THE IMMIGRANT

by Frederic Petrovsky

THE IMMIGRANT is a timely and uplifting tale of tragedy, triumph, and the struggle to discover what matters most. The year is 1920, and a teenage Russian boy named Lev has just witnessed his entire world go up in flames. Homeless and alone, Lev finds himself joining up with a strange traveling circus. He sets off on a dark journey across a bleak landscape of corruption and persecution. Facing violent racists, unscrupulous conmen, seedy thugs, and deadly Russian police, Lev’s travels take him across the ocean, through the Big Apple, and finally to the windswept deserts of America’s Southwest. But even as he searches for his last living connection, he finds himself embarking on another journey, into the mysteries of growing up—and discovering what the word home truly means. An epic journey through a tumultuous period of history, THE IMMIGRANT will delight readers with its vivid portrayal of a world lost to time. An unimaginable adventure. An unforgettable young man.

Genres: Fiction

235 pages, Hardcover

Published October 25, 2022

Reviews

[Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

We start the story in Russia in the 1920’s with young Lev being sent away by his parents to protect and save him from the rampant antisemitic attacks against Jewish communities and Jewish people. Lev sees his house burned down with his parents inside and realizes he’s alone in the world.
The circumstances takes him to a Roma/gypsy circus, crossing the Atlantic to New York, where he stays for a little while and ends in the wilderness of Arizona where he finally settles down.
Throughout this physical journey we also see a spiritual one. We see Lev leaving behind his Jewish appearance but with that he also leaves his religiousness, he doesn’t practices Judaism to the point that at the end he marries a non Jewish girl, something that he never dreamed when he was living in his small Jewish village in Russia.
At times the writing felt a little forced and stilted and the characters were not likable, but overall the book engages the reader, especially the way that Lev develops from a self centered and immature young men to one that grows into a self sufficient one.

[Sophie (Is having a bookish breakdown) · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Thank you so much to Koehler books and the author for an Earc in exchange for an honest review.*

STATS
Setting: 4
Characters: 3
Writing: 2.5
Plot: 3
Overall: 3

"𝘏𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺. 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥."

Russia, 1920 and a vicious pogrom is just about to begin.
Young Jews are being sent away from their families, to protect them, hide them, and allow them to survive. Lev is one of those. He's 17 (technically a man) but yearns to stay and protect his home. Nonetheless, he's packed off to live in a travelling circus. Yet when the Roma pogrom rears its head he is sent, once again, on the run. Spanning the oceas to New York, the streets of the lower East side and the wilds of Arizona, Lev will face more horrors than he could ever guessed would ever faze him on his hunt for a place to belong.

I'm going to preface this review by saying how important it is to have Jewish stories and Jewish people in books nowadays. anti-Semitism is at its highest level in decades- and this is partly to do with miseducation and ignorance of Jewish history. As such, any book discussing Jewish life is always going to be looked on favourably by me as an ownvoices Jewish reviewer.

I will say there was a lot of this book that I just didn't click with, in places the writing just didn't flow and used incongruous American phrasing such as 'mom' in a 1920s Russian environment. Also in areas I was confused as (although I can't say for definite as I'm not an ownvoices reviewer for these aspects) people with disabilities and Roma were not written well at all.

However, of course, there were areas I liked as well. The Immigrant is extremely engaging- it gripped me hard and I couldn't put it down. The cover, too, is extremely moving and really exaggerates the story.

The characters were mostly rounded, although in areas suffering from male-author syndrome (all female characters are sexually obsessed for the 17yr old male main character) which was a bit iffy, but probably just personal preference.

"𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳,"

I really liked the way that we see Lev's character develop- he starts off as a slightly selfish boy but finishes as a hardworking man and the character arc was so subtle and well written. The novel also emphasized the fact that first love is not last love, and sometimes people just dont find 'the one' for them. In a market saturated by constant romance this was refreshing and I think helps The Immigrant contribute greatly to the genre.

"𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦, 𝘐'𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴,"

Shout out to the very Jewish humour scattered throughout- two particular favourites are, of course to do with food (it wouldn't be a Jewishy book otherwise;) )

"𝘞𝘦'𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥'𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴,"


FINAL THOUGHTS
I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in the lives of Jewish youths in the early 20th century- and anyone looking for a fresh voice in young adult fiction.

[BookTrib.com]

More than historical fiction, THE IMMIGRANT by Frederic Petrovsky can be defined as a fine bit of motivational philosophizing — and a most satisfying read.

Read the full review on Booktrib.com