Two Babushkas

by Masha Gessen

Masha Gessen's last memory of Russia was the crowd of red-eyed relatives gathered at the airport in Moscow in 1981 to wave goodbye forever to her fourteen-year-old self, her brother and her parents. Unwilling to have their children grow up bearing the weight of the same anti-Semitism that they and their parents had, Masha's mother and father were emigrating to America. But Russia was Masha's home and ten years later she returned to a changed country, and to her two grandmothers. With intelligence and humour Masha Gessen unfolds the tale of these two both Eastern European Jews who lived through Polish and Russian anti-Semitism, the Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Stalin years and who bore unceasing intimidation and fear in very different ways but with similar courage, resourcefulness and sheer chutzpah.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Russia, Biography, Memoir, Holocaust, World War II

Paperback

First published October 26, 2004

About the author

Masha Gessen (born 1967) is an American-Russian journalist, translator, and nonfiction author. They identify as non-binary and use they/them pronouns.

Born into an Ashkenazi Jewish family in Russia, in 1981 they moved with their family to the United States to escape anti-Semitism. They returned in 1991 to Moscow, where they worked as a journalist, and covered Russian military activities during the Chechen Wars. In 2013, they were publicly threatened by prominent Russian politicians for their political activism and were forced to leave Russia for the United States.

They write in both Russian and English, and has contributed to The New Republic, New Statesman, Granta and Slate. Gessen is a staff writer at The New Yorker, covering international politics, Russia, LGBT rights, and gender issues.

Reviews

[Dem · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

A memoir of two Jewish women and what it ment to be a Jew under Hitler's rule and equally brutal Stalin's rule. Researched and written by their grand-daughter Masha Gessen the book is rich in history and family research. I tend to enjoy this blend of historical depth with personal experiences and Ester and Ruzya stories are full of character and life as they bring us through the terrible times of the twentieth century. Books like this are important and tend to give a valuable insight to family life lived through these dark and dangerous years.

"In the 1930s as waves of war and persecution were crashing over Europe two young Jewish women began separate journeys of survival. One became a hero in her childrens and grandchildren's eyes and the other a collaborator".

This book was a really interesting read but having said that I had a difficult time initially connecting with the story as the difference between Ester and Ruzya's stories were initially difficult to follow and I found myself at times confused as to whose story was whose. By 100 pages the story did come together and the second half of the book worked better for me.

I had this book sitting on my bookshelf for a long time and was glad to have finally had an opportunity to read it.

[Chrissie · Rating 5 out of 5]

NO SPOILERS!!!

This is an amazing book. It is definitely getting 5 strs. Who should read it? Those who are interested in life in the Soviet Union starting from the 1930s all the way up to 2002 and those interested in the persecution of Jews in Poland prior to and during WW2. You have to be interested in these two subjects. This book packs an emotional punch. It is about motherhood, friendship and survival. About humor and of course history. It is about how people are SO different. Sure we can search for reasons, but we are simply born different. This is not to say that one is good and the other bad. Both Rozalia and Ester were wonderful and yet very, very different from each other! You will learn so much about life in the Soviet Union through the lives of these two remarkable women and their families. The prose is engaging, funny and philosophical. This is exactly the kind of book I adore. I loved this so much I don't want to leave the "subject". Now I will start The Family Mashber. It IS fiction. Could it possibly be as good as this biography?

Through page 248: The grandmothers have met - finally! Now I know who is who on the cover of my book! :0) You come to love these two women.

Through page 244: This book isn't a light read. It is stuffed with facts both about life in Bialystok, Poland, and in Russia after the war. Also in Turkmenistan. It is about two grandmothers and how each survived Hitler's war and Stalin's peace, just as the title indicates. There is a Russian word spasat'sia, which means literally to save oneself, but to do it on a regular basis! That such a word exists in a particular language says something about the culture of the people using this language. This word, and the Russian word for hunger, vprogolod are central to what this book is about. The two grandmothers have still not met. The point is much more that although these two women were similar in many ways, they chose different ways of surviving. It is the analysis of WHY these two women made such different choices that is riveting. Let me say very clearly, neither one was the hero and the other the traitor. That is what you will learn. Well that is merely my feeling. Others may disagree. Being a censor in Stalin's Russia has both its ups and sowns. Very interesting reading!

Through page 202: This is ridiculous, I mark sentences that I feel I must quote, but there are so many. The writing makes me alternately laugh, cry or takes my breath away. What is said is so hoestly true, perceptive, heart wrenching. Between the emotional lines you get the historical facts and discussions on how different events have been debated. So no more quotes. I've given enough. No, two short lines more:

"This is the essence of living, the skill of grasping whatever joy comes your way......" (page 198)

"...now she knows, from her own life, how happiness comes in tiny bursts. Like a good book." (page 200)

No more! Read the book instead.

Through Page 152: I appreciate the author's analysis of what is behind the choices made by each of her grandmothers. A bit less than half-way through the book, I have mostly learned about Ester's choices. I admire her zest for life and her spunk. I admire her honesty and ability to clearly see the importance of the support she received from her mother. And:

"Maybe she is reluctant to judge, knowing precisely how difficult it was for her to stand her ground." (page 140)

Read the book description under the title Ester and Ruzya: How My Grandmothers Survived Hitler's War and Stalin's Peace. It is much more relevant to the point of the book than that given for the title of Two Babushkas.

Again on the theme of hunger:

"Hunger is accepting the humiliation of a biscuit from him. She concentrates on taking small indifferent bites." (page 128)

On the all pervading fear characteristic of these times:

"There was a misunderstanding between Ester and Major Gurov, and at the center of this misunderstanding was fear. The most important instrument of control in the soviet Union was fear." (page 129)

In the beginning of the book each chapter switched between the two grandmothers. This was a bit confusing. It is much easier to follow as you get further into the book, where the story focuses one one grandmother at a time. They still have not met! There is no map - which is bad. But drag out your atlases instead. There is so much to learn. I hadve never before read about how letters/envelopes were triangular in the Soviet Union at this time. Another thing that is bad is that the book lacks photographs!

Through page 119: It is made strikingly clear that what hppens to an individual is most often completely outside of their control. The good and the bad just fall down on you from above. In Moscow, Ester is studying and has found friends. With the Germans approaching from the west, for many Poles Russia was the only alternative available. Ester's roomate and friend Eda was very lucky when a pilot saw her photograph and fell in love with her. They never even met. And what happens? He decides he has no need for his large pay, there on the front, and sent it to Eda. What happens next? He is killed and another bank transfer, an astronomical sum of money was sent to Eda. From living with hunger, they now delight in wine and food, real foood. War and food or lack thereof are so closely knit. From page 108:

"Somewhere around that time she first heard the word vprogolod. It means 'a life of hunger' - not the crisis of famine, but the habitual year-to-year, day-to-day painful light-headedness and a sucking sensation in the esophagus. This was how they lived."

Before the lucky star fell from the sky.

What you notice is that people are just ordinary people, even in the worst of times. Here is this pilot falling in love with a girl he has never seen. The need to hold someone dear is so essential to life. Here are Eda and Ester buying food and wine, with comments such as (page 109):

"She has never been a wine drinker before, but she can become one now."

I also like how history is seamlessly woven into the tale (page 109):

"As it happened, just as she was sentenced, in August 1941 The Soviet Union signed a co-operation agreement with occupied Poland's government in exile and, in conjunctionwith that move, declared amnesty for all Polish citizens in labor camps, prisons and 'special settlements' on Soviet territory. Many of them, including the future Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, left the Soviet Union in the ranks of an army formed by Polish general Wladislaw Anders. The rest, like Bella, remained in the Soviet Union through the war."

Time and time again, what happens to just you is pure luck..... Will you be one of the lucky few?

Through page 66: Life during the Great Terror 1937-1940 under Stalin is better understood when the reader see the effects on Ester's and Rozalia's lives and that of their families. The capriciousness of fate hits you. There is no rhyme or reason as to who gets caught and who slips free. However fear is a constant that all feel. (Page 52)

"No one came that night for Moshe, or for Rozalia, or for Boba or anyone else in the gang. But Moshe continued to wait, and so did Rozalia, just as thusands of people in the Soviet Union waited every night, unable to sleep, think or make love, always listening for the car engine in the courtyard, the steps on the stairs and the banging on the door."

I am wondering how it would feel to read this book, having lived through these times?!

There is no map, so be sure you have an atlas within reach. I would have also appreciated photos.

Through page 21: I enjoy learning about the author's family, the two central characters being her two grandmothers. Rozalia(Ruzya) is the mother of the author's father, Sasha. Ester is the mother of her Mom, Yalochka. Rozalia and Ester have been friends long before their children ever married. There is a long history preceding the familial tieing of the two families. In 1981, the author, Masha and her parents emigrated. She was 14 at the time. Now, 10 years later, Masha has returned as a jounalist and will meet again those of her tightly knit family. And both her grandmothers. Finally in 1994 she moved permanently back to Moscow. As an adult, going back to where she grew up was tumuluous, wrought with fear and delight. It was then her grandmothers told her the stories of their lives in fuller detail. It is these stories that constitute the book. I haven't read many pages, but I immediately have learned the importance of "family" in Russian life. Being family is both an obligation and a joy. You need the help of your family in a way that is perhaps hard for a Westerner to comprehend. I assume this will be shown to me in the following pages. Ester's family was from Bialystok, Poland. Rozalia's from Moscow. Between the wars, Bialystok was the city in Poland with the largest community of Jews. That is where the tale begins. This is not fiction. Ester's Hasidic Jewish parents were atheists, one working for the Zionist cause, the other for the integration of the Jews into Polish life, an activist in the Bund, the Jewish workers' party in Poland. It was Ester's father who was the Zionist and her mother the Bundist. As in real life, people who love eachother do not always think the same. Other interests tied them, their daughter Ester, of course! I like that these people reflect the possibility of loving and still not necessarily agreeing or doing things in the same way. Then fate also sticks its hand in the jumble and the result is life. I will not tell you what happens to them, and I do not know much of the total story yet. I enjoy learning about the Jewish traditions in Bialystok in the 1930s. Here too, in this city, a center of Jewish thought and life in Poland, discrimination was clearly evident.

Ester is a well-developed young teenager. the boys are definitely interested.... In the summer, mother and daughter, Bella and Ester, leave Bialystok for country life. Here is a tast of the prose (both from page 21):

"Bella and Ester have taken a room with a terrace in a large private home, since far to many of the pensions now announce, alongside their name, 'No dogs or Jews'."

Ester's father comes to visit them every weekend. He is driving toward their lodging. Remember, fathers will be fathers:

"Now Jakub waves to Ester and visibly picks up speed as he approaches the house. Now he bounds up the stairs. Now he traverses the terracein two leeping steps, grabs the young man by the collar and holds him suspended in mid-air like a small animal for a split second before stepping back toward the stairway and sending the charming conversationalist tumbling down."

Maude, you are probably way ahead of me already....... It is good, isn't it?!

Before starting: For clarity's sake, Ester and Ruzya and Two Babushkas are the same. I will be reading this book with Maude. :0) We both have high expectations. We will share our thoughts with eachother in the messages below this review. If we think that which we say is a spoiler, we will add a SPOILER WARNING to the message! I am hoping that Maude will also write a review, and that I can leave messages there too! Anybody intererested in joing in on the discussion is welcome!

The setting is Poland and Russia. The book is a biography of the author's two grandmothers who survived Hitler's war and Stalin's peace.

[Florence Buchholz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating account of persecution by the Nazis and the Soviets told in a very engaging style. Masha has the wisdom to be non-judgemental of her ancestors and the difficult compromises they had to make in order to survive.

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Masha Gessen so well that she could interfere in Russian elections and I’d still acquit her. Her books are like Spike Lee films, often sloppy but always intelligently original. This book tells the often tragic story of Moscow, Poland, and what Snyder calls the Borderlands, from the point of view of her grandparents. Lots of Russian and Polish anti-semitism uncovered by Gessen in this essentially oral history.

[Linnea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hitaasti ja hartaudella luin tätä elämäkertateosta, intensiivisissä puuskissa ja sitten kirjan sivuun laskien. Masha Gessen kertoo elävästi isoäitiensä elämästä juutalaisena Neuvostoliiton poliittisten kiemuroiden keskellä, ihmisyys on vahvana. Kiinnostava teos!

[Lisa Lieberman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've known Masha Gessen from their political commentary but never knew their family story -- which is fascinating. Two Jewish grandmothers, one an ardent Communist who fled Poland after the Nazi takeover, believing that she would be welcomed into the Soviet Union with open arms; one who knew better, having grown up in the Soviet Union and experienced antisemitism from the get-go.

As with so many witness testimonies, survival depended more upon luck than cunning. Both women were shrewd, both lost lovers when they were young, gave up on romance for the sake of their families, compromised their principles as required. But being in the right place at the right time determined their survival. Gifted at languages, the Russian grandmother was a censor, work she enjoyed because she got to read great literature that nobody else in the Soviet Union would ever see (although she was eventually fired in one of the many antisemitic purges that took place during the Stalinist era). The Polish grandmother almost became an NKVD (Secret Police) lieutenant. Bad luck intervened, which turned out to be good luck, because she did not have to exercise the brutal power of the state and ultimately found a more congenial job as an editor. But she was honest enough to admit that she would have taken the NKVD job if she hadn't flunked her eye exam.

It's this complicity I found most poignant. "The victims of the terror were also its perpetrators," Gessen writes, referencing Yevgenia Ginzberg's memoir, Journey into the Whirlwind, a fascinating account in its own right. Ginzburg cannot forgive herself "for raising her hand, writing half-truths." If those who survived the Nazi death camps felt shame for whatever small advantages kept them alive (i.e., Primo Levi's unshared sip of water from a leaking faucet), imagine how much greater was the guilt felt by the comparatively privileged survivors of Stalin's regime.

I can't help but appraise Masha Gessen themself in this context. In a recent New Yorker interview, Gessen explained why they had to flee Russia in 2013 because Putin was doubling down on his anti-L.G.B.T.Q. rhetoric and threatening to take children away from gay parents, like Gessen (then identifying as a lesbian) and their partner. Gessen was even beaten up in Moscow.

Gessen has become outspoken about trans rights since transitioning, but they acknowledge their privilege:

Different trans people have vastly different experiences of being trans. I had a whole life as a female person. Not only that, I carried a pregnancy to term and gave birth and breast-fed, and then, years later, cut off those breasts and am enjoying the effects of that. I didn’t start my transition until the age of fifty. I have talked about it as a series of choices that I’ve made. For a lot of people—and this is also true when we talk about sexuality for a lot of people—it really, truly never feels like a choice. It feels like an existential issue, that there is a single true self.

Now, Esther and Ruzya came out in 2004, when Gessen could still be an LGBT rights activist in Russia, "probably the only publicly out gay person in the entire country," they are quoted as saying in their Wikipedia entry.

From the safety of New York, they continue to speak out. Most recently, while voicing outrage at the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, they compared Israel's bombing campaign in Gaza to the liquidation of Jewish ghettos by the Nazis. I guess I see it all of a piece: Gessen's crusading spirit, their grandmothers' courage. Drawing fire as a means of expunging guilt, perhaps?

[Kallie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite way to read about history -- through individual lives, especially narrators as intelligent as these women, Masha Gessen and her grandmothers. Antisemitism, Stalinist purges, a predatory secret police, oppressed an entire society that lived in fear. Gessen's grandmothers, especially Ester, lived through hell, yet refused to be quashed as individuals, dehumanized. Gessen's narrative tells in detail how they managed that feat, when so many others denounced neighbors, co-workers, family members. Part of their success depended on intelligence, and perhaps on attractive qualities. So in a way, luck played a role in their survival. But their integrity was put to a test we in our so-far immune United States society can scarcely imagine. Anyone who fails to appreciate our faulty democracy should read this book; maybe they would appreciate our comparatively free way of life more, and also contribute to efforts to preserve and improve that way of life for more people. We are at a dangerous juncture in American history, because far too few are more interested in getting everything their way than in preserving what remains of our democracy.

[LEONID 57 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A super good book. Amazing way to explain to American readers how people lived under Stalin

[*+:｡.｡skye｡.｡:+* · Rating 5 out of 5]

review coming later... this needs to marinate for a while.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like that this granddaughter investigates and writes about the personal experience of her grandmothers during World War II and their experiences in Russia and Poland. I really like both the grandmothers' (Ester and Ruzya)stories. They are determined, intelligent and have a zest for living. I have read a good number of books that take place in Germany and the different perspective was interesting. The difference between Ester and Ruzya's stories were frequently difficult to follow. Unfortunately, this added an undue confusion to the interweaving tales.

[Judy · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading about 60% I unfortunately cannot read any more of this book (I rarely leave a book unfinished). I found the writing disorganized and hard to follow. I am happy that Ms Gessen has been able to piece together her family history but it presented as just that - pieces of her history. The book is not without merit, just did not hold my interest. I read a lot about this time in history, but prefer to read something else.

[Andrea Neves António · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um relato sentido e emotivo, feito pela neta, jornalista, sobre a vida das suas duas avós. As suas vidas, marcadas pela guerra, tragédia e descriminação, também falam de resiliência, força e amor. Estas mulheres nunca desistiram. Fiquei chocada quanto ao regime da União Soviética. Nunca pensei que houvesse tal repressão e que esta se fizesse sentir durante tanto tempo. Este é, sem dúvida, um legado extraordinário.

[Lene · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found a lot of food for thought in this book despite its mediocre writing. Stories of WW2 are endlessly fascinating to me; I am amazed at both the victim's strength & the victimizer's capacity for evil. Where those 2 roles overlap, the ethics get murky and dirty and real.

[SadieReadsAgain · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I know of the Soviet Union is confined to the lesson plans of my Higher history class. This book offered so much more than that, and the family love which flows between the lines stops it from ever being dry. Informative, with a heart of gold.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve always been fascinated by stories that revolves around or centered on Hitler, the Holocaust, and the European Theater of WWII. I’ve also been fascinated by memoirs of people who lived during that time. In Gessen’s book I found myself immersed in both loves.

This is a captivating work is both a labor of love and cautionary tale for the rest of the world. In using her grandmothers’ stories, Gessen offers a peak behind the Iron Curtain before such a term even existed. We learn of a religious identity that drives one grandmother to clock a would be affair square in the jaw for his anti-Semitic views and share the pain of cross generational discrimination with her son. We read of how the other grandmother felt when she became a part of the system, knowing that each step she took to ensure some form of stability for her and her daughter disappointed her father. This is a book that forces us to believe the unbelievable: how a tyrant in one country could wipe out almost an entire race of people and how another tyrant’s paranoid delusions nearly destroyed his country.

Gessen’s book is also eerily timely, as the world sees the Soviet regime turning back the hands of time and influencing America’s elections and thrusting is into the political ideology of Trumpism.

Why this book isn’t required reading at universities around the world is beyond me. It is all to easy for people my age and older to forget what life was like when the Iron Curtain was securely drawn over the Soviet Union & Eastern Europe. Gessen’s book reminds us why we cannot afford not remembering.

[Andreia Valadares · Rating 3 out of 5]

(◔◡◔) 𝔹𝕠𝕠𝕜 𝕣𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨
.
тíтυℓσ: "As duas Babushkas"
αυтσя: Mas há Gessen
ρágιηαѕ:383
¢ℓαѕѕιƒι¢αçãσ:⭐⭐⭐
.
Neste livro, a escritora quer retratar a história de vida da sua avó materna e da sua avó paterna.
Estas duas avós viveram durante um período cheio de peripécias políticas mais própriamente durante o século XX. Isto significa que ambas assistiram à guerra de Hitler e ao período de paz de Estaline.
.
Aparentemente, está é uma história retratada sob a forma de testemunho e muito bem escrita. No entanto, este livro deveria estar organizado de outra forma. Digo isto porque em determinadas alturas, e foram muitas, perdi-me na leitura. Ou seja, não sabia se era da avó materna ou da paterna de quem se estava a falar.
Por isso, tive imensa dificuldade em terminar a leitura e conseguir encaixar na minha cabeça todos os pormenores.
Todavia, a escrita da autora é boa, a organização do livro é que não é a melhor.
.
O maior incentivo para conseguir terminar esta leitura, foi o facto de ela ter sido conjunta com a @booksofana e a @booksdacasisar.
Foram uma agradável companhia e, nos vários momentos da leitura todas tivemos a mesmo opinião acerca da "confusão" do livro.
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Até breve 😍
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#ler #lerfazbem #ledoceler #leituras2021 #book #literatura #literaturaestrangeira #amoler #adoroler #adoroler ❤️ #livrosemaislivros #bookcommunity #bookhaolic #bookstagrammer #lererespeitarahistoria #lerjuntos #historia #leituraconjunta

[David Vitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd whetted my appetite for WWII-related literature by watching a documentary series on Netflix. My wife had purchased this book years ago, so I picked it up and gave it a try. First, Ms. Gessen is a very talented writer, and she shares a compelling story. I was probably looking for more on the historical side of things than the book intended to give. The book is really more biographical, as Gessen weaves together the narrative of her two grandmothers as they lived through WWII and the antisemitism of post-war, Russia. It was a lovely tribute to her grandmothers, but a bit difficult for me to follow as Gessen switched back and forth between Ruzya and Ester, and their multiple family members, somewhat numerous spouses, etc. Although it didn't provide the type of history I was hoping for, it did describe the impact the war had on two families; and I appreciated that aspect of the story.

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have known many Soviet/Russian Jews and heard their stories. I visited the USSR three times between 1986 and 1990 as an official guest. Consequently, I learned the "Party line" first hand, and from my Soviet/Russian contacts there, in Israel, and the United States.

Masha Gessen's writings are worth seeking out and her interviews (on National Public Radio) always enlightening.

Of the many stories I have heard and books I have read, Ester and Ruzya stands out for so many reasons. How very different Ester and Ruzya were! And for all the differences, how similar the trajectories of their lives as Jews in a repressive and prejudiced.

Before I retired, I was an academic librarian for over 40 years, specializing in Judaic materials. We're I asked for a recommendation about Jewish life in the USSR, I would wholeheartedly recommend this book.

[Venkatesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a marvelous pair of personal stories in context of 'history book history'
Few thoughts ---
Tensions over jewish & national identity; i am not Jewish and at some level I cannot fully understand the pull of a jewish identity versus a national one. But I can imagine and see where two friends (and later family, the eponymous grandmothers) came at this from such different directions because of where and when they were from.

is surviving by doing a bad job (being a censor) good? as a child of summer of a particular summer how can i judge?

Would(n't) it be kinda awkward to marry someone when your mom and their mom had been deep friends for 17 years?

This goes really well with David Remnick's "Lenin's Tomb" & Masha's later "The Future is History".

[Rachelle Seymore · Rating 3 out of 5]

a heavy read, but one so worthwhile! Masha tells the story of her grandmothers' lives in a time when Hitler's war and Stalin's policies persecuted Jews terribly. First it was in Poland and then in Russia but they stuck it out, especially as it was not easy to go anywhere else. The two grandmothers later became best friends and eventually the one's son married the other's daughter and the author was born.

It is a book that gives insight into the haunted Jewish nation; especially the details of Russia's role in it is new to me. I enjoyed this book and anyone interested in either the Jewish persecution or Stalin's Russia would gather wonderful knowledge and insight.

[Sherry Leffert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was hard going in its account of the suffering of the Jews under Hitler and Stalin. My mother was born in Poland but left before the war and she always talked about her town of Ticocyn. I was very saddened to learn that the Jews of the whole town were decimated by the Nazis. If she knew about about it, she never mentioned it. My mother also talked about Bialostok which was nearby and I enjoyed reading about the details of the town. The historical information in the book was very thorough and I learned a lot from it.
The second half is more of a story and family memoir. I like the way Masha includes herself. All told, this is a very poignant and well told story.

[Kimberly Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite a slow start and my constant confusion about which woman was which, I was eventually completely drawn in by Gessen's stories of her grandmothers during WWII. It was fascinating to observe these two women across time, bonding despite significant differences in upbringing, opinion, and way of being in the world. Gessen was so fortunate to have these incredible mentors in their life, and it was gratifying to see how both grandmothers influenced Gessen in so many ways, especially as a connection to Russia and as a source of affection and guidance when that seemed somehow lacking in their own parents. Gessen's ability to weave the political and the personal into a coherent, engaging narrative is impressive and well worth the reader's time.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful, intimate look at two Jewish young women (who become friends) and how they each navigated to survive and in some ways thrive through WWII and Stalin era. Mid way through when times were the most difficult, I wasn't sure I would get through it simply because it's hard to read about man's constant inhumanity to man. But it is important we never forget history and seeing it through the eyes of two bright, ambitious women of the time is an encouraging reminder of the strength of the human spirit. Great story, well told. An important read.

[Rafael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um livro que demonstra a enorme resiliência das suas avós e também nutri bastante simpatia por uma das pessoas do livro que adora ler .

Não fui eu que escolhi este livro, foi-me aconselhada por uma pessoa que trabalha em uma livraria e no fim adorei .

Entraram no totalitarismo na URSS é realmente assustador tudo o que milhões de pessoas passaram e se acham que os judeus no termino da 2 guerra mundial tiveram paz por um dos países que saíram vencedor, irão ter as vossas respostas neste livro

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ordinary lives in extraordinary times. Author writes about her grandmothers and how they managed to live through WWII and Stalinism in the former Soviet Union. The author also includes her life story with her grandmas and where they are now. It is an important look at how people live, how does one get an education, food, a home while a war rages all around. How does one exist in a totalitarian regime, the jobs that are available, the compromises that must be made. Powerful story.

[Sue Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a moving memoir about struggles, losses and compromises these 2 different and courageous Jewish grandmothers had to make over the course of the 1930s - 1950s primarily in the Soviet Union but also in occupied Poland. I learned a lot about WW2 from the Russian perspective, the fear and terror of living under autocratic Stalinism and the extent of anti-semitism in education and employment.

[Lyvia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written biography of two Jewish women who survived World War II in Eastern Europe, this is also a personal story of the two grandmothers of the author. The portrait of oppression in Soviet Russia is devastating. The insight into and the exposure of the Soviet totalitarian and anti-Jewish regime make it clear why the Soviet Jews were willing to risk life in the Gulag and death to escape the Soviet Union whenever there was the smallest loophole that allowed them to leave.

[Paulo Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came to know Masha Gessen through her chronicles in the New Yorker, and then I read her great book about how totalitarianism reclaimed Russia. This is a very good book about Soviet history and how Jews were harshly persecuted under Stalin. It's also a tale of survival, of how one commits to what one disagrees with in order to survive. I liked it for being non-judgemental, including about the role of the men in the Judenraten during the Holocaust and the way both her grandmothers had to comply with the Soviet system - how can we judge people's behaviour under such extreme circumstances?

[Bozhena · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, hands down, one of the best written books I have ever read. Masha makes her family’s story come alive with absolute mastery - I could not put the book down from suspense. Highly recommend giving it a read if you’re interested in Soviet/Jewish history, just history in general, or love a good story.

[ND · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book and the intricate history of Gessen's family. I was surprised that it wasn't better edited, however--things repeated when they didn't need to, and there is one reference to Masha in the third person, whereas they use "I" elsewhere. Delightful, despite the great difficulties their grandmothers lived through.