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Young Heroes of the Soviet Union: A Memoir and a Reckoning
Can trauma be inherited? In this luminous memoir of identity, exile, ancestry, and reckoning, an American writer returns to Russia to face a family history that still haunts him
In 2013, researchers at Emory University conducted an They released a chemical compound smelling of cherry blossoms into a habitat of mice, then gave the mice an electric shock. Eventually, the mice learned to associate the scent of cherry blossoms with pain, and trembled whenever they smelled it. But the surprising part came after they had babies of their When exposed to that same scent, their offspring also trembled, though they'd never been shocked.
Which raises a what if our lives are lived in response to evens we can neither identify nor remember, that have their origins in the decades prior to our births?
In Young Heroes of the Soviet Union, Russian-American author and journalist Alex Halberstadt sets out on a quest to name and acknowledge a legacy of familial trauma, and to end a cycle of estrangement that afflicts his family. This journey leads him to track down his grandfather--one of the last living bodyguards of Joseph Stalin--and to examine the ways in which The Great Terror and decades of Soviet totalitarianism indelibly shaped three generations of his family. He goes back to Lithuania, where his Jewish mother's family was from, to revisit the trauma of the Holocaust and a pernicious legacy of anti-Semitism that has yet to be reckoned with. And he explores his own story, as a fatherless immigrant who arrived in America--to a housing project in Queens--as a twelve-year-old boy and struggled with feelings of rootlessness, identity, and yearning for home.
As Halberstadt revisits the sites of his family's formative traumas, he uncovers a multigenerational transmission of fear, suspicion, grief, melancholy, and rage. And he comes to realize something that nations, too, possess formative traumas that penetrate into the most private recesses of their citizens' lives.
In 2013, researchers at Emory University conducted an They released a chemical compound smelling of cherry blossoms into a habitat of mice, then gave the mice an electric shock. Eventually, the mice learned to associate the scent of cherry blossoms with pain, and trembled whenever they smelled it. But the surprising part came after they had babies of their When exposed to that same scent, their offspring also trembled, though they'd never been shocked.
Which raises a what if our lives are lived in response to evens we can neither identify nor remember, that have their origins in the decades prior to our births?
In Young Heroes of the Soviet Union, Russian-American author and journalist Alex Halberstadt sets out on a quest to name and acknowledge a legacy of familial trauma, and to end a cycle of estrangement that afflicts his family. This journey leads him to track down his grandfather--one of the last living bodyguards of Joseph Stalin--and to examine the ways in which The Great Terror and decades of Soviet totalitarianism indelibly shaped three generations of his family. He goes back to Lithuania, where his Jewish mother's family was from, to revisit the trauma of the Holocaust and a pernicious legacy of anti-Semitism that has yet to be reckoned with. And he explores his own story, as a fatherless immigrant who arrived in America--to a housing project in Queens--as a twelve-year-old boy and struggled with feelings of rootlessness, identity, and yearning for home.
As Halberstadt revisits the sites of his family's formative traumas, he uncovers a multigenerational transmission of fear, suspicion, grief, melancholy, and rage. And he comes to realize something that nations, too, possess formative traumas that penetrate into the most private recesses of their citizens' lives.
305 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 10, 2020
64 people are currently reading
2528 people want to read
About the author
Alex Halberstadt
5 books45 followersAlex Halberstadt is the author the forthcoming family memoir Young Heroes of the Soviet Union as well as Lonely Avenue: the Unlikely Life and Times of Doc Pomus. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, Saveur, Travel + Leisure, MoMA Magazine and The Paris Review. Nominated twice for the James Beard Award, his essays have been anthologized in Best Food Writing 2014 and The Best American Food Writing 2018. Halberstadt is a recipient of fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and Yaddo, and lives and works in New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews
April 26, 2021
Why would you want to read a whole book about someone else's family history? Alex Halberstadt's memoir answers that question by posing another right at the beginning: can trauma can be passed to descendants through one's genes? Can you ever escape your own family's past? Buddhism teaches about karma accumulating over generations. Halberstadt explores the issue in both a scientific and a deeply personal way.
More than a memoir, this moving narrative weaves together three generations of family stories with epic historical events and a recurring theme of father-son relationships, all with humble and deeply felt prose. While recounting the paternal Russian side of the family, Halberstadt offers touching details of life in the Soviet Union which sometimes reminded me of Rybakov's Children of the Arbat series, except that this book is non-fiction. The maternal Lithuanian side offers up shocking details of the long history of the Lithuanian Jewish community, something I'd never been aware of. The final section about the author's childhood and emigration explores questions of identity and integration not just in relation to his new country but to his identity within the family, ending with a visit to Russia and his estranged father, and one final, illuminating passage of Russian history which explains a lot about the (genetic?) Russian character.
I would have perhaps liked it if Halberstadt had further explored the question of Russian melancholy being inherited throughout the book, rather than returning to it only toward the end. But I definitely get the point. I wish I'd had this argument to answer my own Russian grandfather's accusation, "Why do you always act like you're living in a Russian novel?" As if he didn't! Halberstadt's treatment of this question triggered a lot of thoughts and feelings in me, allowing me the sort of closure I hope he got out of writing this book.
Highly recommended to anyone interested in unorthodox memoirs and/or Soviet history.
More than a memoir, this moving narrative weaves together three generations of family stories with epic historical events and a recurring theme of father-son relationships, all with humble and deeply felt prose. While recounting the paternal Russian side of the family, Halberstadt offers touching details of life in the Soviet Union which sometimes reminded me of Rybakov's Children of the Arbat series, except that this book is non-fiction. The maternal Lithuanian side offers up shocking details of the long history of the Lithuanian Jewish community, something I'd never been aware of. The final section about the author's childhood and emigration explores questions of identity and integration not just in relation to his new country but to his identity within the family, ending with a visit to Russia and his estranged father, and one final, illuminating passage of Russian history which explains a lot about the (genetic?) Russian character.
I would have perhaps liked it if Halberstadt had further explored the question of Russian melancholy being inherited throughout the book, rather than returning to it only toward the end. But I definitely get the point. I wish I'd had this argument to answer my own Russian grandfather's accusation, "Why do you always act like you're living in a Russian novel?" As if he didn't! Halberstadt's treatment of this question triggered a lot of thoughts and feelings in me, allowing me the sort of closure I hope he got out of writing this book.
Highly recommended to anyone interested in unorthodox memoirs and/or Soviet history.
September 27, 2020
I won this in a Goodreads giveaway (only time I've ever won!) and it was beautifully written and very moving. The author looks back on his family lineage, through Russia and Lithuania and the Soviet era. His descriptions and the details he uses to enhance the stories are something marvellous. The main concept is around inherited trauma, and there seems to be no shortage of it in a family where his grandfather was one of Stalin's bodyguards. But I think that actually ended up being a more minor topic. It primarily gave windows into the lives of his relatives, what they endured in their homeland during its tumultuous 20th century, and how they adapted as immigrants, with some story of his own coming of age. There's a lot going on but it works.
December 11, 2020
This is not a very good memoir, nor is the author nearly insightful enough to provide reckoning about anything. There is a great gulf between what this book promises and what it ends up providing, and unless you like your memoirs intensely self-absorbed, making the writer the center of a story when he is (as he often is) the least interesting part of the book, this is a memoir that likely will not nearly be as enjoyable as its premise to you as well. A good memoir sets a person that a reader might not be inclined to care about or even sympathize with (and the writer is not a particularly sympathetic figure to me personally in many ways) and puts them in a context that seeks to explain or provide commentary on that life in a way that is interesting. Memoirs in general are meant to be more about the situation and the interesting experiences a person has that makes them a subject of interest. Sometimes, though, a writer fancies himself to be the subject of interest and a fit arbiter of the context of his life, and in this case, that fancy goes disastrously wrong, turning what could have been a very entertaining book into a very unsatisfactory one.
This book is a long one at nearly 300 pages long and it is divided into only three chapters as well as an epilogue. This is a book whose rambling approach would have been better served and a bit more manageable with a bit more structure in it. The first book looks at the author's attempts to understand his paternal grandfather, one Vassily, who managed to successfully deal with the difficulties of being Stalin's bodyguard and avoided purges, but was unable to keep his marriage with the author's paternal grandmother together, who herself had a rocky relationship history with three marriages of her (1). The second chapter finds the author struggling with Baltic anti-Semitism and with the destruction of the Jewry of Lithuania in the horrors of World War II, which the author struggles to come to terms with (2). After that, the author then turns to his own childhood, and writes a whiny memoir about his own life and his escape from the Soviet Union and his struggles to fit in in the United States where he found himself bullied as sensitive children often are, children being keen at targeting and attacking those who are sensitive, alas (3). This is followed by an epilogue that shows the author and his father on a fishing trip in Russia, acknowledgements, and photo credits.
In reading a book like this, it is easy to see what might have been. The author's personal history shows generational patterns of broken families and traumatic experiences, including a close escape from the Holocaust that killed 95% or so of the Jews of Lithuania. Likewise, one of the author's ancestors was apparently one of Stalin's bodyguards. This sort of material, in the hands of someone who was not self-absorbed and whiny, could have been mined for comedy gold or great insight. Unfortunately, the author is more interested in whining about his own struggles with his sexual identity and in seeking to avoid taking responsibility for the failures of his life by blaming his bad relationship with his father and his generational history of trauma. As is frequently the case, the attempt to use the bully pulpit of a memoir in order to dodge personal responsibility and cast the blame elsewhere, including even to the ancestral character of the Russian people as being unable to handle freedom or deal well with others, permanently stuck in passive relationships with abusive rulers. All of this is lamentable enough, but what is least excusable is the author's belief that his flamboyant homosexuality marks a break from an unsatisfactory past, not realizing his love of death is related to the apostasy of Jews, the love of socialism, and the abortions and lack of family loyalty shown by generations of his family that he slavishly follows in.
This book is a long one at nearly 300 pages long and it is divided into only three chapters as well as an epilogue. This is a book whose rambling approach would have been better served and a bit more manageable with a bit more structure in it. The first book looks at the author's attempts to understand his paternal grandfather, one Vassily, who managed to successfully deal with the difficulties of being Stalin's bodyguard and avoided purges, but was unable to keep his marriage with the author's paternal grandmother together, who herself had a rocky relationship history with three marriages of her (1). The second chapter finds the author struggling with Baltic anti-Semitism and with the destruction of the Jewry of Lithuania in the horrors of World War II, which the author struggles to come to terms with (2). After that, the author then turns to his own childhood, and writes a whiny memoir about his own life and his escape from the Soviet Union and his struggles to fit in in the United States where he found himself bullied as sensitive children often are, children being keen at targeting and attacking those who are sensitive, alas (3). This is followed by an epilogue that shows the author and his father on a fishing trip in Russia, acknowledgements, and photo credits.
In reading a book like this, it is easy to see what might have been. The author's personal history shows generational patterns of broken families and traumatic experiences, including a close escape from the Holocaust that killed 95% or so of the Jews of Lithuania. Likewise, one of the author's ancestors was apparently one of Stalin's bodyguards. This sort of material, in the hands of someone who was not self-absorbed and whiny, could have been mined for comedy gold or great insight. Unfortunately, the author is more interested in whining about his own struggles with his sexual identity and in seeking to avoid taking responsibility for the failures of his life by blaming his bad relationship with his father and his generational history of trauma. As is frequently the case, the attempt to use the bully pulpit of a memoir in order to dodge personal responsibility and cast the blame elsewhere, including even to the ancestral character of the Russian people as being unable to handle freedom or deal well with others, permanently stuck in passive relationships with abusive rulers. All of this is lamentable enough, but what is least excusable is the author's belief that his flamboyant homosexuality marks a break from an unsatisfactory past, not realizing his love of death is related to the apostasy of Jews, the love of socialism, and the abortions and lack of family loyalty shown by generations of his family that he slavishly follows in.
November 29, 2019
I wasn't sure how to rate this book as I wasn't sure what it was really about for a while. It starts off by describing an experiment conducted on lab mice in which a pleasant aroma was introduced at the same time as an electric shock was given. Then just the scent without the shock to see if the mice still exhibited a negative reaction. They did. So did their children and grandchildren who had never even had contact with the original lab mice. This raised the question if post trauma can be genetically inherited by humans.
The author, Alex Halberstadt, was born in, and spent his childhood in post WW2 Russia. So I rather expected the book to be an examination of the possibility that the Cold War could have been strongly influenced by a type of genetically inherited post traumatic syndrome in Russia. However, it was more of a personal memoir of his life. He is an excellent writer, using descriptive adjectives in such a superlative way that I could easily imagine myself being in the time and place he was describing. And the book provides a nice look into Soviet society from a commoners perspective.
His memoir describes his attempt to locate his grandfather, Vasilly, who is cold and distant, a very quiet man who says little about his past. As it turns out, he was one of Stalin's body guards who was also in Beria's inner circle. He would have seen much to remain quiet about - perhaps even participated in much to remain quiet about as well. But this is only part of his search for his heritage, though, from my perspective, by far the most interesting. In fact, in the hands of a good producer like a Ron Howard or a Steven Spielberg, it could make a spell-binding movie. I imagine this movie being filmed in a combination of color and black-and-white. With the modern-day scenes of Alex searching the Russian countryside for his family and his interviews with Vasilly in color, while Vasilly's stories and answers to his questions, which dates back to Stalin's purges of the 1930s being shot in black-and-white. This storyline could be compelling, the scenery magnificent, especially if Putin would allow it to be filmed on site, and would leave us questioning human behavior like no film has since Schindler's List.
I won this Advanced Readers Copy in a drawing from Goodreads.com and offer this review voluntarily. The book is tentatively offered for publication to the public in March of 2020.
The author, Alex Halberstadt, was born in, and spent his childhood in post WW2 Russia. So I rather expected the book to be an examination of the possibility that the Cold War could have been strongly influenced by a type of genetically inherited post traumatic syndrome in Russia. However, it was more of a personal memoir of his life. He is an excellent writer, using descriptive adjectives in such a superlative way that I could easily imagine myself being in the time and place he was describing. And the book provides a nice look into Soviet society from a commoners perspective.
His memoir describes his attempt to locate his grandfather, Vasilly, who is cold and distant, a very quiet man who says little about his past. As it turns out, he was one of Stalin's body guards who was also in Beria's inner circle. He would have seen much to remain quiet about - perhaps even participated in much to remain quiet about as well. But this is only part of his search for his heritage, though, from my perspective, by far the most interesting. In fact, in the hands of a good producer like a Ron Howard or a Steven Spielberg, it could make a spell-binding movie. I imagine this movie being filmed in a combination of color and black-and-white. With the modern-day scenes of Alex searching the Russian countryside for his family and his interviews with Vasilly in color, while Vasilly's stories and answers to his questions, which dates back to Stalin's purges of the 1930s being shot in black-and-white. This storyline could be compelling, the scenery magnificent, especially if Putin would allow it to be filmed on site, and would leave us questioning human behavior like no film has since Schindler's List.
I won this Advanced Readers Copy in a drawing from Goodreads.com and offer this review voluntarily. The book is tentatively offered for publication to the public in March of 2020.
August 22, 2020
I am fascinated by the Soviet Union and the lives people led under its regime. So many of these lives remind me of my childhood, dominated by the Communist dogma and empty shops.
Alex Halberstadt examines his Soviet family in this excellent memoir. He writes about both parents and their ancestry, visiting his estranged paternal grandfather and documents the reality of being a Lithuanian Jew on his maternal side.
The third part of the book focuses on Alex’s life in the Soviet Union and his emigration to America. I found the third part especially fascinating because, as a child of Eastern European immigrants to Canada and a refugee of the Communist regime, I have a vivid memory of being embarrassed by my parents. All teenagers spend some time pretending not to be related to their parents but my embarrassment from these strangely-dressed, strangely-accented people who just didn’t know how to behave “properly” was complete.
This was a wonderful read and I found all three strands of the book fascinating while coming to some form of understanding as to why Russia is the way it is today.
Alex Halberstadt examines his Soviet family in this excellent memoir. He writes about both parents and their ancestry, visiting his estranged paternal grandfather and documents the reality of being a Lithuanian Jew on his maternal side.
The third part of the book focuses on Alex’s life in the Soviet Union and his emigration to America. I found the third part especially fascinating because, as a child of Eastern European immigrants to Canada and a refugee of the Communist regime, I have a vivid memory of being embarrassed by my parents. All teenagers spend some time pretending not to be related to their parents but my embarrassment from these strangely-dressed, strangely-accented people who just didn’t know how to behave “properly” was complete.
This was a wonderful read and I found all three strands of the book fascinating while coming to some form of understanding as to why Russia is the way it is today.
June 8, 2020
Read if you: Enjoy stories about the generational divide, the immigrant experience, or stories about Russia/Russians.
Many thanks to Random House and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.
Alex Halberstadt has a fascinating and unique lineage--one grandfather was Stalin's personal bodyguard, while the other was a Jewish emigre. Halberstadt examines this unusual legacy--and how trauma has generational effects--in this moving memoir. He also details the difficulties of being a young Soviet immigrant in the 1980s, when anti-Soviet attitudes were strong, and realizing and exploring his gay identity. Definitely a must read for those who gravitate to memoirs of all kinds.
Many thanks to Random House and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.
Many thanks to Random House and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.
Alex Halberstadt has a fascinating and unique lineage--one grandfather was Stalin's personal bodyguard, while the other was a Jewish emigre. Halberstadt examines this unusual legacy--and how trauma has generational effects--in this moving memoir. He also details the difficulties of being a young Soviet immigrant in the 1980s, when anti-Soviet attitudes were strong, and realizing and exploring his gay identity. Definitely a must read for those who gravitate to memoirs of all kinds.
Many thanks to Random House and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.
April 11, 2020
Young Heroes is a pastiche of personal memoir, family history and biography, and Russian history. There’s a major historical revelation regarding the author’s grandfather that is the heart of the book. This portion is fairly engaging. The other sections were somewhat of a chore to get through but mileage will vary on that of course. The overall tone is bleak – not that this is a negative as a bleak tone can often work exceptionally well – but in this telling it feels more like it casts a negative pale over the entire story. The entire history of Russia and its environs has never been cheery and this fits in with this particular personal history.
December 26, 2019
I was really excited about this book when I read the introduction, and overall I did enjoy it, but it was not at all what I expected. The introduction, and the conclusion, both attempt to tie in huge historical narratives (inherited trauma; the Russian 'need' for an autocratic leader etc) without really making a clear connections between the ideas and the stories he tells. It almost feels like a he is jumping around. I liked this, but it didn't seem done. I think with some more editing and rewriting of the conclusion, it would be a great book.
September 19, 2023
Alex Halberstadt jest amerykaninem pochodzącym z Rosji. Jako dziecko razem z matką i jej rodzicami wyemigrował z Moskwy do Nowego Jorku. Z ojcem stracił kontakt na wiele lat. A dziadka ze strony ojca prawie nie pamięta.
Autobiograficzną historię swojej rodziny rozpoczyna od fragmentu na temat badania i eksperymentu przeprowadzonego w jednym z amerykańskich uniwersytetów, które dowiodło, że trauma jednego pokolenia przechodzi fizjologicznie (!) na dzieci i wnuki. I co istotne ma to miejsce również wtedy, kiedy dziedziczący traumę potomkowie, nie mieli nigdy kontaktu, z tymi, którzy tej traumy doświadczyli.
Myśl o tym eksperymencie przywiodła mu jego rodzinne historie, rozpoczął więc autobiograficzne rodzinne śledztwo.
I tak poznajemy losy jego dziadka ze strony ojca, który był funkcjonariuszem KGB, a przeć chwilę nawet ochraniarzem Stalina. Potem historię babci i dziadka ze strony matki, którzy byli litewskimi Żydami. Następnie przechodzi do historii swoich rodziców, a na koniec swojej własnej, i do tego jak mocno przeszłość jego rodziny na niego wpłynęła.
Odkrywa sporo niewygodnych tajemnic, skrywanych historii, nie próbuje nikogo tłumaczyć, ale stara się chociaż w małym stopniu zrozumieć i wejść w ich perspektywę.
To, że materiał biograficzny, który dysponował autor jest niezwykle interesujący to jedno, ale trzeba jeszcze umieć o tym opowiedzieć, w taki sposób by czytelniczki/czytelniczy po każdym odłożeniu książki chciały/eli do niej wrócić. Halberstadtowi się to udało, a przynajmniej udało mu się ze mną. Warto!
Autobiograficzną historię swojej rodziny rozpoczyna od fragmentu na temat badania i eksperymentu przeprowadzonego w jednym z amerykańskich uniwersytetów, które dowiodło, że trauma jednego pokolenia przechodzi fizjologicznie (!) na dzieci i wnuki. I co istotne ma to miejsce również wtedy, kiedy dziedziczący traumę potomkowie, nie mieli nigdy kontaktu, z tymi, którzy tej traumy doświadczyli.
Myśl o tym eksperymencie przywiodła mu jego rodzinne historie, rozpoczął więc autobiograficzne rodzinne śledztwo.
I tak poznajemy losy jego dziadka ze strony ojca, który był funkcjonariuszem KGB, a przeć chwilę nawet ochraniarzem Stalina. Potem historię babci i dziadka ze strony matki, którzy byli litewskimi Żydami. Następnie przechodzi do historii swoich rodziców, a na koniec swojej własnej, i do tego jak mocno przeszłość jego rodziny na niego wpłynęła.
Odkrywa sporo niewygodnych tajemnic, skrywanych historii, nie próbuje nikogo tłumaczyć, ale stara się chociaż w małym stopniu zrozumieć i wejść w ich perspektywę.
To, że materiał biograficzny, który dysponował autor jest niezwykle interesujący to jedno, ale trzeba jeszcze umieć o tym opowiedzieć, w taki sposób by czytelniczki/czytelniczy po każdym odłożeniu książki chciały/eli do niej wrócić. Halberstadtowi się to udało, a przynajmniej udało mu się ze mną. Warto!
October 17, 2022
the most interesting memoir (family history?) i have ever read
Read
August 30, 2020Part 1 (about his grandfather) was riveting. I feel like the book as a whole, though, ends up reading like a series of overly long essays that should have been properly edited and published as much smaller pieces. It's uneven and long-winded and never really coheres. Sometimes the writing just grated on me -- it's too studied and smug in places. I wanted to like this book, but it dragged me along instead.
June 10, 2020
Interesting biography of the author, touching on his past in the Soviet Union and his reckoning with his paternal grandfather, who worked under Stalin. I found the first half of the book very engaging, after that less so.
April 13, 2021
Wonderful book if you enjoy introspection lacking humility and narcissistic pontification. The author really fancies himself. No thanks.
November 25, 2021
Alex Halberstadt werd getriggerd door een onderzoek aan de Emory University in Atlanta waarbij muizen eerst de geur van kersenbloesem kregen te ruiken en vervolgens een elektrische schok kregen toegediend. Het verrassende was dat de jongen van deze muizen ook angstig reageerden als ze dezelfde geur roken terwijl ze nooit waren blootgesteld aan een schok.
“Om een of andere reden bleef ik maar aan dat onderzoek op muizen aan Emory denken. Uiteindelijk besefte ik dat het niet alleen de opzienbarende resultaten waren die me fascineerden, maar ook hun kracht als metafoor. Zouden wij niet ook gaan beven onder invloed van prikkels die we ons niet konden herinneren en die we niet konden thuisbrengen, maar die hun oorsprong hadden in de decennia voor onze geboorte?
Halberstadt (1970) is met zijn moeder eind jaren ‘70 vanuit Rusland geëmigreerd naar de Verenigde Staten. Dit boek is een verslag van zijn onderzoek naar de geschiedenis van zijn familie. Het levert regelmatig boeiende verhalen op.
Qua tijdlijn was het niet altijd even goed te volgen. Soms ook verwarrend doordat hij de ene keer de naam van een grootvader gebruikt, dan weer schrijft ‘zijn vader’ of elders ‘mijn grootvader’ (de vertaler werd het ook wat te veel want op pagina 134 staat ‘nadat mijn vader’ waar het ‘nadat mijn grootvader’ had moeten zijn). Gelukkig bood de stamboom aan het begin van het boek uitkomst! Ook vond ik de stijl niet altijd even fraai. Sommige herinneringen uit zijn vroege jeugd bijvoorbeeld lijken met de ogen van nu geschreven. Als hij einde jaren ’70 met zijn moeder naar de Verenigde Staten vliegt maken ze eerst een tussenstop in Wenen en daarna in Italië. Dan lees ik:
“Na achtenveertig uur in Italië dachten we aan Wenen terug als aan een jachtige, schemerige stad, vergelijkbaar met een laat kwartet van Sjostakovitsj.”
Dat lijkt me niet de gedachte van een 9-jarige. Ook nog een slechte metafoor in mijn optiek (maar misschien ziet een kenner van Sjostakovitsj muziek dat anders…).
Onderhoudend en redelijk openhartig boek maar er had volgens mij meer ingezeten. Zeker van het laatste hoofdstuk als hij met zijn vader gaat vissen had ik meer verwacht. Hij schrijftdaar zelf over:
“Dit waren voor mij onze mooiste uren. Mijn vader en ik samen in de boot, half versuft van de slaap, omringd door het lavendelblauw aan de horizon, zonder veel noodzaak om te praten. Deze manier van samenzijn werkte het best. Doordat we bezig waren – kunstaas knopen, aas aan de haak doen, hannesen met de buitenboordmotor – was onze nabijheid genoeg.”
Maar misschien is het feit dat beide ouders nog leefden ten tijde van publicatie soms een beperking geweest bij het vertellen van deze familiegeschiedenis.
“Om een of andere reden bleef ik maar aan dat onderzoek op muizen aan Emory denken. Uiteindelijk besefte ik dat het niet alleen de opzienbarende resultaten waren die me fascineerden, maar ook hun kracht als metafoor. Zouden wij niet ook gaan beven onder invloed van prikkels die we ons niet konden herinneren en die we niet konden thuisbrengen, maar die hun oorsprong hadden in de decennia voor onze geboorte?
Halberstadt (1970) is met zijn moeder eind jaren ‘70 vanuit Rusland geëmigreerd naar de Verenigde Staten. Dit boek is een verslag van zijn onderzoek naar de geschiedenis van zijn familie. Het levert regelmatig boeiende verhalen op.
Qua tijdlijn was het niet altijd even goed te volgen. Soms ook verwarrend doordat hij de ene keer de naam van een grootvader gebruikt, dan weer schrijft ‘zijn vader’ of elders ‘mijn grootvader’ (de vertaler werd het ook wat te veel want op pagina 134 staat ‘nadat mijn vader’ waar het ‘nadat mijn grootvader’ had moeten zijn). Gelukkig bood de stamboom aan het begin van het boek uitkomst! Ook vond ik de stijl niet altijd even fraai. Sommige herinneringen uit zijn vroege jeugd bijvoorbeeld lijken met de ogen van nu geschreven. Als hij einde jaren ’70 met zijn moeder naar de Verenigde Staten vliegt maken ze eerst een tussenstop in Wenen en daarna in Italië. Dan lees ik:
“Na achtenveertig uur in Italië dachten we aan Wenen terug als aan een jachtige, schemerige stad, vergelijkbaar met een laat kwartet van Sjostakovitsj.”
Dat lijkt me niet de gedachte van een 9-jarige. Ook nog een slechte metafoor in mijn optiek (maar misschien ziet een kenner van Sjostakovitsj muziek dat anders…).
Onderhoudend en redelijk openhartig boek maar er had volgens mij meer ingezeten. Zeker van het laatste hoofdstuk als hij met zijn vader gaat vissen had ik meer verwacht. Hij schrijftdaar zelf over:
“Dit waren voor mij onze mooiste uren. Mijn vader en ik samen in de boot, half versuft van de slaap, omringd door het lavendelblauw aan de horizon, zonder veel noodzaak om te praten. Deze manier van samenzijn werkte het best. Doordat we bezig waren – kunstaas knopen, aas aan de haak doen, hannesen met de buitenboordmotor – was onze nabijheid genoeg.”
Maar misschien is het feit dat beide ouders nog leefden ten tijde van publicatie soms een beperking geweest bij het vertellen van deze familiegeschiedenis.
February 12, 2021
‘De jonge helden van de Sovjet-Unie’: een schoolboek op Alex’ basisschool in de Sovjet-Unie. Daarin de verhalen van jonge kinderen die moedige daden voor het moederland hadden verricht (lees: daarbij ook gestorven waren), als voorbeeld voor de jeugd van de jaren ’70. “We zullen nooit samen pioniers zijn”, zei een schoolvriend tegen hem toen zijn moeder had besloten een uitreisvisum aan te vragen. Emigranten zijn landverraders, nog erger dan joden, zo werd hen ingepeperd in de Russische maatschappij.
Alex Halberstadt groeide het grootste deel van zijn jeugd op in New York, waar hij zich het liefst z.s.m. profileerde als Amerikaan. Na verloop van tijd is hij zijn opa van vaders kant in Vinnytsia (Oekraïne) gaan opzoeken, over wie het vage gerucht ging dat hij Stalins lijfwacht was. Hier zit zeker een verhaal achter.
Het boek is een mix van een halve autobiografie, een geschiedenisboek en familiegeschiedenis. Dit pakt mooi uit, want door de afwisseling van deze drie onderdelen krijg je een completer beeld van de invloeden van de oorlogsgebeurtenissen van de familie en een Russische jeugd op het verdere leven.
Een roman durf ik het dan ook niet te noemen. Eerst beschrijft hij namelijk de levens van zijn grootouders en gaat vandaaruit de familie aan beide kanten af. “De buffer tussen geschiedenis en levensgeschiedenis was flinterdun geworden.”
Het laatste deel van het boek las het vlotst, misschien omdat Alex hierin bij zichzelf blijft. Hij bewandelt meerdere zijpaden, zoals diverse verhalen uit de Litouwse joodse geschiedenis (de steden Kaunas, Vilnius), die er toch zeker ook toe doen. Juist die verhalen doen je beseffen dat zij de achtergrond vormen van het denken en doen van een familie; die levensgeschiedenis wordt intergenerationeel overgedragen. Je kunt nooit uitverteld zijn. Tegelijk met het familieverhaal komt het nationale Sovjetverhaal aan bod en is de vergelijking met New York niet ver weg. Ook in de nieuwe stad wordt Alex heimelijk gepest, alleen voor wat anders.
Alex Halberstadt heeft een geslaagde poging gedaan de trauma’s en oorsprong van zijn familie en zichzelf te onderzoeken. Ik ben blij dat vertalers Leen Van Den Broucke en Gretske de Haan zich aan deze klus gewaagd hebben en dat Pluim het uitgegeven heeft.
Alex Halberstadt groeide het grootste deel van zijn jeugd op in New York, waar hij zich het liefst z.s.m. profileerde als Amerikaan. Na verloop van tijd is hij zijn opa van vaders kant in Vinnytsia (Oekraïne) gaan opzoeken, over wie het vage gerucht ging dat hij Stalins lijfwacht was. Hier zit zeker een verhaal achter.
Het boek is een mix van een halve autobiografie, een geschiedenisboek en familiegeschiedenis. Dit pakt mooi uit, want door de afwisseling van deze drie onderdelen krijg je een completer beeld van de invloeden van de oorlogsgebeurtenissen van de familie en een Russische jeugd op het verdere leven.
Een roman durf ik het dan ook niet te noemen. Eerst beschrijft hij namelijk de levens van zijn grootouders en gaat vandaaruit de familie aan beide kanten af. “De buffer tussen geschiedenis en levensgeschiedenis was flinterdun geworden.”
Het laatste deel van het boek las het vlotst, misschien omdat Alex hierin bij zichzelf blijft. Hij bewandelt meerdere zijpaden, zoals diverse verhalen uit de Litouwse joodse geschiedenis (de steden Kaunas, Vilnius), die er toch zeker ook toe doen. Juist die verhalen doen je beseffen dat zij de achtergrond vormen van het denken en doen van een familie; die levensgeschiedenis wordt intergenerationeel overgedragen. Je kunt nooit uitverteld zijn. Tegelijk met het familieverhaal komt het nationale Sovjetverhaal aan bod en is de vergelijking met New York niet ver weg. Ook in de nieuwe stad wordt Alex heimelijk gepest, alleen voor wat anders.
Alex Halberstadt heeft een geslaagde poging gedaan de trauma’s en oorsprong van zijn familie en zichzelf te onderzoeken. Ik ben blij dat vertalers Leen Van Den Broucke en Gretske de Haan zich aan deze klus gewaagd hebben en dat Pluim het uitgegeven heeft.
September 11, 2020
A unique and interesting read that is part memoir & reconciliation, travelogue, and Lithuanian/Russian history as told through the authors’s family tree which consists of Jews on one side and a former bodyguard of Stalin on the other. In some ways this is a classic immigrant story where after immigration/emmigration occurs, the descendants are left with trying to cobble together the stories of who their ancestors were and what their lives were like back in the old country and why they left, which necessitates telling Russian/Lithuanian history.
Dispersed throughout the book are a series of well taken photographs which I found really helped me connect with the subjects. I think in today’s day of high-quality Digital photography that we forget the skill and effort it took to take images like these in this book. They are not necessarily great art, but they help tell the story.
I also found a family tree at the beginning of the work to be very useful to remember who is who when picking the book back up after not reading it for a couple days.
For me this was a great way to learn about the lifestyles and culture of the Lithuanian Jews and Gentile Russians in the World War I and II eras and also their complex and tragic history.
Dispersed throughout the book are a series of well taken photographs which I found really helped me connect with the subjects. I think in today’s day of high-quality Digital photography that we forget the skill and effort it took to take images like these in this book. They are not necessarily great art, but they help tell the story.
I also found a family tree at the beginning of the work to be very useful to remember who is who when picking the book back up after not reading it for a couple days.
For me this was a great way to learn about the lifestyles and culture of the Lithuanian Jews and Gentile Russians in the World War I and II eras and also their complex and tragic history.
July 15, 2025
At least for me, what Halberstadt's memoir of trying to sort out his immediate family history speaks to is the dream of being able to ask the right people the right questions of just what the hell was going on when it mattered. A big part of why I read history relating to Eastern Europe is to get some sense what the horizons of my own family were; when asking my late father about such matters, he dryly noted that he could count the number of times his father spoke of the "Old Country" on one hand.
Be that as it may, the real guts of this book for most people will be Halberstadt's efforts to get some sense of his grandfather before he passed on; a man who apparently was the last living bodyguard of Stalin's personal security detachment. The rest relates to overcoming his sense of estrangement from his father; this mostly being in pursuit of Halberstadt trying to sort out his own personal issues. I can see how some readers would find this frustrating, though don't take it personally; Halberstadt is frustrated with himself! For all the stress and strain, Halberstadt's acknowledgements end on a surprising grateful note in regards to his family.
Besides that, it strikes me that Halberstadt was lucky to strike while the iron was still hot, before COVID and full-tilt war between Russia and Ukraine would have made this enterprise impossible. That does make this book a document of a particular moment in time.
Actual rating: 3.5.
Be that as it may, the real guts of this book for most people will be Halberstadt's efforts to get some sense of his grandfather before he passed on; a man who apparently was the last living bodyguard of Stalin's personal security detachment. The rest relates to overcoming his sense of estrangement from his father; this mostly being in pursuit of Halberstadt trying to sort out his own personal issues. I can see how some readers would find this frustrating, though don't take it personally; Halberstadt is frustrated with himself! For all the stress and strain, Halberstadt's acknowledgements end on a surprising grateful note in regards to his family.
Besides that, it strikes me that Halberstadt was lucky to strike while the iron was still hot, before COVID and full-tilt war between Russia and Ukraine would have made this enterprise impossible. That does make this book a document of a particular moment in time.
Actual rating: 3.5.
October 11, 2020
A really interesting look at how the macro events of history affect personal lives and families through the author's family history (4.5)
Read
June 2, 2024DNF
dnf
March 9, 2020I won this via goodreads giveaways (thanks!) All my opinions are my own:)
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Appreciate winning and being sent the book, but just can't connect to it unfortunately.
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Appreciate winning and being sent the book, but just can't connect to it unfortunately.
January 7, 2021
Vooral net niet. Wel sterk openingshoofdstuk
June 17, 2021
Beautiful, poetic, poignant, and maybe just a little bit too sad
August 31, 2020
As a person who usually read fictions for leisure, I didn’t know that I’d like the book when I first heard about it. I read the first few pages and quickly got hooked. It is so masterfully written and the stories told are very enchanting. I was ignorant when it comes to modern Russian history and this book educated me in many ways. The war times seem so distant for my generation, and this book provides a record of the accounts from those difficult moments and for inspires reflection on what happened not that long ago. I would recommend reading for anyone who’s interested in modern history and lives of immigrants.
March 15, 2020
I expected an interesting perspective on the incredible days of the Stalin regime; I got this and also a tremendously diverse, vivid set accounts of so much about Russian, Soviet, and American immigrant experiences both remotely historical and relatively recent.
Especially important for the many, like myself, who have families who lived significant parts of this set of experiences.
Those who call this book discursive or unorganized are advertising their own lack of imagination, not making a cogent contribution to evaluating this book.
Halberstadt is a risk taker who wins big.
Especially important for the many, like myself, who have families who lived significant parts of this set of experiences.
Those who call this book discursive or unorganized are advertising their own lack of imagination, not making a cogent contribution to evaluating this book.
Halberstadt is a risk taker who wins big.
February 7, 2021
The family saga felt loosely constructed and it rambled. I enjoyed reading about Alex's ancestors, grandparents lives in the USSR and the challenges of his and his mother's and grandparents emigrating to the US. The book dragged when and place descriptions were piled high. The story jumped around too much for my taste.
June 29, 2021
There was so much here to pull you in, but in the end the writing was a bit underwhelming for me. I had just finished Menakem's book and was intrigued by the concept of generational trauma. It seemed like such a fortuitous segue so I was disappointed that this framing got so few pages. The parts about his grandfather though, were super interesting.
April 4, 2021
I found the book disappointing. It promised much in the first paragraph yet it turned out to be just a boring account of someone's family history
February 8, 2025
Se trata de unas memorias que versan sobre la saga familiar de su autor, Alex Halberstadtm, un ensayista y periodista americano que nació en Moscú en 1970 y que emigró a Nueva York en 1980 junto a su madre y sus abuelos maternos. Su familia materna es judía y proviene de Vilna, en Lituania, y su familia paterna es rusa con orígenes en Ucrania y en la propia Rusia. El libro narra la historia de los abuelos y los padres e intercala recuerdos del autor y la narración de sus viajes a Ucrania, Lituania y Rusia.
Comienza con el abuelo paterno, Vasili, que confiesa haber sido guardaespaldas de Stalin y haber tenido una relación muy estrecha con Beria. Es la parte más interesante, si bien termina con el autor consultando a un par de especialistas en la época estalinista, que concluyen que, aunque la historia del abuelo podría ser cierta, presenta algunas incoherencias históricas. Además, no queda ningún registro que demuestre que estuviera cerca de Stalin ni de la nomenclatura. No obstante, la novela termina demostrando que otra de las afirmaciones del abuelo, que nada tiene que ver con su función durante el Gran Terror pero que también se cuestiona durante todo el relato, resulta ser cierta.
La vida de la abuela paterna, Tamara, también es digna de mención. Decide divorciarse de Vasili, a pesar de la posición de favor que éste ocupa, y consigue salir adelante, e incluso alcanzar un nivel elevado de vida, como modista de las mujeres de los altos dignatarios soviéticos. Parece el sueño americano trasladado al Moscú soviético. Tamara y su nieto tuvieron una relación muy estrecha hasta que Alex emigró a USA. De hecho, en el relato se cuenta de una manera muy conmovedora que Alex era su nieto favorito.
En cuanto a los abuelos maternos, Semión y Raísa, fueron unos judíos lituanos que escaparon del Holocausto pero que perdieron a casi toda su familia por culpa de éste. Se cuenta que Vilna, la capital de Lituania, dispuso de una próspera sociedad judía hasta el comienzo de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. A esta ciudad se la conocía como la Jerusalén del Norte. Semión era neurofisiólogo y uno de sus libros académicos se empleó en la Sorbona durante un tiempo. Como ya se ha comentado, emigraron con el autor a USA, por lo que su relación fue muy cercana hasta que los abuelos fallecieron.
La vida de los padres, Viacheslav y Anna, es menos interesante. Pareja muy joven que se casa de penalti sin apenas conocerse y sin saber si realmente quieren ser padres. El padre sale muy malparado por la poca atención que presta a su hijo y por sus continuas aventuras con otras mujeres.
En definitiva, un buen libro, que se lee con gusto y con el que se aprenden algunos apuntes históricos, pero que únicamente releería en caso de buscar una lectura fácil relacionada con la URRSS.
Comienza con el abuelo paterno, Vasili, que confiesa haber sido guardaespaldas de Stalin y haber tenido una relación muy estrecha con Beria. Es la parte más interesante, si bien termina con el autor consultando a un par de especialistas en la época estalinista, que concluyen que, aunque la historia del abuelo podría ser cierta, presenta algunas incoherencias históricas. Además, no queda ningún registro que demuestre que estuviera cerca de Stalin ni de la nomenclatura. No obstante, la novela termina demostrando que otra de las afirmaciones del abuelo, que nada tiene que ver con su función durante el Gran Terror pero que también se cuestiona durante todo el relato, resulta ser cierta.
La vida de la abuela paterna, Tamara, también es digna de mención. Decide divorciarse de Vasili, a pesar de la posición de favor que éste ocupa, y consigue salir adelante, e incluso alcanzar un nivel elevado de vida, como modista de las mujeres de los altos dignatarios soviéticos. Parece el sueño americano trasladado al Moscú soviético. Tamara y su nieto tuvieron una relación muy estrecha hasta que Alex emigró a USA. De hecho, en el relato se cuenta de una manera muy conmovedora que Alex era su nieto favorito.
En cuanto a los abuelos maternos, Semión y Raísa, fueron unos judíos lituanos que escaparon del Holocausto pero que perdieron a casi toda su familia por culpa de éste. Se cuenta que Vilna, la capital de Lituania, dispuso de una próspera sociedad judía hasta el comienzo de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. A esta ciudad se la conocía como la Jerusalén del Norte. Semión era neurofisiólogo y uno de sus libros académicos se empleó en la Sorbona durante un tiempo. Como ya se ha comentado, emigraron con el autor a USA, por lo que su relación fue muy cercana hasta que los abuelos fallecieron.
La vida de los padres, Viacheslav y Anna, es menos interesante. Pareja muy joven que se casa de penalti sin apenas conocerse y sin saber si realmente quieren ser padres. El padre sale muy malparado por la poca atención que presta a su hijo y por sus continuas aventuras con otras mujeres.
En definitiva, un buen libro, que se lee con gusto y con el que se aprenden algunos apuntes históricos, pero que únicamente releería en caso de buscar una lectura fácil relacionada con la URRSS.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 10, 2020
This is a very personal book about the family history of the author. His maternal grandparents were Holocaust survivors, running away at the moment that the Nazis entered their town. They are lucky just to be alive. Halberstadt's paternal grandparents were Russians through and through. His Russian grandmother was a well known fashion designer for the elite of the Politburo and his grandfather was one of Stalin's bodyguards and a member of the KGB. Halberstadt had never met his paternal grandfather for all intents and purposes. His father cut off all contact with his father. But Halberstadt is curious and he travels to Russia to meet his KGB grandfather who tells his some stories but obviously holds back. His grandfather refuses to confront his past.
Halberstadt tries to understand why his past seems to never go away. He refers to a study at Emory University where mouse were given cherry blossoms to smell and then given an electrical shock to their feet. "The mice learned to associate the scent of cherry blossoms with pain and trembled with fear whenever they smelled it." What is fascinating about this study is that the children and grandchildren of these mice also trembled when they smelled cherry blossoms even though they were not part of the study. Halberstadt expands this study to himself saying that the trauma of his family's life before he was born had led to changes in his brain that he was somewhat a prisoner of his family's escape from the Holocaust and the evil perpetrated by the KGB. Believe this if you will that we can never escape our past. Halberstadt tries to expand this even further. He tries to understand why Russia is a violent and despotic mess. He brings up the history of the cruelty of the Mongols and their total destruction of the country in the Middle Ages. Something changed in the Russian mind where the trauma of the past, and their has been a lot of trauma, and Russia will never be a democracy. Russians will always choose security over freedom. While this sounds a little out there, Halberstadt pulls if off.
The book is excellent when Halberstadt discusses his grandparents life, but slows down a little when he talks about himself. Halberstadt and his mother along with his maternal grandparents leave Russia and settle in NYC. Halberstadt discusses the dislocation that a young person feels when their cultural landmarks are completely altered. If you have any doubts about America, read this book and see the horror of living in the Soviet Union or Russia. How many want to come here and who the hell would ever live there voluntarily?
Halberstadt tries to understand why his past seems to never go away. He refers to a study at Emory University where mouse were given cherry blossoms to smell and then given an electrical shock to their feet. "The mice learned to associate the scent of cherry blossoms with pain and trembled with fear whenever they smelled it." What is fascinating about this study is that the children and grandchildren of these mice also trembled when they smelled cherry blossoms even though they were not part of the study. Halberstadt expands this study to himself saying that the trauma of his family's life before he was born had led to changes in his brain that he was somewhat a prisoner of his family's escape from the Holocaust and the evil perpetrated by the KGB. Believe this if you will that we can never escape our past. Halberstadt tries to expand this even further. He tries to understand why Russia is a violent and despotic mess. He brings up the history of the cruelty of the Mongols and their total destruction of the country in the Middle Ages. Something changed in the Russian mind where the trauma of the past, and their has been a lot of trauma, and Russia will never be a democracy. Russians will always choose security over freedom. While this sounds a little out there, Halberstadt pulls if off.
The book is excellent when Halberstadt discusses his grandparents life, but slows down a little when he talks about himself. Halberstadt and his mother along with his maternal grandparents leave Russia and settle in NYC. Halberstadt discusses the dislocation that a young person feels when their cultural landmarks are completely altered. If you have any doubts about America, read this book and see the horror of living in the Soviet Union or Russia. How many want to come here and who the hell would ever live there voluntarily?
May 16, 2021
Boek over de familie van Halberstadt. Tamelijk spectaculair. Zijn opa van vaders kant was lijfwacht van Stalin, soort van. Zijn grootouders van moederskant zijn ternauwernood aan de holocaust ontsnapt. Zijn moeder besluit in de jaren 70 de Sovjet-Unie te verlaten, zijn vader blijft achter.
Het is dus een boek over de Terreur, waar opa medeplichtig aan was, uiteraard zonder dat hij veel keus had, en verder over een boek over de holocaust, met name de uitroeiing van de Joodse gemeenschap in Litouwen, die nogal groot was, omdat Litouwen vanaf de 14e eeuw relatief tolerant was voor Joden. De holocaust was uiteraard een Duits initiatief, maar Litouwse nationalisten (de witte armbanden) deden enthousiast mee.
En het is een boek over hoe het is om als buitenstaander op te groeien in de VS. Halberstadt zegt ergens dat kinderen op de lagere school iedereen die een accent heeft, zichtbaar arm is of anderszins afwijkt genadeloos aanpakken, maar ik geloof niet dat dat alleen voor de lagere school geldt. Hoogstens worden mensen van goed onderwijs soms wijzer.
En verder is het natuurlijk een boek over hoe mensen in een gezin met elkaar omgaan. Halberstadt heeft een prima band met zijn moeder en zijn grootouders, maar zijn vader negeert hem nogal (en gaat ook niet mee als moeder en zoon emigreren). Zoon betrekt dat op zichzelf, omdat hij niet goed is in sport, niet van meisjes houdt, enz. maar zo werkt het natuurlijk niet.
Aan het eind van het boek begint hij over de Tataren (Mongolen) die in de 13e en de 14e eeuw een schrikbewind over Rusland uitoefenden. Hij vraagt zich af die een genetische voorkeur voor veiligheid boven vrijheid heeft veroorzaakt. Angst is volgens sommige experimenten namelijk erfelijk. Dat verklaart dan waarom de Russen na 800 jaar onderdrukking geen behoefte meer hebben aan vrijheid.
Ik vind het een rare redenering, omdat de gewenste veiligheid de afgelopen 800 jaar niet heeft bestaan. Kijk maar naar de Terreur en de holocaust, maar ook voor een lijfeigene in de eeuwen daarvoor was het leven niet echt stabiel en veilig. Maar misschien is er wel een soort angst voor vrijheid. Die heeft iedereen denk ik.
Nou ja, dit was maar een idee en niet het sterkste van het hele boek. Dat is prima.
Het is dus een boek over de Terreur, waar opa medeplichtig aan was, uiteraard zonder dat hij veel keus had, en verder over een boek over de holocaust, met name de uitroeiing van de Joodse gemeenschap in Litouwen, die nogal groot was, omdat Litouwen vanaf de 14e eeuw relatief tolerant was voor Joden. De holocaust was uiteraard een Duits initiatief, maar Litouwse nationalisten (de witte armbanden) deden enthousiast mee.
En het is een boek over hoe het is om als buitenstaander op te groeien in de VS. Halberstadt zegt ergens dat kinderen op de lagere school iedereen die een accent heeft, zichtbaar arm is of anderszins afwijkt genadeloos aanpakken, maar ik geloof niet dat dat alleen voor de lagere school geldt. Hoogstens worden mensen van goed onderwijs soms wijzer.
En verder is het natuurlijk een boek over hoe mensen in een gezin met elkaar omgaan. Halberstadt heeft een prima band met zijn moeder en zijn grootouders, maar zijn vader negeert hem nogal (en gaat ook niet mee als moeder en zoon emigreren). Zoon betrekt dat op zichzelf, omdat hij niet goed is in sport, niet van meisjes houdt, enz. maar zo werkt het natuurlijk niet.
Aan het eind van het boek begint hij over de Tataren (Mongolen) die in de 13e en de 14e eeuw een schrikbewind over Rusland uitoefenden. Hij vraagt zich af die een genetische voorkeur voor veiligheid boven vrijheid heeft veroorzaakt. Angst is volgens sommige experimenten namelijk erfelijk. Dat verklaart dan waarom de Russen na 800 jaar onderdrukking geen behoefte meer hebben aan vrijheid.
Ik vind het een rare redenering, omdat de gewenste veiligheid de afgelopen 800 jaar niet heeft bestaan. Kijk maar naar de Terreur en de holocaust, maar ook voor een lijfeigene in de eeuwen daarvoor was het leven niet echt stabiel en veilig. Maar misschien is er wel een soort angst voor vrijheid. Die heeft iedereen denk ik.
Nou ja, dit was maar een idee en niet het sterkste van het hele boek. Dat is prima.
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