depictions of Russian culture, but when it was not ... we're talking "Rich Peoples' Problems: Moscow" as a reality show, which is just the teensiest bit difficult to identify with. Your Mileage May Vary here, so AYOR as they say (At Your Own Risk).

Author's self-narration worked fairly well here, which isn't usually the case.

[Blue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Goodreads First Reads for a copy of this book.

Creative non-fiction, you say, ey? Well, here comes the rollicking expat life of a bunch of well-to-do characters and their Russian friends in Moscow, complete with outrageous interior decor, vicious book clubs, and elitists attitudes. Eremeeva tells her rather embellished tales with a great sense of biting humor and does not forget to blend in Russian history and foodie interests along the way. The expats in question are all somewhat disgustingly well off (otherwise, they would be called immigrants, not expats!) and their life style is perhaps a bit too much brand-focused. They do vacation internationally often, and spend ridiculous amounts of money on good food and clothes inside and outside Russia. But the descriptions of the dynamics of foreignness and interactions of this foreign factor with the Russian element is where Eremeeva's prose excels. As an outsider, she captures the Russian view and attitudes very well, and her caricatures are spot on. As someone who is more on the inside than the outside, she also provides a very amusing account of how to navigate the Russian terrain with bravado and success (perhaps less so, when it comes to parking, but hey!)

Most importantly, although her idea of adding a whole chapter on LGBT (I would add the Q for good measure here; queer and questioning, two birds with one stone!) issues in Russia is shot down by her editor, Eremeeva successfully incorporates the queer element by telling many tales of Jesus (the Venezuelan interior designer) and his Russian hubby. Thank you, Mrs. Eremeeva! (Just to voice an opinion from a reader loud and clear, I would have loved a whole chapter on LGBTQ issues in Russia.)

Having read the book during the Sochi 2014 Olympics and the Russia-Ukraine showdown regarding Crimea, I can say that the book was extremely current and useful, especially in understanding the Putin factor that is aggressively making itself present in the international arena nowadays.

Now, several minor points that I need to point out, otherwise I will not sleep well tonight. First of all, Turkish hospitality will beat any Russian "hospitality" on any day of the year by a mile and more. But never mind that, Turkish food (and this is a simplification of the real nature of the cuisine, which can be called Ottoman-Turkish cuisine) is absolutely superior to any real or borrowed cuisine the Russians can call Russian food. So vacationing in Turkey, I must say, is one of the best things that can happen to Russians (something I sense Mrs. Eremeeva was not very grateful for. Perhaps, her income level is way above mine, so I have no idea what amazing vacations await in Cannes or Nice or [insert name of uber-expensive vacation spot for the billionaires of the world].)

There is one very important commonality, though, between Russians and Turks, it seems: glassing balconies! Oh, yes! And that whole chapter made me laugh out loud more than once. I do have one argument pro the glassed in balcony: in Turkey, any old Joe on a Sunday may decide to bring out his mangal and barbecue some sujuk on the balcony. He will do this clad in his long white underwear and wife-beater shirt, with a full chest of curly hair busting out and seriously threatening to catch on fire as he flips the sojuk over. This grizzly scene is usually prevented if the balcony is glassed in. So, one point in favor of the glassed-in balcony. (Now, there is a serious shortage of green spaces in urban areas in Turkey, especially in Istanbul, where almost 1/4th of the country lives, so just what one can do to prevent the mangal-toting, wife-beater-clad dude from barbecuing his sujuk on the green patches by the highway, I don't know...)

Typical for most Americans, Mrs. Eremeeva is oblivious about the visa application process for her own birth country (USA) and her frequent other home, Laaaaandon (London, UK). As a seasoned expert in visa applications for these countries and numerous others, I can tell you that the visa requirements for the Russian tourist visa are not out of the norm. In fact, they are very standard. You try to list ALL the foreign destinations you have traveled to and the dates for the last 10 years, and then provide last 6 months' paychecks and all your financial documents (tax returns, mortgages, investments, what color underwear you wear...) as well as a list of ANY friends you have in your destination (their citizenship status, address, phone number, what color underwear they wear...), and then we'll talk. The leprosy test? OK, that's weird! But not a part of the tourist visa application, I don't think.

And a question: So what were the Russians thinking, or were they thinking, when they played "Not gonna get us" by TATU (and I thought this was a recording, but I hear that they were indeed performing it live during the opening ceremonies) in Sochi 2014?! Are Russians aware that this became a huge gay anthem when it came out? That the only thing anyone remembers about the has-been TATU is the pseudo-lesbian scandal? I thought they should have also done "Gay Boy," and then that smirk-frown on Putin's face would have been just perfect!

Recommended for those who love mushrooms, Russian literature, bad burgers, and hate mosquitos, mayo, and enclosed balconies.

[Meg - A Bookish Affair · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. In "Lenin Lives Next Door," Jennifer Eremeeva literally lives next door to Lenin (well, sometimes when he's removed from his mausoleum to get a chemical bath and a change of clothes so that he can look fresh every couple of months - how did I not know that he needed to get a chemical refresh???? This makes the story of how he will spend eternity even creepier). Part travelogue, part comedy, Eremeeva gives us a front row seat as to what it is like to be an American fascinated by Russian history, married to a Russian man, and living in Russia and she does it in a thoroughly entertaining way.

In this book, we see how Eremeeva got to Russia (studying) and why she stayed (love). She came to Russia during a very volatile time in the country (the fall of the Soviet Union) and stays to see the country change and grow. Yes, this could be a boring historical tale but not when you have Eremeeva at the helm. The author explores some of the wonders (both the good and the bad) of Russia and does so with a great sense of humor and panache.

I loved the writing in this book. You feel like you're getting really funny stories from a friend. This book had me laughing out loud in some parts (there is one part about name stereotypes that had me giggling out loud). It is always a sign of a good book when I'm laughing out loud. I definitely could not help it with this book. I was definitely ready for more when this book ended!

[Kathrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of the book.

I may know not that much about Russia but I know my share of expat stories. When I started reading the book I was looking forward to a humorous view on Russia and new insights for me about the country. I haven't been to Russia before but I like to travel. Books usually make me want to travel more.

I had my troubles getting into the book because the first few chapters didn't really do it for me. This eventually changed when the narration focused more on the author's family and Russia in general. To be honest, the chapters about her friends were a little excessive.

The book had it's good and bad aspects. I liked the insights into Russian daily life and family ties. On the other hand, the repeating stereotypes that were thrown my way sometimes annoyed me. I just don't believe that you can characterize a person by their name.

Nevertheless, the book kept me on reading. I really enjoyed the writing style and had a good time reading the book. I would recommend it to people who like to read about life in different countries without an information overload.

[Natalya · Rating 1 out of 5]

I probably should not write a review about a book I did not finish, but I was so disappointed. I have read the author's blog and enjoy some of her writing (and recipes) so I had higher expectations. She wrote an article a while back about dachas. Her viewpoint was almost inappropriate in an unkind manner (perhaps the reason for certain notions about Americans abroad). For me she missed the mark on that and she also missed the mark with this book. Her sarcasm was off putting and bordered nasty. I personally felt that she missed a golden opportunity to write about post Soviet Russia and share meaningful details, but true to Columbia form, she got politically judgemental. I am very tired of the "insult those who disagree" mentality. This book could have been a nice reprieve from all that. The author made a deliberate choice to do otherwise. I feel sorry for some of the people she "observed" and wrote about. I hope they all have a great sense of humor. I brought this book along on vacation, but I quickly found myself in a local book shop looking for something better.

[Bryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a free copy through Goodreads.

I was really looking forward to this "fish out of water" story. It took me 3 months to finish. I could only suffer through a chapter or so a week.

When reading something like this, you hope to find a way to relate to the author. Sadly, I never found that. Like other reviewers, I agree she spent too much time reminding us of how much money she had. It made her(and her friends) sound like pretentious snobs.

The only thing keeping this from being a 1 star review was the depictions of Russian culture and their pride in the motherland.

[Les · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book wasn't what I expected. The author lives well in Russia, returns to the US every summer and drove around Moscow with an Obama sticker on her Land Rover.

Snarky and critical of modern Russia she longs for the land of the Tsars. She bitches and moans about her first world problems; such as how to get the contractors to leave and fighting with HRH [handsome Russian husband] over glassing in the balcony at their apartment. While not at the oligarch level, she mixes with them and then mocks them.

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did like some things about this book, the writing style is very nice, and the descriptive phrases really paint a picture. There were some surprise laughs.

What I did not like, it is very snobby and pretentious. She describes others as being judgemental while describing nearly all her characters in a poor light. It was like a cross of mean girl high school talk and Martha Stewart ettiquette classes. It is the Moscow version of the 1% and their problems with ladies that lunch. Not what I was expecting.

[Giddy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The fact that this was nominated for any awards makes me question the awards. There are some really excellent bits but an editor was badly needed. It becomes very repetitive, and if you hear once about an "alpha male" you hear it 1000 times. There has to be a better book about life in Moscow today (and not just the very rich.Loads of brand name dropping too.)

[Kathryn]

This seems like a fun read. I can't wait to get it and to read it!
Just received my book. Looking forward to reading it.

[Pauline · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh. This book was a huge disappointment.

I'm really interested in Russia, and love reading first-hand accounts of how it's like to live there. This book looked particularly interesting to me because it's written by an expat - I'm an expat myself (albeit not in Russia) and I know that this weird "foreigner at home" status can sometimes give you fresh and unusual insights about life in a country.

Problem is the book doesn't deliver on that. To be fair, there is about 15% of it which is actually informative: the whole Lenin business, the author's Russian husband and his quirks, learning about the infamous red handshake (terrifying!), some titbits of information about Moscow life. But the other 85%.... Good luck reading that without eye-rolling so hard you'll give yourself a headache.

This is basically a book about a wealthy American expat and her wealthy American expat friends. Now there's nothing wrong with being wealthy or with a narrative being centred on wealthy characters, or American characters for that matter (look at Gatsby!). But here are the issues I found:
- Call me a European proletarian but I'm definitely not amused or entertained by jokes such as "we flew to London so my husband could get a suit tailor-made in Saville row and then I saw someone I knew and then my husband paid for his suit in 2 inch-thick wads of £50 notes, how embarrassing teehee", "here's the time I manipulated my husband into buying me a super-rare Hermes bag but I actually didn't really want it omg lol", or "I went to this super expensive restaurant with my friend and he knew what he wanted to order but he still made the waiter painstakingly read him the whole 14 pages of the menu lololol adorbz". Uh... okay?
- The characterisation is really one-dimensional. Meet the cast: the working girl and her navy suit (spoiler alert: she's always on the phone! she's single! she's pretty!); the boorish husband; the nice & friendly fresh expat ready to be initiated; the undesirable expat that nobody likes just because; the thirsty af English dude chasing skirt; the flamboyant gay guy (complete with extravagant accent, in the text); the shy gay boyfriend; the bitchy Russian girl; the bitchy rich expat; etc. It ends up reading like Sex & The City in Russia, but with none of the characterisation, charm, warmth, or wit. (so... with not much left really)
- So much bitchiness. There's this underlying disdain for anything and everything that doesn't fit with the author's social circle or expectations, and that becomes very grating indeed. These expats are not good enough, these Russian girls are bitchy, these Russian men always get drunk, she's a bitch, he's weird, I don't like them, they live on the wrong side of town... Urgh.
- Too much colloquial dialogue, and not good at that. You know, when someone tries to do an accent (badly) and they go on and on and on and you run out of ways to tell them to stfu? That.

Ultimately I feel bad for reviewing this badly because it's clearly a labour of love, and after all it's not meant to be high literature. But damn! What a missed opportunity.
(July 2016)

[Maura Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s a tricky balance to writing well about expat life. Some people are so wide-eyed and enamored with their adopted homes that all they do is gush about how wonderful and fascinating and inspiring life abroad is. At the other end of the spectrum are writers who complain so relentlessly about the country they’re living in and the people who inhabit it that I want to scream, “If you hate it so much, why don’t you just GO HOME?”

My preference is for the expat writer who manages to discuss his or her second homeland with a sense of humor about its quirks but an appreciation for its history, culture, and people. My first exposure to this type of expat writing came from reading Kaiser Kuo’s back-page “Ich Bin Ein Beijinger” essays in The Beijinger magazine after I moved to China in 2005 (there’s a Kindle collection of his best columns, though I haven’t bought it yet). Other good examples of humorous China expat bloggers are Jeremiah Jenne and Imagethief, aka Will Moss (who has moved back to the U.S. and taken up residence in the foreign land of Silicon Valley). All three writers have a knack for describing the frustrating and often absurd elements of life in China, but without devolving into meanness or condemnations of China’s culture or its people as inherently deficient when compared to the U.S.

Jennifer Eremeeva manages to walk this fine line in her new “creative nonfiction” memoir of expatriate life in Russia, Lenin Lives Next Door: Marriage, Martinis, and Mayhem in Moscow. Eremeeva became a Russophile early on, falling under the spell of Robert Massie’s Nicholas and Alexandra as a teenager and majoring in Russian Area Studies at Columbia in the mid-1980s. As Gorbachev’s perestroika and glasnost policies changed the shape of Soviet life, Eremeeva arrived in Moscow to work as a tour guide. She’s now been there for over twenty years, marrying “HRH” (Handsome/Horrible Russian Husband, depending on her mood) and moving through a series of jobs in the tourism and PR industries. In 2006, Eremeeva switched over to writing full-time, focusing on “The funnier side of life in the world’s largest country,” as her blog’s tagline reads.

Full review available at my blog.

Review copy received via NetGalley.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book struck a real chord with me right from the start. “You have to really want to go to Russia. A brief visit involves a lot of paperwork…” says Jennifer Eremeeva in this wonderfully entertaining glimpse into that vast country which really does have to be experienced to be believed. Having struggled through many visa applications, I echo that sentiment. And I certainly recognise that arriving at the airport means running the gauntlet of “the world’s most aggressively unpleasant taxi drivers”. In fact I recognised a good deal of what Jennifer writes about, which she does with wit, intelligence, and sharp perception. Never patronising, but with great affection for her adopted country, this very entertaining book gives an in-depth glimpse into Russian contemporary society, the food, traditions, customs and attitudes of today’s post-Soviet generations, all set against a clearly delineated historical background.
Jennifer Eremeeva is an American writer and blogger who has lived in Moscow for twenty years with her Russian husband and daughter, so her book is at once an outsider’s view but also an insider’s one, describing what it’s like to be an ex- pat there whilst at the same time also living as an ordinary Russian citizen.
Full of amusing anecdotes and useful information (a check-list of what to take for a weekend at a dacha really made me laugh), with a perceptive insight into what makes Russians tick, with portraits of her friends as well as the surly waitresses all too common in Russian restaurants, this is a picture of Russia as she is and how she is evolving. 80 years of Soviet rule isn’t thrown off overnight and Russia is still very much a country in flux. Only by understanding the past can a visitor understand where Russia is at the moment, and this book is an ideal guide. Funny, informative, realistic, it’s a book for anyone with any interest in the country, and definitely required reading for anyone thinking of visiting there. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Lauren McCullough · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like many of the reviews, I have mixed feelings about this book.

The idea of reading about Ex-Pat life in Russia is very appealing to me, and there were certain stories that really held my fascination. I for one, was disappointed that we didn’t get the history lesson Jennifer put together. I think hearing her interpretation, combined with her real life experience and thoughts about modern life in Russia would have been a fascinating read. However, that’s not what the book is.

Instead, a lot of it felt very much like a reality tv show which could easily have been called THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF MOSCOW. While some of that stuff was interesting, for the most part I kept waiting to hear more about what actual life in Russia is like. For instance, I really enjoyed her explanation about the traffic & cops and the Red Hand Shake. Of course hearing about the excess of Russian spending does fit into the category of what life there is like I really only needed ONE story...perhaps the suit buying excursion.

As for Jennifer’s narration, it’s hit or miss when authors narrate their own books. I think Jennifer did a very good job. My only criticism is that there were quite a few odd pauses (probably at page turns), and some lip smacking / mouth noise I could have done without. Her strength lies in her familiarity with the russian language and who these people are.

There are a lot of things that are charming about this book. Her nickname for her husband, HRH, the varying characters (and her interpretation of them), and her obvious love for Russia. It’s worth giving a listen to, or reading if the topic is of interest to you.

I’d love to see her write an American’s observations of Russian history and how it affects life there today through her humorous filter.

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com.

[Colin Scala · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mostly agree with the consensus. I have mixed feelings about this book. Some parts of it were funny and insightful, but at times it did seem as if it were about rich white American expats living in Moscow rather than the "inside look at Russia" the blurb promised. It made me roll my eyes a few times, and that's not usually a good thing. If you ask me, and no one ever, ever does, I'd say it's worth reading if you're interested in Russian culture or perhaps planning to visit the country.

Disclosure: I received a free hardcover copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads.

[Sergei · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absolutely hilarious from beginning to end. Eremeeva depicts the trials & tribulations of present-day Russia with a fine appreciation for the absurd & an exquisite eye for detail. Erma Bombeck meets David Sedaris (only much, much funnier and perspicacious) with a firm grasp of Russian history & a keen eye for the ghastlier aspects of her surroundings that Martha Stewart would envy.

[Charlie Jenkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was intrigued by the premise - an American's impressions of living in Russia from the downfall of the USSR to the present. But, in practice I found the book very boring. It doesn't have even a loose plot or chronology. The author, a rich literati, gossips about how absurd all her gay designer friends and wealthy book parties are, making an endless series of Sex and the City references. She came across as catty and impressed with herself, but rarely funny for a comedy writer. Worst of all, the world of a Carrie Bradshaw is so niche that the book didn't give me much of an idea what life would be like for ME in 21st century Moscow (which was what I'd really wanted to picture.) I'm sure there's an audience for this book. It's just not me.

[Dasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Took me two months to finish this book. I found it really hard to read because the author was just too negative about everything. The author married a Russian guy, lived in Moscow for a while and thus decided to write "truth" about life in Russia. Such a snobby book. She wrote negatively about everything and everyone who was not in her friends' circle. Ugh.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave 5 stars because it gives you a real peek into the personal lives of some Russians and especially that of a foreigner living abroad. It kept my interest the entire time and shed some light on the more personal aspects of russian life compared to the broad overview most history books will give you.

[Lena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The spring of 1996 I answered an ad in my university’s paper, “ESL teachers for private school in Moscow, Russia.” Four months later I boarded a plane with 3 other newly graduated women headed for a yearlong contract in the former USSR’s capital. A whole hand wasn’t needed to count what I knew about Russia. I was naive and young, stumbling without a compass into a culture I knew nothing about.

What I could have used was a copy of Jennifer Eremeeva’s memoir, Lenin Lives Next Door: Marriage, Martinis, and Mayhem in Moscow. Eremeeva, unlike me, landed in Moscow with a full study of Russian history and culture and, most importantly, language skills. In her early Moscovian days, she eked out a living giving tours of Moscow to English speakers. Then she met her handsome Russian husband, set up house, and spent twenty years living amongst the Russki’s. She knows a thing or two about how to mingle with the vodka and champagne crowd in the world’s largest nation, things she shares with equal servings of history, wit, and realism in her writing.

So if the scenic pictures of Sochi sent you searching for your passport, here’s a few of lessons I learned from Lenin Lives Next Door that might help you in your travels, armchair or otherwise:

1) The “babushka” squad is to be feared. The sweet sounding word stands for grandmother in Russian and belies the grandmas’ militaristic approach to the adage “it takes a village.” Babushkas spare no words in advising how to raise children, how to dress, and what to eat. When the author’s daughter fails to don her snow pants before exiting the bus, Eremeeva strategizes on ways to dodge the stout elder broads, good strategies to remember if you find yourself face to face with the tongue-lashing grannies. I remember being yelled at by these women and, for once, was glad my Russian skills were so wanting.

2) Making BFFs with the locals may not be possible. The Soviet government had strict rules about fraternizing with foreigners. Seriously, until reading Lenin Lives Next Door, I had no idea that this was the case. The school I worked for imported American teachers annually, our alienism wasn’t strange to the friendly and hospitable Russian teachers we worked with. I assumed most Russians were as open, but honestly, my social network consisted of expats, which in a strange loop probably had somewhat to do with Eremeeva’s observations of what living under a police-styled state does to the national psyche.

3) Taking a gypsy cab alone is not advisable. Gypsy cabs are unofficial cabs in Russia. To hail one, you stand on the curb, stick your arm out straight about 30 degrees from your side, and wait for someone who’s looking to fill their gas tank with your rubles. As a trusting youngster, I hopped into several of these without considering the soberness of the driver, the pocket gouging I was taking as a foreigner, whether the nuts and bolts of the vehicle would withstand a pothole, and of course, my own personal safety. I did slow down use of these paid-hitchhiking excursions when my friend got a hand placed high on her leg by the driver. Eremeeva scrutinized the drivers with more wisdom than I ever applied, “Is the driver’s Ossetian accomplice lurking in the backseat, poised to whisk you off to white slavery and the opium dens of North Omsk?” I didn’t even know opium dens existed in Omsk. Like I said, knowing the language helps a lot.

4) Vast differences exist in health philosophies between the Americans and the Russians. While Americans are lectured from birth on the harmfulness of tobacco smoke from spokespersons with electronic voice boxes, the Russians, as Eremeeva points out, have a saying: “The one who doesn’t drink or smoke is the one who dies healthy.” Eremeeva handles the discrepancies between the West and the Russians as she does with every aspect of life, with light-heartedness and obvious respect for Russians.

5) Finally, I learned I should have changed my name. A chunk of one chapter is dedicated to Eremeeva’s education of a young male expat to the ways of Russian women, an education centered on what’s in a name. Lena’s in Russia are apparently, “the Eeyores of Russian women.” She goes on to match many female names to personalities much like an astrologist describing someone based on their birth month. I’m a Leo by the way, so I’m a crotchety short-tempered Eeyore. Watch out.

As an armchair traveler, I’ve enjoyed my share of expat memoirs. Many tend to take potshots at the host country and slather on humor as a salve for their superiority. In contrast, Eremeeva’s approach is tender and appreciating. It’s obvious from her tale that she respects the Russian culture and though she encounters obstacles and frustrations, derogatoriness is absent from the text.

So, even if you’ve not purchased a one-way ticket to Sochi, pick up a copy of Lenin Lives Next Door. You’re guaranteed to find it more insightful than a Washington Post article about Putin’s latest alpha-male feat and ten times more hilarious. It’s available in print or e-book.

~originally posted at pagecravings.com

[Erin Curley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book didn’t really have any real ending, and the order was a bit confusing. The book was funny tho and def painted an interesting prospective on 80s to 00s in Russia + the expat life. Happy I stumbled upon it

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mildly interesting perspectives of an American woman married to a Russian. Not much about ordinary life and living in Russia; more of rambling tales of a woman living a sheltered life. Think, Real Housewives of Moscow. Interesting nonetheless.

[Katherine McNabb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this, but at the same time I found that I hated the author/main character as a person.

[ST · Rating 1 out of 5]

The most stupid way of writing history.

[Mirta Trupp · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gratefully downloaded “Lenin Lives Next Door: Marriage, Martinis, and Mayhem in Moscow by Jennifer Eremeeva through a free giveaway on Amazon. At the risk of being a plagiarist, I am compelled to defer to one or two on-point remarks posted by other reviewers. One likened Eremeeva’s point of view to Jane Austen’s satirical take on life. The reviewer compared lead players in Eremeeva’s memoir to beloved fictional characters, such as Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley. Another reviewer pointed out that the memoir read like Sex in the City, switching out Moscow for New York. I could agree with both observations.

I readily admit that I picked up this book with every hope of loving it. My family were Russian immigrants; they absconded – fleeing from their homes when the writing on the wall was crystal clear. Arriving in Argentina in the early 1900’s, my ancestors were part of the massive wave of Eastern European Jews escaping the Settlement of Pale. My grandparents were children when they left Russia; they spoke Spanish with a charismatic accent- a mixture of Russian and Yiddish. They drank tea from delicate crystal glasses; sipping the liquid through sugar cubes they held in between their front teeth. They ate borsht and herring and potato salad smothered with mounds of mayonnaise. Toasts were made with vodka and every ailment was treated, at least at first, with jam. I completely identified with the author’s humorous recount of “The Babushka Squad” as it could easily be, word for word, my own narrative. All my memories indicated that Eremeeva’s story would easily meld with mine. And for the most part, it did. I struggled with the chapters focused on the rich and famous among the expats, all the gossip and minutia. I couldn’t relate to the wealthy, privileged lifestyle, in particular because the author didn’t seem to realize how out of the ordinary her lifestyle was in comparison to the run-of –the-mill “comrade.”

The author begins her tale explaining her love of all things Russia, the “sepia-colored Russia of Nicholas and Alexandria”. Truth be told, I am enthralled with stories of royalty and all things “period drama”; however I couldn’t get over the nagging sensation that history was being white washed. Was it just me and “my baggage” or was the author glossing over historical facts? While
Eremeeva is eagerly instructing her daughter on the attributes of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, I was thinking, “WAIT A MINUTE!” Don’t forget to tell her about …” When Eremeeva is explaining that “chicken soup, oddly enough is not the vanguard of the remedy lineup”, she flippantly (it seemed flippant to me) explains that “of course, most of the chicken soup experts were persuaded to leave Russia en masse around 1905…” Well, this was a bit difficult for me to swallow, since “of course”, the Jewish Russians who were 'persuaded' to leave included MY ANCESTORS. In fact, this sort of glossing over was evident time and again. I had to re-read sentences to make sure I had understood the author correctly. Did she just refer to independent countries as vassal states? Indeed she did! “Every Russian knows that the Americans are hell-bent on staging democratic revolutions in Russia’s natural vassal states like Bosnia and Ukraine…” Yikes!

Having written my own memoir, it was difficult not to compare - to see if I was not in fact, guilty of things I was faulting Eremeeva. I too have a cast of characters that might prove to be underwhelming. I have been outspoken about my hatred of all things Peron- possibly marginalizing many of my readers, as Eremeeva did while ranting against all things Republican. But, the reader has to take these things with a grain of salt. After all, we have written Creative non-fictions; our memories- our interpretations of our lives. I found humor in Lenin Lives Next Door. I appreciated the author’s witty, Bombeck- sort-of style and enjoyed the depth of knowledge with regards to Russian politics and cultural idiosyncrasies. I suppose I should have left my emotional baggage behind in the “gypsy taxi cab,” in order to have rated this book higher than three stars.

[Kingsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Relaying a conversation between book-Jennifer and a friend author-Jennifer says that this book isn't really going to be non-fiction but more autobiographical fiction because "you cannot make this stuff up, but it does lend itself to embellishment". Did this conversation happen or is it itself a part of the embellishment? Who knows.

Jennifer Eremeeva retells (embellished?) stories of her 20-odd years living as an American in Russia after having moved there in the late 80's, just before the fall of the USSR. He has a Russian husband and a daughter who seems to have a real identity crisis (is she Russian or not? she thinks she is but everyone tells her she is a foreigner).

Some of the stories are much more entertaining than others. The stories I enjoyed most were the ones around their daughters education and her using British texts. The aforementioned identity crisis relating to being a child of an ex-pat. The Russian history stuff.

Other stories didn’t work as well. Some come across as "rich people problems in Russia". Some of these provide interesting insight into how Russian business works, but often it more feels like a rich people complaining session. The book also suffers early on due to a story focusing on a group of ex-pats and their book club. Other than the fact that they are all ex-pats and thus somewhat forced into a friendship group that may not normally have formed this story is one that could have happened anywhere and doesn't fit with the "Russian insight" idea. If this story came later in the book it probably would have been fine, but as early as it was it just meant the book lost momentum.

Eremeeva does well with narration, considering it is author narrated and she isn’t a professional narrator. Some of the comic timing feels slightly off but she gets the emotion or sarcasm or whatever required, which is good considering she put it there.

A note on my scoring: Listening to this book I swung back and forth between "I like it" and "I really like it", swinging it between a 3-star and a 4-star book. Same with the narration. In the end I settled that it was a 3.5 star for both, but rounded up to 4.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining view of modern Russian life from the quick witted pen of an American married to a HRH(Handsome Russian Husband, who can also be Horrible Russian Husband) and a veteran of 20 years' vicissitudes in the former Soviet Union. Her memoir of daily life is full of snarky,boozy cocktail parties, and unsparing character sketches of the members of her "urban family"(fellow Americans and Brits of the Moscow expat community, who most memorably include a flamingly funny Venezuelan interior designer ,Jesus, and his macho Russian mate, Alexei),numerous insights into how dacha life can be a deadly drag: forget the wonderful Tolstoyan visions of rambling cottages with steaming saunas in crisp clean forests. Instead,imagine 6 hours of weekend gridlock with 60,000 other Muscovites to travel 80 miles,sleep among ravenous mosquitoes on a lumpy sofa bed, with outside toilets and endless drunken barbecuing. Imagine apartment living in a city in which the heating comes on in September, soars to tropic indoor temperatures because windows are never to be opened(drafts are considered deadly) and attempting to lower your thermostat causes a visit from a Dragon lady who is prepared to rat you out to the police.Imagine learning to drive on the streets of Moscow when any minor infraction gets you pulled over and has you forking over the traditional big ruble bribe to your friendly neighborhood traffic cop. I can't do Eremeeva's stories justice.With tongue firmly in cheek and yet with palpable love for her adopted country, she gives us the down and dirty about perestroika and how the other Red half lives. This is a woman you would love to sit down with in the Scandinavian restaurant(best burgers in Moscow), scarf down some wine and just listen to her riff about her day.I hope there is Part Two because I know she has more stories....Zhen -ee-ver, have you met Mr. Putin yet?