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Roads: A Novel
When Nazi forces occupy the beautiful coastal city of Yalta, Crimea, everything changes. Eighteen-year-old Filip has few options; he is a prime candidate for forced labor in Germany. His hurried marriage to his childhood friend Galina might grant him reprieve, but the rules keep shifting. Galina's parents, branded as traitors for innocently doing business with the enemy, decide to volunteer in hopes of better placement. The work turns out to be horrific, but at least the family stays together. By winter 1945, Allied air raids destroy strategic sites; Dresden, a city of no military consequence, seems safe. The world knows Dresden's fate. Roads is the story of one family lucky enough to escape with their lives as the city burns behind them. But as the war ends, they are separated and their trials continue. Looking for safety in an alien land, they move toward one another with the help of refugee networks and pure chance. Along the way, they find new ways to live in a changed world—new meanings for fidelity, grief, and love.
- GenresFictionAdult Fiction
349 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 1, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 27, 2017
I love books – they are the true essence of life because, like someone once noticed: “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” So driven by my passion for books and quite natural zest for life, I read literally everything that I can lay my hands on (although, I will never go back to James Joyce ☺). Therefore, when my boyfriend, David, suggested: “Roads” written by Marina Antropow Cramer, one of the members of his Book Club, whom I had a pleasure to meet in person, I immediately purchased the book and I dived into a story with a justified curiosity.
The first novel is probably the most difficult one, because every author - just like every artist - strives for acceptance and validation. And I am absolutely thrilled to confirm, that Marina Antropow Cramer is an amazing storyteller. She has reached back to her roots, threw into one large pot: history, religion, politics, morality, love and family values – mixed it all up, backed it up with a historical background and surprised her readers with a deep and emotional story of one family’s struggle and fight for survival, keeping me glued to the book to the very last page. It is something that doesn’t happen too often to a debuting writer, but Marina did it … Kudos for undeniable talent, imagination and a very hard work that resulted in “Roads.”
Lets start with the language. In order to stay true to myself, I have to mention, that for a very brief moment - I am referring exclusively to Chapter 1 – I was afraid that I will never be able to prize the author, the way I already did. There was some awkwardness associated not with the story itself, which captivates reader’s attention from the first page, but with the language per say. I had a feeling that the author tried way too hard to impress her readers. So while Marina, without a doubt, is a sophisticated writer, she has forgotten that the characters in her story are not. Which explains, why, every few pages I was choking on awkwardness that derived from elaborate vocabulary. It represented a vivid contrast to the social standing and the level of education of the characters in the book. This incoherence resulted in a very synthetic feel and confusion, since as a reader my ability to build in my mind the right picture of each character was obscured by the language that wasn’t their own. But, as I moved to the next chapter everything has changed and I was delighted to see a perfect flow, which made for an easy reading. It could’ve been because of a huge gap between the time when Marina finished Chapter 1 and continued writing Chapter 2, or she simply matured (evolved) as a writer … or both. And I couldn’t be happier for her to see that change, simply because it greatly benefited the book by giving her story well deserved coherence …
The story is well developed while plot is simple and engaging. The entire action is set against historical background, which is why it doesn’t come as a surprise that the story of Galina’s family, similarly to the events of WWII, twists and turns and every page and every day is hard to predict. That’s why I really appreciate the amount of time Marina devoted to researching historical facts for the book, which made her more reliable as a writer - something I find extremely important as a reader. And even though I wouldn’t classify the book as an “adventure” there are elements of tension, anxiety and worrisome that accompany the reader for the most part in the second half of the book.
As for her characters, at the very beginning, they may come across as simple, calm and uncharismatic, but they share the same inner goodness that struck me the most throughout the book. But, as the story continues, Marina unveils their complexity and the inevitable metamorphosis of their characters. After all war robs everyone from whatever has left of their childish innocence leaving them disillusioned and broken emotionally. That’s why the psychological side of her characters is so intriguing. However, what I found utterly funny, being a feminist – head to toe - is that while her characters are well developed, most men in her story are weak. Or at least weaker than women, which is so characteristic for the Communist era where women became pillars of strength and emotional support to most men. Which is probably why – don’t take it seriously - I think the book seriously lacks at least one charismatic male character ☺
In regards to patriotism - a leading point in the book – it is a very complex concept. I think that most of the characters in the book represent the idea that one may love his country, but it doesn’t mean that he has to blindly love the system. So patriotism has many faces and quite often is replaced with the primal need to survive ... “to live in peace … and to warship in freedom”. And as much as I share Marina’s dislike for the Stalin system, I am afraid it will make it hard for her to publish her book in Russia. Especially after Grisha’s statement: … “we are fighting not for Fascism but against the tyranny in our homeland …” – a quote that seems to be universal for Russian reality … even as we speak ….
Last but not least, I am disappointed with the ending – don’t take this part too seriously though ☺. I am hopelessly romantic, but I would lie to the readers, if I said that I didn’t expect it. But, … I see Marina has left a window of opportunity to jump back into the story and continue, so I hope we will learn more about Galina’s story.
Congratulations on an amazing story. I strongly recommend “Roads” to everyone.
The first novel is probably the most difficult one, because every author - just like every artist - strives for acceptance and validation. And I am absolutely thrilled to confirm, that Marina Antropow Cramer is an amazing storyteller. She has reached back to her roots, threw into one large pot: history, religion, politics, morality, love and family values – mixed it all up, backed it up with a historical background and surprised her readers with a deep and emotional story of one family’s struggle and fight for survival, keeping me glued to the book to the very last page. It is something that doesn’t happen too often to a debuting writer, but Marina did it … Kudos for undeniable talent, imagination and a very hard work that resulted in “Roads.”
Lets start with the language. In order to stay true to myself, I have to mention, that for a very brief moment - I am referring exclusively to Chapter 1 – I was afraid that I will never be able to prize the author, the way I already did. There was some awkwardness associated not with the story itself, which captivates reader’s attention from the first page, but with the language per say. I had a feeling that the author tried way too hard to impress her readers. So while Marina, without a doubt, is a sophisticated writer, she has forgotten that the characters in her story are not. Which explains, why, every few pages I was choking on awkwardness that derived from elaborate vocabulary. It represented a vivid contrast to the social standing and the level of education of the characters in the book. This incoherence resulted in a very synthetic feel and confusion, since as a reader my ability to build in my mind the right picture of each character was obscured by the language that wasn’t their own. But, as I moved to the next chapter everything has changed and I was delighted to see a perfect flow, which made for an easy reading. It could’ve been because of a huge gap between the time when Marina finished Chapter 1 and continued writing Chapter 2, or she simply matured (evolved) as a writer … or both. And I couldn’t be happier for her to see that change, simply because it greatly benefited the book by giving her story well deserved coherence …
The story is well developed while plot is simple and engaging. The entire action is set against historical background, which is why it doesn’t come as a surprise that the story of Galina’s family, similarly to the events of WWII, twists and turns and every page and every day is hard to predict. That’s why I really appreciate the amount of time Marina devoted to researching historical facts for the book, which made her more reliable as a writer - something I find extremely important as a reader. And even though I wouldn’t classify the book as an “adventure” there are elements of tension, anxiety and worrisome that accompany the reader for the most part in the second half of the book.
As for her characters, at the very beginning, they may come across as simple, calm and uncharismatic, but they share the same inner goodness that struck me the most throughout the book. But, as the story continues, Marina unveils their complexity and the inevitable metamorphosis of their characters. After all war robs everyone from whatever has left of their childish innocence leaving them disillusioned and broken emotionally. That’s why the psychological side of her characters is so intriguing. However, what I found utterly funny, being a feminist – head to toe - is that while her characters are well developed, most men in her story are weak. Or at least weaker than women, which is so characteristic for the Communist era where women became pillars of strength and emotional support to most men. Which is probably why – don’t take it seriously - I think the book seriously lacks at least one charismatic male character ☺
In regards to patriotism - a leading point in the book – it is a very complex concept. I think that most of the characters in the book represent the idea that one may love his country, but it doesn’t mean that he has to blindly love the system. So patriotism has many faces and quite often is replaced with the primal need to survive ... “to live in peace … and to warship in freedom”. And as much as I share Marina’s dislike for the Stalin system, I am afraid it will make it hard for her to publish her book in Russia. Especially after Grisha’s statement: … “we are fighting not for Fascism but against the tyranny in our homeland …” – a quote that seems to be universal for Russian reality … even as we speak ….
Last but not least, I am disappointed with the ending – don’t take this part too seriously though ☺. I am hopelessly romantic, but I would lie to the readers, if I said that I didn’t expect it. But, … I see Marina has left a window of opportunity to jump back into the story and continue, so I hope we will learn more about Galina’s story.
Congratulations on an amazing story. I strongly recommend “Roads” to everyone.
September 2, 2018
While this review is not about me, anyone weighing my words should know from the outset that I am a horrible reader, easily distracted and, all too often, I am ashamed to admit, I struggle to finish novels. Set against this contextual backdrop, I positively devoured Roads, not just once but twice, a year or so ago and, again, just this week, to refresh and validate my preliminary observations. There are multiple reasons for the felicitous reading experience that Cramer provides, to wit (1) A well-judged balance between descriptive passages and dialog; (2) Her disarmingly easy way with narrative, offering up keenly observed details which, far from overburdening the reader, develop and sustain the ambience permeating the work, while also helping to ensure a consistent pace by providing a gentle nudge as needed to aid plot advancement; (3) Speaking of the plot, it is reassuringly linear and there is no wasteful expense of gray matter to comprehend some unnecessary, complex chronology; (4) Cramer’s narrative style tends to the intrusive. While I recognize that this may not be to everyone’s taste, I welcome the resultant clarity afforded by authorial explanation of an event that is about to unfold or an exchange that has just transpired (often conveyed via italicized text), as unresolved or protracted ambiguity can be draining on mental bandwidth when there is no apparent, literary justification for having sown it initially.
In terms of the characters, certain reviewers have commented about the lack of a strong, male personage, with some going so far as to identify this as a structural deficiency of the novel. I totally reject this analysis. While Cramer undoubtedly displays an impressive adeptness in the way she presents us with the rounded characters of Galina and Ksenia, to look for a dominant male is, to my mind, to miss the point. The protagonists are trapped between Stalin’s and Hitler’s respective manifestations of tyranny. Each is horrifically bleak and, by 1945, no Allied government has the economic might or, frankly, the appetite to provide overnight solutions for the mass of displaced persons. There is a tremendous - yet wholly realistic - focus on the quotidian quest for food. Survival is dependent on a combination of ingenuity, bravery, strength, both physical and mental, and tenacity, along with occasional picaresque relief thrown in for good measure. Neither Filip nor Maksim is equipped to prevail in this most Darwinian of environments.
That being said, a more pertinent question, perhaps, is whether the novel suffers for the lack of a more romantically drawn male character. Again, I would emphatically refute this assertion. Roads is not some Hollywood-inspired wartime tragedy, where two lovers are ripped from each other by some senseless act of brutality. No, there is no Hollywood glamor here; on the contrary, the work is firmly anchored in the grim reality of WW2 and the daily struggle to stay alive. There is no time for romantic love. Indeed, Galina’s and Filip’s decision to marry was motivated by the naïve hope that it would enable the latter to remain in Yalta. In the final chapter, we learn of her realization that her love for Filip is not as deep or as powerful as that which her parents share. They are not true soulmates and will never become so. Accordingly, it makes sense that Cramer’s narrative provides frequent reminders of Filip’s egocentric, self-indulgent, superior personality.
No review of Roads would be complete without discussion of the work’s ending. I am somewhat bemused by the lukewarm reception it has received. As I have noted, Roads is not a ‘happily ever after’ love story, nor is it a fully blown tragedy. It is about the domestic battle for survival of a family during the war years and their efforts to reunite in the immediate aftermath. Life offers no guarantees and the future remains uncertain. However, the next phase of Galina’s and Filip’s life in Belgium, the search for Filip’s parents, Katya’s childhood, these are matters for another day, a sequel, maybe:-).
In terms of the characters, certain reviewers have commented about the lack of a strong, male personage, with some going so far as to identify this as a structural deficiency of the novel. I totally reject this analysis. While Cramer undoubtedly displays an impressive adeptness in the way she presents us with the rounded characters of Galina and Ksenia, to look for a dominant male is, to my mind, to miss the point. The protagonists are trapped between Stalin’s and Hitler’s respective manifestations of tyranny. Each is horrifically bleak and, by 1945, no Allied government has the economic might or, frankly, the appetite to provide overnight solutions for the mass of displaced persons. There is a tremendous - yet wholly realistic - focus on the quotidian quest for food. Survival is dependent on a combination of ingenuity, bravery, strength, both physical and mental, and tenacity, along with occasional picaresque relief thrown in for good measure. Neither Filip nor Maksim is equipped to prevail in this most Darwinian of environments.
That being said, a more pertinent question, perhaps, is whether the novel suffers for the lack of a more romantically drawn male character. Again, I would emphatically refute this assertion. Roads is not some Hollywood-inspired wartime tragedy, where two lovers are ripped from each other by some senseless act of brutality. No, there is no Hollywood glamor here; on the contrary, the work is firmly anchored in the grim reality of WW2 and the daily struggle to stay alive. There is no time for romantic love. Indeed, Galina’s and Filip’s decision to marry was motivated by the naïve hope that it would enable the latter to remain in Yalta. In the final chapter, we learn of her realization that her love for Filip is not as deep or as powerful as that which her parents share. They are not true soulmates and will never become so. Accordingly, it makes sense that Cramer’s narrative provides frequent reminders of Filip’s egocentric, self-indulgent, superior personality.
No review of Roads would be complete without discussion of the work’s ending. I am somewhat bemused by the lukewarm reception it has received. As I have noted, Roads is not a ‘happily ever after’ love story, nor is it a fully blown tragedy. It is about the domestic battle for survival of a family during the war years and their efforts to reunite in the immediate aftermath. Life offers no guarantees and the future remains uncertain. However, the next phase of Galina’s and Filip’s life in Belgium, the search for Filip’s parents, Katya’s childhood, these are matters for another day, a sequel, maybe:-).
June 28, 2017
Marina Antropow Cramer's debut novel, Roads, begins with a family in the beautiful coastal city of Yalta, Crimea in the early 1940s. It is well researched, the characters are unforgettable, and the plot takes so many twists that the readers is tied in knots at times trying to imagine how anyone survived at all.
Before long, the Nazis arrive. At first the occupation's only effect on their idyllic life by the sea is shortages of basic supplies. The Yalta citizens adjust to the changes the best they can. Then a few people start disappearing, followed by whole families, and finally the public hangings of their neighbors and friends who were deemed Nazi traitors. The suffering of ordinary Russians during WWII was portrayed with empathy and skill through Galina, her father, Ilya, and her mother, Ksenia. Beautiful sixteen year old Galina offers to marry her seventeen year old childhood friend, Filip, to save him from being sent away to a German work camp, or worse. Despite the atrocities on the streets of Yalta, he and his Communist parents share an arrogant sense of entitlement, often common to those in politics. Galina's parents share a rare devotion to each other and their family. This is the love Galina expects when she hastily marries Filip.
The author's skill at threading themes through the story with her multi layered characters has a spellbinding affect. Galina and her parent's sense of hope and survival are inspiring. In desperation Galina, Filip and her parents volunteer to go to Germany to work in the factories and farms; they wear German uniforms with Russian badges sewn on their sleeves. Their choices make sense to them as they make them, though each decision proves worse than the one before. When they decide to go to Dresden to avoid the bombings, I wanted to whisper to them on the pages, "No, no, anywhere but Dresden!". But of course that is not how the reading process works.
The men and women are soon sent to separate camps and survival becomes a daily struggle. Self-centered Filip continues to work the least and gain the most from his efforts. Galina and Ksenia use the fragmented organization of the church as well as refugee networks to eventually find Ilya and Filip in 1945. By then Galina has lost her naivety, and realizes she will never have the kind of love with Filip that her parents share. She has learned first-hand the true meanings of fidelity, trust, grief and family.
They discover a new world after the war, and the tranquility and joy of their home in Yalta before the war is nothing but a sweet memory—seemingly from another life. They adjust to their ever changing world, a world where the complacent answers of their youth to life's dilemmas would never again be appropriate.
I have read many WWII novels over the years, stories of civilians of German, French, Italian, Japanese, Philippine, Dutch, Norwegian, Russians in the Siege of St. Petersburg, and Holocaust victims but this one has a totally different angle. The author was born in postwar Germany to Russian refugees.
She said this novel started as she was growing up among Russian expatriates and listening to their stories, totally unaware that someday she might creatively combine them into a novel. Readers of this wonderful novel will be forever grateful she did. She does a good service to her Russian ancestry shedding a far different light on everyday Russians than the news media does on daily basis.
by Ann McCauley
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
Before long, the Nazis arrive. At first the occupation's only effect on their idyllic life by the sea is shortages of basic supplies. The Yalta citizens adjust to the changes the best they can. Then a few people start disappearing, followed by whole families, and finally the public hangings of their neighbors and friends who were deemed Nazi traitors. The suffering of ordinary Russians during WWII was portrayed with empathy and skill through Galina, her father, Ilya, and her mother, Ksenia. Beautiful sixteen year old Galina offers to marry her seventeen year old childhood friend, Filip, to save him from being sent away to a German work camp, or worse. Despite the atrocities on the streets of Yalta, he and his Communist parents share an arrogant sense of entitlement, often common to those in politics. Galina's parents share a rare devotion to each other and their family. This is the love Galina expects when she hastily marries Filip.
The author's skill at threading themes through the story with her multi layered characters has a spellbinding affect. Galina and her parent's sense of hope and survival are inspiring. In desperation Galina, Filip and her parents volunteer to go to Germany to work in the factories and farms; they wear German uniforms with Russian badges sewn on their sleeves. Their choices make sense to them as they make them, though each decision proves worse than the one before. When they decide to go to Dresden to avoid the bombings, I wanted to whisper to them on the pages, "No, no, anywhere but Dresden!". But of course that is not how the reading process works.
The men and women are soon sent to separate camps and survival becomes a daily struggle. Self-centered Filip continues to work the least and gain the most from his efforts. Galina and Ksenia use the fragmented organization of the church as well as refugee networks to eventually find Ilya and Filip in 1945. By then Galina has lost her naivety, and realizes she will never have the kind of love with Filip that her parents share. She has learned first-hand the true meanings of fidelity, trust, grief and family.
They discover a new world after the war, and the tranquility and joy of their home in Yalta before the war is nothing but a sweet memory—seemingly from another life. They adjust to their ever changing world, a world where the complacent answers of their youth to life's dilemmas would never again be appropriate.
I have read many WWII novels over the years, stories of civilians of German, French, Italian, Japanese, Philippine, Dutch, Norwegian, Russians in the Siege of St. Petersburg, and Holocaust victims but this one has a totally different angle. The author was born in postwar Germany to Russian refugees.
She said this novel started as she was growing up among Russian expatriates and listening to their stories, totally unaware that someday she might creatively combine them into a novel. Readers of this wonderful novel will be forever grateful she did. She does a good service to her Russian ancestry shedding a far different light on everyday Russians than the news media does on daily basis.
by Ann McCauley
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
January 18, 2018
Roads
Marina Antropow Cramer, Chicago Review Press, 2017, Chicago, US$15.99, pb, 352 pp, 9781613735565
“Under the surface, they felt the whirling currents pull at their bodies, twisting their clothing as if demanding ransom for the passage. I am stronger than you, the river proclaimed. Just let go.”
Yalta, Russia, 1925
“There is going to be a child.”
Having survived the Russian Revolution, music lover Zoya and her husband, postal worker Vadim, now have a son. They raise Filip in Yalta, “Russia’s Riviera,” providing him with an education that nourishes an artist’s soul: literature, opera, and the study of the distant lands whose stamps he collects.
Filip’s classmate and friend Galina, daughter of craftsman Ilya and his wife, Ksenia, doesn’t share Filip’s love of learning; but, practical and loyal—and knowing him to be something of a weakling—she proposes marriage on Fillip’s 18th birthday, when he faces a choice from which married men are exempt: join Russia’s Red Army or be shipped to Nazi Germany’s mines and work camps.
They marry, but Germany’s fortunes soon slip, and the occupying Nazis begin to recruit married men, offering “better conditions” to volunteers and their families than they will to men they must conscript. When Filip volunteers, he, Galina, Ilya, and Ksenia embark on a chaotic odyssey: a years-long struggle through deprivation, brutality, and disease. Near the end of the war, after surviving the bombs and fires of Dresden, the men and women are separated, and the four—plus, eventually, Galina’s newborn baby—must make their perilous way back together, to a new life.
Close third-person narration and a clear, chronological timeline transport the reader into story. Style derives not from emotionally-charged prose but from elegant syntax and precise word choice. Historical and psychological research clearly informs this tale, but author Marina Antropow Cramer remains in the shadows, never revealing her hand. Highly recommended.
Rebecca Kightlinger
Originally published in Historical Novels Review, Issue 80, May, 2017.
Citation: Kightlinger, Rebecca. "Roads". Historical Novels Review 80 (May 2017), 38.
https://historicalnovelsociety.org/re...
Marina Antropow Cramer, Chicago Review Press, 2017, Chicago, US$15.99, pb, 352 pp, 9781613735565
“Under the surface, they felt the whirling currents pull at their bodies, twisting their clothing as if demanding ransom for the passage. I am stronger than you, the river proclaimed. Just let go.”
Yalta, Russia, 1925
“There is going to be a child.”
Having survived the Russian Revolution, music lover Zoya and her husband, postal worker Vadim, now have a son. They raise Filip in Yalta, “Russia’s Riviera,” providing him with an education that nourishes an artist’s soul: literature, opera, and the study of the distant lands whose stamps he collects.
Filip’s classmate and friend Galina, daughter of craftsman Ilya and his wife, Ksenia, doesn’t share Filip’s love of learning; but, practical and loyal—and knowing him to be something of a weakling—she proposes marriage on Fillip’s 18th birthday, when he faces a choice from which married men are exempt: join Russia’s Red Army or be shipped to Nazi Germany’s mines and work camps.
They marry, but Germany’s fortunes soon slip, and the occupying Nazis begin to recruit married men, offering “better conditions” to volunteers and their families than they will to men they must conscript. When Filip volunteers, he, Galina, Ilya, and Ksenia embark on a chaotic odyssey: a years-long struggle through deprivation, brutality, and disease. Near the end of the war, after surviving the bombs and fires of Dresden, the men and women are separated, and the four—plus, eventually, Galina’s newborn baby—must make their perilous way back together, to a new life.
Close third-person narration and a clear, chronological timeline transport the reader into story. Style derives not from emotionally-charged prose but from elegant syntax and precise word choice. Historical and psychological research clearly informs this tale, but author Marina Antropow Cramer remains in the shadows, never revealing her hand. Highly recommended.
Rebecca Kightlinger
Originally published in Historical Novels Review, Issue 80, May, 2017.
Citation: Kightlinger, Rebecca. "Roads". Historical Novels Review 80 (May 2017), 38.
https://historicalnovelsociety.org/re...
May 14, 2017
I saw this title on a Goodreads giveaway and I'm really glad I found this book (I had to read it).
I really enjoyed this book and loved all the historical details in the story. I love reading and learning about WWII and what happened to those affected by these circumstances. A well written and touching story that was hard to put down. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reading about the war and those who lived through it. I look forward to reading more from this author. Highly recommended!
I really enjoyed this book and loved all the historical details in the story. I love reading and learning about WWII and what happened to those affected by these circumstances. A well written and touching story that was hard to put down. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reading about the war and those who lived through it. I look forward to reading more from this author. Highly recommended!
July 12, 2017
Beautiful prose, emotional at times , the author introduces us to Crimea on southern coast of Ukraine where folks lived comfortable and very simple during the Soviet Union era .Times were tough, but families held it all together until Germany invaded and living was a daily challenge.
Characters were well developed. The historical setting was well researched.The author built this story brick by brick and it made for a very fluid read.
Strong family bond to the end despite separation at times because of the war.
Characters were well developed. The historical setting was well researched.The author built this story brick by brick and it made for a very fluid read.
Strong family bond to the end despite separation at times because of the war.
April 16, 2025
This book is exquisitely written. The language is crafted like poetry and is a joy to read, even as it chronicles the heartrending suffering experienced by so many during World War II. But it is also a story of resilience, love, and hope. You will feel compelled to follow Filip, Galina, and others as they struggle to pull themselves through one disaster after another. Their trials are based on a compilation of real-life stories the author was told by members of her family who experienced it firsthand. This book is a truly beautiful tribute to them.
July 11, 2018
A beautifully written and moving story of Russian immigrants finding their way across Europe in the chaos following the second world war. Cramer develops the characters in this story expertly, and the reader feels emotionally invested in their trials and tribulations. She presents the plight of displaced people in a way that is poignant and personal. This is a compelling story of family in a time when the future is uncertain. Highly recommended.
April 29, 2026
A very good read, especially in these trying times with unrest in the Middle East. I have read a lot of Holocaust/WWII lit and appreciated the perspective of the Russian displaced citizens fate during this period. This is a cultural population that isn't often treated in HF. I also enjoyed reading about the two families' internal debates, pulling in loyalties to religion, homeland, family, politics, and where these ideals conflicted. So timely.
May 18, 2017
A stunningly beautiful, seamlessly told saga of a Russian family fleeing from their home in Yalta at the end of World War II. ROADS is filled with the concerns of daily life, suddenly and poignantly pushed to their limits as the refugees face separation, hunger, illness, birth and death, while somehow maintaining hope for the future and love for each other. Highly recommended.
June 11, 2017
I won this in a GOODREADS giveaway -- Roads (Paperback) by Marina Antropow Cramer -- I rarely give 5 stars... This was very intense and left me haunted. A must read!
April 9, 2019
It's amazing and sad to think how many people survived the horrible, inhumane treatment from the Nazis during world war two.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews