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A Mountain of Crumbs
Elena Gorokhova grows up in 1960's Leningrad where she discovers that beauty and passion can be found in unexpected places in Soviet Russia.
A Mountain of Crumbs is the moving story of a young Soviet girl's discovery of the hidden truths of adulthood and her country's profound political deception. Elena, born with a desire to explore the world beyond her borders, finds her passion in the complexity of the English language - but in the Soviet Union of the 1960s, such a passion verges on the subversive. Elena's home is no longer the majestic Russia of literature or the tsars. Instead, it is a nation humiliated by its first faltering steps after World War II, putting up appearances for the sake of its regime and fighting to retain its pride. In this deeply affecting memoir, Elena re-creates the world that both oppressed and inspired her. She recounts stories passed down to her about the horrors of the Bolshevik Revolution and probes the daily deprivations and small joys of her family's bunkerlike existence. Through Elena's captivating voice, we learn not only the personal story of Russia in the second half of the twentieth century, but also the story of one rebellious citizen whose love of a foreign language finally transports her to a new world. 'This moving memoir made me cry' The New York Times
A Mountain of Crumbs is the moving story of a young Soviet girl's discovery of the hidden truths of adulthood and her country's profound political deception. Elena, born with a desire to explore the world beyond her borders, finds her passion in the complexity of the English language - but in the Soviet Union of the 1960s, such a passion verges on the subversive. Elena's home is no longer the majestic Russia of literature or the tsars. Instead, it is a nation humiliated by its first faltering steps after World War II, putting up appearances for the sake of its regime and fighting to retain its pride. In this deeply affecting memoir, Elena re-creates the world that both oppressed and inspired her. She recounts stories passed down to her about the horrors of the Bolshevik Revolution and probes the daily deprivations and small joys of her family's bunkerlike existence. Through Elena's captivating voice, we learn not only the personal story of Russia in the second half of the twentieth century, but also the story of one rebellious citizen whose love of a foreign language finally transports her to a new world. 'This moving memoir made me cry' The New York Times
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 459 reviews
December 13, 2022
This story, written by a non-native English speaker, thoroughly captivated me. Clearly it is a memoir, without the usual full details found in an autobiography. Elena Gorokhova has conveyed tangibly and charmingly how her life was growing up in the USSR during the 50's and 60's until her immigration to America. The states of hopelessness, oppression and deception, which were features of everyday life for her, were related with candor and humor.
It appears that while still a young child, Gorokhova had developed a sense of suspicion and mistrust about the myths that the authorities had heaped upon the public, particularly with the children in their schools. Yet, despite much adversity within the Soviet system, Gorokhova was able to advance to a fluency in English. She became thoroughly conversant about many noted Russian authors, such as Turgenev, whom she quoted frequently, also Pushkin and Dostoyevsky. With her sparkling intelligence, she had learned well the art of unquestioning obedience and was talented in the art of deception when needed.
"...perhaps I do know. Perhaps it's part of the same old game,vranyo. The game we all play: my mother, my sister, my teachers at school, my friend Tanya... The rules are simple: they lie to us, we know they're lying, they know we know they're lying, but keep lying anyway and we keep pretending to believe them."
Throughout this memoir,one travels with Gorokhova through many intriguing and naturally beautiful parts of the country. She has clearly illuminated the ostentatious magnificence and beauty of St.Petersburg, which of course was Leningrad when she lived there. One can picture the grandeur of the buildings and the artwork which were covered over by the authorities for use as offices. Every where one would go, there were lines- lines for food, lines for toilet paper, lines that formed for bewildering items about which people did not know.
I have minor concerns relating to Gorokhova's haste in the conclusion of her narration. She had related her years, from early childhood, through her teens and early twenties, keeping the reader current with her activities. Yet, she finally embarked to the US and left the reader with a few short pages telling of her life now. While reading her book, I had begun to feel a semblance of closeness with this Elena. I yearned to know of her reactions to this country upon arrival and with many new experiences.
I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir and have continued to consider whether I wish to rate this at 5 stars!
4.5
It appears that while still a young child, Gorokhova had developed a sense of suspicion and mistrust about the myths that the authorities had heaped upon the public, particularly with the children in their schools. Yet, despite much adversity within the Soviet system, Gorokhova was able to advance to a fluency in English. She became thoroughly conversant about many noted Russian authors, such as Turgenev, whom she quoted frequently, also Pushkin and Dostoyevsky. With her sparkling intelligence, she had learned well the art of unquestioning obedience and was talented in the art of deception when needed.
"...perhaps I do know. Perhaps it's part of the same old game,vranyo. The game we all play: my mother, my sister, my teachers at school, my friend Tanya... The rules are simple: they lie to us, we know they're lying, they know we know they're lying, but keep lying anyway and we keep pretending to believe them."
Throughout this memoir,one travels with Gorokhova through many intriguing and naturally beautiful parts of the country. She has clearly illuminated the ostentatious magnificence and beauty of St.Petersburg, which of course was Leningrad when she lived there. One can picture the grandeur of the buildings and the artwork which were covered over by the authorities for use as offices. Every where one would go, there were lines- lines for food, lines for toilet paper, lines that formed for bewildering items about which people did not know.
I have minor concerns relating to Gorokhova's haste in the conclusion of her narration. She had related her years, from early childhood, through her teens and early twenties, keeping the reader current with her activities. Yet, she finally embarked to the US and left the reader with a few short pages telling of her life now. While reading her book, I had begun to feel a semblance of closeness with this Elena. I yearned to know of her reactions to this country upon arrival and with many new experiences.
I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir and have continued to consider whether I wish to rate this at 5 stars!
4.5
April 7, 2018
"The Russian Equivalent of Angela's Ashes -Billy Collins"
Yeah, that quote right there should have warned me that I was just not going to be entranced by this memoir. The relationship between Elena and her mother was basically the central theme , but it's pretty common mother daughter relationship problems. In fact, Elena lived a fairly ordinary life with very ordinary sentiments about coming of age under a very strict Communist government. Maybe that is what is supposed to shock me?I can certainly understand why she chose to leave and begin a new life in the U.S. How much a culture shock it would have been for a person who only heard negative things about America and now she's experiencing that freedom. But also having to let go of the Soviet perception of the U.S would have been a challenge. If I look at the amount of memoirs I have read over the last handful of years, I just find this book not as memorable.
Yeah, that quote right there should have warned me that I was just not going to be entranced by this memoir. The relationship between Elena and her mother was basically the central theme , but it's pretty common mother daughter relationship problems. In fact, Elena lived a fairly ordinary life with very ordinary sentiments about coming of age under a very strict Communist government. Maybe that is what is supposed to shock me?I can certainly understand why she chose to leave and begin a new life in the U.S. How much a culture shock it would have been for a person who only heard negative things about America and now she's experiencing that freedom. But also having to let go of the Soviet perception of the U.S would have been a challenge. If I look at the amount of memoirs I have read over the last handful of years, I just find this book not as memorable.
September 1, 2017
3.5 stars. The first half of this book I would rate 5 stars, I really enjoyed Elena's early childhood memories and the stories of her mother and grandmother, their daily rituals, meals and philosophies. I loved the details of their food, the school memories and Elena's perception of those around her.
For me, half way through the book everything changed. I didn't find anything interesting in Elena discovering boys and kissing .
Really enjoyable first half.
For me, half way through the book everything changed. I didn't find anything interesting in Elena discovering boys and kissing .
Really enjoyable first half.
March 23, 2011
I never thought I’d read a memoir on growing up and coming of age in Leningrad in 1960s-70s written in English (as opposed to in Russian). All the same, I loved Gorokhova’s wonderful prose with humorous overtones and very clever use of Russian words and transliterations. I had a feeling that the author was describing some of my school and childhood experiences, even though I am 15 years younger than she is. A treat to anyone who grew up in the former Soviet Union or any other person who simply wishes to find out more about Russian culture at large.
September 1, 2010
NO SPOILERS
My final opinion is that this was a deeply honest and humorous autibiograohy. It extremely well depicts life behind the Iron Curtain during the 70s and 80s. The crooked truth, the need to hide your true thoughts, the need to pretend were fundamental to life in Russia at this time. I had a hard time choosing 4 or 5 stars, but have chosen 4. While I sat there rading, I most often was thoroughly enjoying myself, but sometimes I felt it needed some editing. Some descriptions were excessive. Occasionally you felt you were wading through words. I must add that I highly admire the author and what she did with her life. She honestly depicted her feelings on many subjects that are common to all people, irregardless of their nationality, particularly her relationship with her mother.
Through page 240:The more you read the better it gets. You comen to "know" the author. You know her idiosyncracies. What is amazing is that the author comes alive, a real person with a specific identity, and you see how she matures and questions life around her. In the process you learn about Russian life and culture during the 60s and 70s. She questions everything. That is who she is! As a child, as a teenager and as an adult. She is always questioning, but her questions change. Some of her questions reveal Russian culture and other questions are those that trouble all individuals, not just Russians. And there are some central questions that trouble her as a child, a teenager and as an adult. There is a quality to Russian life that sticks out. It is the need to pretend, to twist truth and to close your eyes or look away. I traveled by car, not a bus load of tourists but just my family, from Sweden all the way to Moscow in 1973. I recognize and understand better that which I saw and experienced. This book is excellent both as an autobiography and as a glimpse into life behind the Iron Curtain, and it is so humorously written.
Through page 147: I feel that I am gypping you if I am too lazy to quote part of the text...... How can you experience the style of writing without tasting it? The following is from page 78:
"Masha Mironova is the only girl I know who wears nylon tights. The rest of us put on vest-like lifchiks, underbodies that sprout elastic suspenders with rubber clips, and pull on ribbed cotton stockings that twist around our legs like snakes......"
"Masha is unique in other ways too. Of all my friends, her mother is the only one who wears high heels. Every morning she clicks across the yard on her way to work: a tailored skirt, teased hair, red lipstick. She teaches college English: the word "English" sounds majestic and alien. In my family no one speaks a foreign language, especially one as foreign as English. My mother knows the names of all the body parts in Latin, but Latin isn't exotic, it's ancient and dead. My sister studied French at her Moscow drama school, but French is so ingrained in Russian history that even my provincial Aunt Muza sometimes says, 'Merci beaucoup.'"
I feel alot is learned about how life really was in the Soviet Union, behind the Iron Curtain - how people thought, what they ate and wore and read and how they spent their time. Summers at the dacha. Pioneer study groups. How a Russian child relates to her mother and siblings. Elena was born in 1956. There are insightful thoughts on how different lanuages reflect cultural differences. There is no word for privacy in Russian! Maybe there are similar words, but they are not really the same.
Through humorous and gripping narrative, the author speaks of her own life behind the Iron Curtain. She speaks of fishing and mushroom hunting and coming of age and death.... All is depicted with real emotion, both humor and sadness. It is great! I have read about half so far. Wonderful photos are included.
My final opinion is that this was a deeply honest and humorous autibiograohy. It extremely well depicts life behind the Iron Curtain during the 70s and 80s. The crooked truth, the need to hide your true thoughts, the need to pretend were fundamental to life in Russia at this time. I had a hard time choosing 4 or 5 stars, but have chosen 4. While I sat there rading, I most often was thoroughly enjoying myself, but sometimes I felt it needed some editing. Some descriptions were excessive. Occasionally you felt you were wading through words. I must add that I highly admire the author and what she did with her life. She honestly depicted her feelings on many subjects that are common to all people, irregardless of their nationality, particularly her relationship with her mother.
Through page 240:The more you read the better it gets. You comen to "know" the author. You know her idiosyncracies. What is amazing is that the author comes alive, a real person with a specific identity, and you see how she matures and questions life around her. In the process you learn about Russian life and culture during the 60s and 70s. She questions everything. That is who she is! As a child, as a teenager and as an adult. She is always questioning, but her questions change. Some of her questions reveal Russian culture and other questions are those that trouble all individuals, not just Russians. And there are some central questions that trouble her as a child, a teenager and as an adult. There is a quality to Russian life that sticks out. It is the need to pretend, to twist truth and to close your eyes or look away. I traveled by car, not a bus load of tourists but just my family, from Sweden all the way to Moscow in 1973. I recognize and understand better that which I saw and experienced. This book is excellent both as an autobiography and as a glimpse into life behind the Iron Curtain, and it is so humorously written.
Through page 147: I feel that I am gypping you if I am too lazy to quote part of the text...... How can you experience the style of writing without tasting it? The following is from page 78:
"Masha Mironova is the only girl I know who wears nylon tights. The rest of us put on vest-like lifchiks, underbodies that sprout elastic suspenders with rubber clips, and pull on ribbed cotton stockings that twist around our legs like snakes......"
"Masha is unique in other ways too. Of all my friends, her mother is the only one who wears high heels. Every morning she clicks across the yard on her way to work: a tailored skirt, teased hair, red lipstick. She teaches college English: the word "English" sounds majestic and alien. In my family no one speaks a foreign language, especially one as foreign as English. My mother knows the names of all the body parts in Latin, but Latin isn't exotic, it's ancient and dead. My sister studied French at her Moscow drama school, but French is so ingrained in Russian history that even my provincial Aunt Muza sometimes says, 'Merci beaucoup.'"
I feel alot is learned about how life really was in the Soviet Union, behind the Iron Curtain - how people thought, what they ate and wore and read and how they spent their time. Summers at the dacha. Pioneer study groups. How a Russian child relates to her mother and siblings. Elena was born in 1956. There are insightful thoughts on how different lanuages reflect cultural differences. There is no word for privacy in Russian! Maybe there are similar words, but they are not really the same.
Through humorous and gripping narrative, the author speaks of her own life behind the Iron Curtain. She speaks of fishing and mushroom hunting and coming of age and death.... All is depicted with real emotion, both humor and sadness. It is great! I have read about half so far. Wonderful photos are included.
June 1, 2012
I picked up A Mountain of Crumbs by Elena Gorokhova by chance while browsing in-store at Indigo. Not often does one find contemporary books about Russia, written by a Russian and – interestingly enough – originally written in English. The story also sounded compelling: a woman growing up during the Soviet times in what used to be Leningrad and is now St. Petersburg, told as she reconciled the country’s past and her own future.
The other reason I picked it up was because I was drawn to support a fellow Russian trying to make it in the English-speaking literary world.
The storytelling is quick paced and the writing style accessible and intriguing. Gorokhova wields a clear, crisp voice that breathes life into the fairly mundane, creating a colourful world of the grey and sometimes sad city. She paints a beautiful picture of Leningrad in the 1970s: the constant lines for everyday things like bread, toilet paper, milk, shoes, etc; the patriotism and uncertainty of the older generation; the denial of Western culture; the bureaucracy; and the cultural propaganda that made Russia seem like the growing promise in an evil world.
I found this picture strangely familiar. I was also born in Russia but 30 years after Gorokhova, in 1990, a year before the Soviet rule collapsed. Yet, it seemed that not many things had changed. The society and culture stayed very much the same, as had the people. My parents were Gorokhova’s contemporaries, my mother only a couple of years younger than she, and therefore their stories had many parallels. However, my mother was never like Gorokhova. She was a patriot, a straight A student, a Pioneer leader and completely devoted to her country and all that it stood for. Gorokhova, in contrast, was a doubter, a dreamer who had contact with the foreign and potentially dangerous English language. She didn’t completely trust the system in which she grew up in and actively sought a way out when her time came.
For me, those are the things that made this memoir thrilling. The familiarity of events and culture, the different glimpse into a world which my parents described through memory, and the love for a language that is not my own. Russia was a country that claimed to have no problems, no drunks, no depression, no homelessness, and my mother who lived in a small, closed city believed that. But it was (and still is) a country of opposites, of extremes, and filled with problems that it’s people are still trying to face and reconcile.
A Mountain of Crumbs is an accurate, bitter-sweet portrayal of life in Soviet Russia during the ’60s and ’70s. It is a country that is not completely wild and desperate; it has its beautiful moments and its glaring downfalls. If you are looking to be absorbed in a not-so-distant past and learn about what life was like during those times of which Gorokhova lived, I highly recommend this read. It is quick, powerful, and sweet.
A review by Nat
The other reason I picked it up was because I was drawn to support a fellow Russian trying to make it in the English-speaking literary world.
The storytelling is quick paced and the writing style accessible and intriguing. Gorokhova wields a clear, crisp voice that breathes life into the fairly mundane, creating a colourful world of the grey and sometimes sad city. She paints a beautiful picture of Leningrad in the 1970s: the constant lines for everyday things like bread, toilet paper, milk, shoes, etc; the patriotism and uncertainty of the older generation; the denial of Western culture; the bureaucracy; and the cultural propaganda that made Russia seem like the growing promise in an evil world.
I found this picture strangely familiar. I was also born in Russia but 30 years after Gorokhova, in 1990, a year before the Soviet rule collapsed. Yet, it seemed that not many things had changed. The society and culture stayed very much the same, as had the people. My parents were Gorokhova’s contemporaries, my mother only a couple of years younger than she, and therefore their stories had many parallels. However, my mother was never like Gorokhova. She was a patriot, a straight A student, a Pioneer leader and completely devoted to her country and all that it stood for. Gorokhova, in contrast, was a doubter, a dreamer who had contact with the foreign and potentially dangerous English language. She didn’t completely trust the system in which she grew up in and actively sought a way out when her time came.
For me, those are the things that made this memoir thrilling. The familiarity of events and culture, the different glimpse into a world which my parents described through memory, and the love for a language that is not my own. Russia was a country that claimed to have no problems, no drunks, no depression, no homelessness, and my mother who lived in a small, closed city believed that. But it was (and still is) a country of opposites, of extremes, and filled with problems that it’s people are still trying to face and reconcile.
A Mountain of Crumbs is an accurate, bitter-sweet portrayal of life in Soviet Russia during the ’60s and ’70s. It is a country that is not completely wild and desperate; it has its beautiful moments and its glaring downfalls. If you are looking to be absorbed in a not-so-distant past and learn about what life was like during those times of which Gorokhova lived, I highly recommend this read. It is quick, powerful, and sweet.
A review by Nat
March 31, 2011
Gorokhova's memoir of growing up in Soviet Russia.
Initially, I really liked this book. I particularly enjoyed Gorokhova's stories about her mother's younger days and about her own childhood in Leningrad. As the author plunged on into her adulthood, however, I started to grow bored, and eventually found myself skimming a bit toward the end.
I'm still a bit confused as to why Gorokhova was so desperate to leave the USSR. Because she couldn't buy pantyhose and mayonnaise? That's kind of how it came across. While the look into her childhood was fascinating, she actually made it sound rather nice. It never seemed like she was in mortal fear of her life. Yes, she grew up rather modestly, but good grief, her family had a summer home! I know people who grew up in "free" society who were raised with far less. And so the older she got, the harder time I had connecting with her. Why did she want to leave so badly that she married a man she barely knew, a man who clearly told her before they got married that he wanted to continue seeing other women? It was never fully explained and that bothered me. (That marriage, perhaps unsurprisingly, did not work out.)
However, there was enough throughout most of the book to like that the perplexing end of her story didn't entirely ruin my enjoyment of it as a whole.
Initially, I really liked this book. I particularly enjoyed Gorokhova's stories about her mother's younger days and about her own childhood in Leningrad. As the author plunged on into her adulthood, however, I started to grow bored, and eventually found myself skimming a bit toward the end.
I'm still a bit confused as to why Gorokhova was so desperate to leave the USSR. Because she couldn't buy pantyhose and mayonnaise? That's kind of how it came across. While the look into her childhood was fascinating, she actually made it sound rather nice. It never seemed like she was in mortal fear of her life. Yes, she grew up rather modestly, but good grief, her family had a summer home! I know people who grew up in "free" society who were raised with far less. And so the older she got, the harder time I had connecting with her. Why did she want to leave so badly that she married a man she barely knew, a man who clearly told her before they got married that he wanted to continue seeing other women? It was never fully explained and that bothered me. (That marriage, perhaps unsurprisingly, did not work out.)
However, there was enough throughout most of the book to like that the perplexing end of her story didn't entirely ruin my enjoyment of it as a whole.
December 16, 2010
There are some insightful moments, some that could be Everywoman's story and some that can only be Sovietwoman's. I like the Russian sayings that the older generation used like: If you knew where you'd fall, you'd put down some straw. Or: When things are good, don't search for better.
The concept of vranyo keeps coming up, the idea of pretending things are straight even when you know they're crooked and everyone else knows they're crooked but everyone keeps acting as though they're straight... And when Lena starts learning English and comes across the word "privacy" that even her teacher doesn't understand because it's nothing they know in their own lives.
She questions the Soviet system without disparaging it. She wants to see the outside world but she more than appreciates the world she comes from and holds it close to her heart.
The concept of vranyo keeps coming up, the idea of pretending things are straight even when you know they're crooked and everyone else knows they're crooked but everyone keeps acting as though they're straight... And when Lena starts learning English and comes across the word "privacy" that even her teacher doesn't understand because it's nothing they know in their own lives.
She questions the Soviet system without disparaging it. She wants to see the outside world but she more than appreciates the world she comes from and holds it close to her heart.
April 13, 2015
Couldn't put this down, and I don't think it's because I'm Russian. The beauty of language captivated me. It reads like a novel, and there is so much heart and warmth and at the same time starkness in this book, that it will stay with you for a long time. I know it will stay with me.
Read
June 14, 2020DNF! This was clearly a case of, it’s not you, it’s me! I’m way too restless for this right now. This is very much someone telling a story and keeping me at a distance and I need escapism, to be fully immersed at the mo. I may come back to it another day....I may not!!
September 5, 2012
I didn't like this book as much as I thought I would. The book is beautifully written, and there are a few charming stories from Lena's childhood, but overall, it was a dull and sometimes frustrating read.
The book is pretty slow paced, and there was not really anything overly exciting that happened in Lena's life. There was the time her father passed away, but she didn't write much about it. It was written almost as a fact, with not much detail about her actual grieving process, other than an occasional thought about him from time to time throughout her life. There was also the summer she spent on the beach which I enjoyed reading, but it almost was out of place with the rest of the book. It seemed like this Lena on the beach was a completely different person than in the rest of the book. I have a sneaky suspicion that perhaps all of the stories from the beach were not true, or, that she is holding back some of her personality in the rest of the book.
An example of the above includes the paragraph where she states she first had sex at age 16 with a man 20 years her senior at a party. It seemed so bizarre and out of place. I'm sure there were more stories like that, that Lena could have put in her book. I'm sure they would have made it a better read as well.
Other than the book being somewhat boring, I just don't understand the urgency to get out of Russia and go to 'America'. There was no event or series of events in her life that lead the reader to understand why Lena was so unhappy with her life. Se spent the first chapters of the book telling us about her mother, and why the way she is. I feel that she should have put the same effort into making the reader understand the state of communist Russia, and how it affected her life.
There were only little glimpses of oppression, with little to no explanation. She stated that 'Russian citizens are not allowed to visit friends abroad', as if it were something everyone should know. Also, she comments on guards in front of restaurants, keeping people out, although Communist Russia is suppose to be for the collective good. If that is so, who exactly eats in these restaurants? As someone who does not come from a communist country, I wish she would have explained it much more than she did.
As a reader with little knowledge on communism, it seemed odd that a young, highly educated woman with a good job was trying to get out of Russia as if her life depended on it. Things really didn't seem that bad from my reading point. It also seemed to me a little childish that she was holding on to this fantasy of America, and that if she moved there, her life would suddenly be easy and happy.
There were no details about how her life was after moving to the states. Perhaps it is in another memoir. There is only a bit of an epilogue that states she is remarried to the love of her life, living in a big house, has a great daughter and money to spend. Sounds like the perfect American dream. I just feel that the older Lena got, the less I liked her. We all want to be free and independent, but at the same time there are obligations in life. Also family. I found it terribly selfish of her to be thinking so much about herself, and nothing of her mother and sister who have always been by her side. And for what reason does she have to leave? Well, from my reading it was because she wanted to read racy books and buy pantyhose. I just think she is a self centered woman who thinks only of herself.
So, 2 stars for this book. I'm really disappointed in it, and surprised at all the great reviews. The elegant writing style was what gave this memoir the second star. If it wasn't for that, it definatley would have been a one star. There's just something about Lena I don't like, and I don't think she's telling us the whole story.
Happy Reading!
December 15, 2020
Se me ha hecho bastante lento, pero es que la vida en la Unión Soviética no era frenética precisamente. Era más bien triste, gris y pobre. De vestidos de poliéster que te erizan el pelo y colas para comprar algo que no sabes qué será. Y de ideología a tutiplén en todos los aspectos de la vida.
En cambio era un país avanzado en cuanto a igualdad, sanidad y pensiones. Había mujeres médicas e ingenieras cuando en España ni soñábamos con ello. Y habla de hacer cosas por el colectivo y te sorprende, porque en un mundo tan individualista como este en el que vivimos pensar que había toda una sociedad que lo hacía todo en pro de esa misma sociedad (o que aparentaba hacerlo) se hace extraño. Y digo que aparentaba hacerlo porque, como en todas las sociedades del mundo, cuanto más poderoso eras más acceso tenías a cosas difíciles de obtener, como comida, bebida, joyas o medias de nylon. En ese mundo vive Elena, la narradora de estas historia autobiográfica. Una chica que decide estudiar filología inglesa a pesar de la reticencia de su madre. Y esos estudios son los que la sacarán de la Unión Soviética, dejando atrás todo lo que conoce y entrando en un mundo en el que comprarse unos pantalones vaqueros está al alcance de cualquiera.
En cambio era un país avanzado en cuanto a igualdad, sanidad y pensiones. Había mujeres médicas e ingenieras cuando en España ni soñábamos con ello. Y habla de hacer cosas por el colectivo y te sorprende, porque en un mundo tan individualista como este en el que vivimos pensar que había toda una sociedad que lo hacía todo en pro de esa misma sociedad (o que aparentaba hacerlo) se hace extraño. Y digo que aparentaba hacerlo porque, como en todas las sociedades del mundo, cuanto más poderoso eras más acceso tenías a cosas difíciles de obtener, como comida, bebida, joyas o medias de nylon. En ese mundo vive Elena, la narradora de estas historia autobiográfica. Una chica que decide estudiar filología inglesa a pesar de la reticencia de su madre. Y esos estudios son los que la sacarán de la Unión Soviética, dejando atrás todo lo que conoce y entrando en un mundo en el que comprarse unos pantalones vaqueros está al alcance de cualquiera.
Want to read
January 17, 2010Published by Star Tribune, review written by: Laurie Hertzel
"Even if Elena Gorokhova weren't such a gorgeous writer, her memoir, "A Mountain of Crumbs," would be a terrific read. Gorokhova grew up in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and '70s, where her life was unremarkable in many ways: Her mother was a doctor, her father a member of the Communist Party, her older sister hoped to be an actress. The family lived in a Leningrad apartment, waited in line for consumer goods (such an ingrained part of Soviet life that Gorokhova barely mentions it) and spent summers at their country dacha, where they gathered mushrooms and made jam from wild strawberries.But even the most ordinary Soviet life would be fascinating to those of us who grew up during the Cold War and viewed the Soviet Union as the Evil Empire. What was it like on the other side of that curtain? Well, for starters, Elena and her friends were wondering the same things about us."What do we know about America, really?" her mother asks. "People beg on the streets and sleep under bridges and everyone walks around with a gun."
Gorokhova's parents came of age during a dramatic time. "Brimming with energy and the enthusiasm of the first socialist generation, she was eager to make things better," she writes of her mother. When her mother graduated from medical school, "it was 1937, the 20th year of Soviet power, the busiest year of the gulag camps ... her future rose on the horizon like the huge crimson sun over the swamp outside her new apartment window."
But Elena, born in the 1950s, is of a different generation. The glorious revolution, the Great Patriotic War, the Siege of Leningrad -- those are all part of history, and she is left to toil in the oppressive grayness of the Brezhnev years. When her teacher enthralls the class with stories of the revolution -- "workers and peasants inside the Winter Palace ... stomping up the October Staircase ... with their hammers and scythes" -- she cannot help but compare that with her own dull time, "when simply to enter the Hermitage you must put on cloth slippers, cinch them around your ankles and glide slowly under the gaze of a million babushkas in the corner of every room."
Elena has a lively, questioning mind, but she understands that in Soviet life, you must keep everything to yourself. Reveal nothing; it is simply too dangerous. "What's inside you no one can touch," she says.
She also knows that dishonesty is a requirement of survival. It is so fundamental there is a word for it: vranyo. "The rules are simple: They lie to us, we know they're lying, they know we know they're lying, but they keep lying anyway, and we keep pretending to believe them."
She writes with irony and subtlety about the "bright future" of the Soviet Union, even as she plans her exodus.
What makes this book so remarkable, though, is Gorokhova's evocative and sensuous writing. Leningrad "shimmers like a cameo." Her sister's school dormitory smells of "impermanence and other people's clothes." Envy "curdles her heart," and "baked-apple-faced babushkas" sit watch. And when she boards the train to Stankovo, "the whistle blows, and the platform begins to sail away."
Laurie Hertzel is the Star Tribune's books editor.
"Even if Elena Gorokhova weren't such a gorgeous writer, her memoir, "A Mountain of Crumbs," would be a terrific read. Gorokhova grew up in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and '70s, where her life was unremarkable in many ways: Her mother was a doctor, her father a member of the Communist Party, her older sister hoped to be an actress. The family lived in a Leningrad apartment, waited in line for consumer goods (such an ingrained part of Soviet life that Gorokhova barely mentions it) and spent summers at their country dacha, where they gathered mushrooms and made jam from wild strawberries.But even the most ordinary Soviet life would be fascinating to those of us who grew up during the Cold War and viewed the Soviet Union as the Evil Empire. What was it like on the other side of that curtain? Well, for starters, Elena and her friends were wondering the same things about us."What do we know about America, really?" her mother asks. "People beg on the streets and sleep under bridges and everyone walks around with a gun."
Gorokhova's parents came of age during a dramatic time. "Brimming with energy and the enthusiasm of the first socialist generation, she was eager to make things better," she writes of her mother. When her mother graduated from medical school, "it was 1937, the 20th year of Soviet power, the busiest year of the gulag camps ... her future rose on the horizon like the huge crimson sun over the swamp outside her new apartment window."
But Elena, born in the 1950s, is of a different generation. The glorious revolution, the Great Patriotic War, the Siege of Leningrad -- those are all part of history, and she is left to toil in the oppressive grayness of the Brezhnev years. When her teacher enthralls the class with stories of the revolution -- "workers and peasants inside the Winter Palace ... stomping up the October Staircase ... with their hammers and scythes" -- she cannot help but compare that with her own dull time, "when simply to enter the Hermitage you must put on cloth slippers, cinch them around your ankles and glide slowly under the gaze of a million babushkas in the corner of every room."
Elena has a lively, questioning mind, but she understands that in Soviet life, you must keep everything to yourself. Reveal nothing; it is simply too dangerous. "What's inside you no one can touch," she says.
She also knows that dishonesty is a requirement of survival. It is so fundamental there is a word for it: vranyo. "The rules are simple: They lie to us, we know they're lying, they know we know they're lying, but they keep lying anyway, and we keep pretending to believe them."
She writes with irony and subtlety about the "bright future" of the Soviet Union, even as she plans her exodus.
What makes this book so remarkable, though, is Gorokhova's evocative and sensuous writing. Leningrad "shimmers like a cameo." Her sister's school dormitory smells of "impermanence and other people's clothes." Envy "curdles her heart," and "baked-apple-faced babushkas" sit watch. And when she boards the train to Stankovo, "the whistle blows, and the platform begins to sail away."
Laurie Hertzel is the Star Tribune's books editor.
July 26, 2012
Terrific book. This was of particular interest to me since my grandfather came to America from Russia, and my son-in-law came here from the Ukraine as a young adult. After reading this story I could more appreciate what drove these people to leave their "Motherland." Anyone who is comfortable with our country's slow, downhill decline towards socialism should read this book to see what lies in store. (Would you care to wait in line for hours only to receive a few rolls of toilet paper? Would you like your children to have rancid butter on their bread?)
This is a book I intend to read again, since I zipped through it the first time - I kept wanting to know more, more of Gorokhova's life - but I need a second reading to focus on her poetic writing. What a great writer! She moves her story along at a good pace while never forsaking the literary approach. An added bonus are the photographs. My only criticism is, the book ended to soon! I would have liked to know more about her impressions and experiences when she got to America.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to read biographies, enjoys terrific writing, and is interested in the daily life of someone from another country, one so different from our own.
This is a book I intend to read again, since I zipped through it the first time - I kept wanting to know more, more of Gorokhova's life - but I need a second reading to focus on her poetic writing. What a great writer! She moves her story along at a good pace while never forsaking the literary approach. An added bonus are the photographs. My only criticism is, the book ended to soon! I would have liked to know more about her impressions and experiences when she got to America.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to read biographies, enjoys terrific writing, and is interested in the daily life of someone from another country, one so different from our own.
April 28, 2010
I put my five stars for this book more than a year ago, right after I read it - enchanted, crying and speechless by its beauty. It took some time for my words to ripe, like in the Russian tradition of sitting for a while and remaining silent before departure.
Unlike some of the readers, I'm not eager to read a sequel to it, and I don't necessarily want to know what happened to the author in the United States. The story stands out fully completed, with a character so vividly brought out to life that it feels like a different personality than the author, so independent, so well crafted. It makes you empathize, smile, cry and admit: "I want to know this girl!".
You get a glimpse into the everyday life and the political situation in the Soviet Union, but in a way that feels unbiased and not serving anyone's political interests. It serves the well-told, sincere story only.
Thank you, Elena, for writing it.
Unlike some of the readers, I'm not eager to read a sequel to it, and I don't necessarily want to know what happened to the author in the United States. The story stands out fully completed, with a character so vividly brought out to life that it feels like a different personality than the author, so independent, so well crafted. It makes you empathize, smile, cry and admit: "I want to know this girl!".
You get a glimpse into the everyday life and the political situation in the Soviet Union, but in a way that feels unbiased and not serving anyone's political interests. It serves the well-told, sincere story only.
Thank you, Elena, for writing it.
August 17, 2015
From BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week:
Elena Gorokhova wishes her mother had come from Leningrad, the world of Pushkin and the tsars, lace ironwork and pearly domes. Its sophistication might have left a permanent mark of refinement on her soul.
But she didn't.
She came from the provincial town of Ivanovo in central Russia, where chickens lived in the kitchen and a pig squatted under the stairs.
She came from where they lick plates.
Read by Sian Thomas
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.
Episodes
1/5: Elena's mother has become a mirror image of her motherland.
2/5: At five years old, Elena goes to nursery and learns about being part of the collective.
3/5: Elena can only go to college is she is a member of Young Communist League.
4/5: Elena and Nina are considered mature enough to teach Russian to visiting Americans.
5/5: Robert has returned to Texas and Elena wonders if she can visit him.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tff34
Elena Gorokhova wishes her mother had come from Leningrad, the world of Pushkin and the tsars, lace ironwork and pearly domes. Its sophistication might have left a permanent mark of refinement on her soul.
But she didn't.
She came from the provincial town of Ivanovo in central Russia, where chickens lived in the kitchen and a pig squatted under the stairs.
She came from where they lick plates.
Read by Sian Thomas
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.
Episodes
1/5: Elena's mother has become a mirror image of her motherland.
2/5: At five years old, Elena goes to nursery and learns about being part of the collective.
3/5: Elena can only go to college is she is a member of Young Communist League.
4/5: Elena and Nina are considered mature enough to teach Russian to visiting Americans.
5/5: Robert has returned to Texas and Elena wonders if she can visit him.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tff34
September 17, 2018
This is a beautifully written memoir of growing up in the Soviet in the sixties and seventies. It talks about school and university and dachas and strawberries and queues and redtape. Yet Elena Gorokhova steers away from making her writing dramatic. She does not stress on the negatives. She writes in the present tense, and sticks to it very strongly. She focuses on her life and doesn't dive into essays on Russia's problems and politics.
That said, there's more than enough material to read between the lines. "Pretend it's a mountain of crumbs", says Elena's grandmother regarding a sugar cube to her starving child during the famine of the 20s. From there starts the Russian game of vranyo or pretence. Everybody pretends that they're going towards a better future. This theme has been repeatedly evoked chapter by chapter, incident by incident.
Reading this book, both its lines and what's between them, is very rewarding!
That said, there's more than enough material to read between the lines. "Pretend it's a mountain of crumbs", says Elena's grandmother regarding a sugar cube to her starving child during the famine of the 20s. From there starts the Russian game of vranyo or pretence. Everybody pretends that they're going towards a better future. This theme has been repeatedly evoked chapter by chapter, incident by incident.
Reading this book, both its lines and what's between them, is very rewarding!
March 1, 2021
I absolutely concur with Barbara - this memoir is the best description of daily life in the Soviet Union (in this case Leningrad) that I have read. Elena deals with the ups and downs of, and mostly limitations on, every day life under the communist regime. She even includes her sense of humor, which makes her memoir even more interesting and enjoyable. A lot of the memoir is focused on family life - Elena's mother (a doctor) who lives and believes the Soviet doctrine without question; Elena's sister who becomes and actress against her mother's wishes; and Elena who is determined to study English and understand that there just might be another world outside of the Iron Curtain. If you are interested in Soviet life, I highly recommend this book.
October 31, 2011
Compulsively readable ---reads like a journal ---wonderful "curl-up-with-a blanket book". I can't imagine any reader not falling in love with Elena Gorokhova. Who wouldn't enjoy being friends with her? Great woman!
August 27, 2012
In "A Mountain of Crumbs," author Elena Gorokhova powerfully depicts her childhood and early young adulthood in Soviet Russia. She focuses on a series of anecdotes, starting with her mother's story, and covering such topics as her father's illness, her sister's career, family vacations, membership in Young Pioneers and her own eventual fascination with Western culture and literature, which led her to leave the country.
Those looking for a straight biography will be disappointed, as the memoir is more a series of vignettes. Her focus on the universal (i.e. a child's curiosity about sex, falling in love, wondering what to do about a career) versus the particular (Young Pioneers, food, the dascha) was especially well done. The disillusionment of her elders with the revolution and the entire concept of vranyo were also extremely well done. As another reviewer has mentioned, she excels at creating atmosphere. One can almost feel the humiliation of the transgressor at the Komosol meeting or feel the aching feet of those waiting in line for "something good."
Perhaps it's just my Westernized mind, but what was missing for me was an explanation of Elena's infatuation with foreign culture - which could have proved very dangerous for her family - and what drove her to leave her family, her friends and her home, trusting someone she didn't know all that well with her entire future. Was it just adolescent rebellion? Disappointment and disillusionment with the regime? Was that really strong enough to drive her to walk away from her family, not knowing if she would ever see them again? Also, the ending was more than a little abrupt. Maybe she's planning on a sequel. Also, in some instances, the device she uses to give her point of view is a bit distracting - she will lay out the scene, discuss it and then "weigh in." It's hard to explain this, but I tend to prefer a more seamless transition between narrator and character.
Those looking for a straight biography will be disappointed, as the memoir is more a series of vignettes. Her focus on the universal (i.e. a child's curiosity about sex, falling in love, wondering what to do about a career) versus the particular (Young Pioneers, food, the dascha) was especially well done. The disillusionment of her elders with the revolution and the entire concept of vranyo were also extremely well done. As another reviewer has mentioned, she excels at creating atmosphere. One can almost feel the humiliation of the transgressor at the Komosol meeting or feel the aching feet of those waiting in line for "something good."
Perhaps it's just my Westernized mind, but what was missing for me was an explanation of Elena's infatuation with foreign culture - which could have proved very dangerous for her family - and what drove her to leave her family, her friends and her home, trusting someone she didn't know all that well with her entire future. Was it just adolescent rebellion? Disappointment and disillusionment with the regime? Was that really strong enough to drive her to walk away from her family, not knowing if she would ever see them again? Also, the ending was more than a little abrupt. Maybe she's planning on a sequel. Also, in some instances, the device she uses to give her point of view is a bit distracting - she will lay out the scene, discuss it and then "weigh in." It's hard to explain this, but I tend to prefer a more seamless transition between narrator and character.
March 13, 2013
This book was even better than I'd expected. Elena Gorokhova writes about her life in this book, about how it was growing up in Russia during the 60's and 70's. She starts by telling a little about her grandparents, uncles and other relatives, and then introduces her self as a baby, as a child unwanted at first by her father.
The imagery is powerful. She describes her apartment and other surroundings, a small 2 room place with cement floors, halls stinking of urine, and bland, plain food. Even though her mother is highly educated, an anatomy professor, this is how they live. And how most others live as well. Long lines of people stand waiting for rolls of toilet paper and bread. There are only 2 kinds of nail polish available anywhere. Anything above and beyond one's basic needs is evil, capitalist, materialist, Western.... and prohibited. Citizens are not allowed to even carry foreign currency. If they are caught carrying foreign money they are arrested. Many books are banned. And new buildings are rickety, w/doorknobs missing and elevators that barely work.
One of my favorite parts of the book was in the beginning , when Lena is taking English lessons. Both Lena and her tutor are baffled by the word "privacy" . They look it up in the dictionary and find synonyms, such as 'isolation', but still the meaning of it eludes them. The concept is not a Russian one. And it is many years before she learns what the meaning and value of it is.
I loved Elena's writing style too. And it was fascinating to me to get an insider's Russian view of America.
The imagery is powerful. She describes her apartment and other surroundings, a small 2 room place with cement floors, halls stinking of urine, and bland, plain food. Even though her mother is highly educated, an anatomy professor, this is how they live. And how most others live as well. Long lines of people stand waiting for rolls of toilet paper and bread. There are only 2 kinds of nail polish available anywhere. Anything above and beyond one's basic needs is evil, capitalist, materialist, Western.... and prohibited. Citizens are not allowed to even carry foreign currency. If they are caught carrying foreign money they are arrested. Many books are banned. And new buildings are rickety, w/doorknobs missing and elevators that barely work.
One of my favorite parts of the book was in the beginning , when Lena is taking English lessons. Both Lena and her tutor are baffled by the word "privacy" . They look it up in the dictionary and find synonyms, such as 'isolation', but still the meaning of it eludes them. The concept is not a Russian one. And it is many years before she learns what the meaning and value of it is.
I loved Elena's writing style too. And it was fascinating to me to get an insider's Russian view of America.
May 15, 2016
Der Beginn der Geschichte, Elenas Familie im "Großen Vaterländischen Krieg", ist sehr spannend erzählt. Dabei geht es v.a. darum, wie ihre Mutter Ärztin wird, obwohl ihre Eltern keine Bauern mehr sind, wie sie als Notärztin im Krieg arbeitet und schließlich in relativ kurzer Zeit drei Ehemänner hat und wieder verliert. Die Grausamkeit der Stalinschen Jahre und des Zweiten Weltkrieges dringen selbst durch insgesamt sehr positiv gehaltene Erzählung durch. Im Gegensatz zur Biographie ihrer Mutter finde ich Elenas Geschichte nur in der Kindheit und frühen Jugend interessant. Sie erzählt zu wenig Neues von der SU, was mich faszinieren könnte und ihr eigenes Leben ist für eine SU-Bürgerin zu privilegiert, um aufzuwühlen oder zu schockieren. Leider hören ihre Erinnerungen mit der Ausreise in die USA auf. Ich hätte gerne gelesen, wie sie mit ihrem Leben in Texas zurechtgekommen ist, von dem sie in Leningrad noch so gar keine Vorstellungen hatte.
February 17, 2018
Most readers who loved this book wanted to read more of her story.
Elena tells about coming to America at her website:
http://elenagorokhova.com/
With the eloquence of a master story teller, Elena has shared intimately and generously her memories and her soul. Her memoir is a revealing story which is poignant and funny, painful and powerful ~ a story of growing up and coming of age under the oppression of the USSR. Even though she tells of life strangled and dreams stifled under communist control, deception and deprivation, she also speaks of the appreciation for life's simpler pleasures in the face of adversity ~ for family, for language, for poetry, for art.
Elena tells about coming to America at her website:
http://elenagorokhova.com/
With the eloquence of a master story teller, Elena has shared intimately and generously her memories and her soul. Her memoir is a revealing story which is poignant and funny, painful and powerful ~ a story of growing up and coming of age under the oppression of the USSR. Even though she tells of life strangled and dreams stifled under communist control, deception and deprivation, she also speaks of the appreciation for life's simpler pleasures in the face of adversity ~ for family, for language, for poetry, for art.
October 5, 2011
My favorite book of the year-woke up at 4am to savor the last few words before work. Elena tells her story of growing up in the Soviet Union in the 60's and 70's; she's about my age. Very well written with humor and history-just a wonderful story. She explains growing up with"vranyo", the ability to pretend, as her sister says, they pretend they pay us and we pretend we work. She comes to learn what privacy means, a word that does not translate in Russian,as a word or concept. I loved every minute and was sorry when it ended.
May 10, 2014
I give this book 3 1/2 stars. it was very interesting, reading about the life of a girl growing up in Russia in the 60s and 70s. What a hard, grey life! It reminded me very much of stories I've read about China. I guess it's the Communism that makes them both so much the same. You go to school for your country, you work for your country, you marry and have children for your country. When you want to leave, you are considered an enemy of the country. It's ridiculous. I'm so glad to have been born and raised in Canada. Very good book.
September 18, 2014
While this wasn't the best-written book I've ever read, it was well written, which is impressive considering English isn't the author's first language. I found it repetitive at times, which I didn't like, but overall I really enjoyed the book. It was fascinating learning about the author's upbringing in the Soviet Union, and especially so because her experience contrasted so completely with what I learned about the Soviet Union in Farley Mowat's book "Sibir", which I read not long before. I plan on reading her second book to see how her American dream turns out!
October 13, 2015
Memoirs are certainly one of my favorite genres, so perhaps that is why I loved this book. Or it could have been the artful storytelling, interesting perspective, and/or the correlation I felt with a woman searching for her place. This book provides a first hand account to the demise of the Soviet Union in beautiful prose. Highly recommended to individuals who are into communism an/or Eastern Europe.
August 24, 2011
In this memoir, the life of a young woman growing up in cold war Leningrad is explored with depth and feeling as she struggles to come of age in the very forbidding and intense landscape of the former Soviet Union. Life for Elena and her family hasn’t always been easy. Through her parents’ hard work, Lena and her sister aren’t living at the bottom rungs of the communist society, but there isn’t a lot of extra in their lives either. Elena’s mother, once a surgeon during the war, is now teaching anatomy at the university. Elena has been raised to believe in the superiority of Russia and communism and to regard the rest of the world with suspicion and cynicism. Much to her mother’s dismay, these views strangely begin to melt away as she matures into a young woman. When Elena’s sister decides to pursue a career in acting instead of medicine or engineering, the idea that there multiple paths to happiness begins to occur to her, despite the messages she gets from society. As Elena begins to rise through the professional world and falls in line to do exactly what’s expected of her, a chance meeting with an American drastically alters the future that has been so carefully arranged by her and her mother. When the once iron grip of the Soviet Union begins to loosen its hold on Elena, her life will never be the same and the future that‘s laid out before her will be unlike anything she could have ever imagined.
This book has been compared to the Russian version of Angela’s Ashes, and has also been touted as being amusing and wry, which is not exactly my experience with it. While I did grow to appreciate this coming of age story, the first hundred pages were a little rocky for me. When the storyline began to shift, I must say I was a little more pleased that the book was going in a different direction. I’m not sure if my reactions were due to the very maudlin aspects of life in Russia or due to the fact that everything in this tale seemed so dark and reeked of cynicism, but for the most part, I found this to be a very heavy read. It’s not that this was a bad book, but it was, for the most part, rather darkly portrayed.
Elena is a girl like most. She hungers for love and opportunity and doesn’t quite understand how to discover the secrets behind these things and how to figure out the mysteries of life. She’s very secretive with her mother and doesn’t seem to have a very healthy relationship with her at all. It was easy to see why, though, because her mother was extremely militant about controlling her daughters and forcing them to do the things that she found acceptable. I got the feeling that Elena was proud of her mother, but that doesn’t translate into intimacy, which is something I don’t think Elena had with anyone in the story. A lot of her reactions to the world around her were very familiar to me because a lot of them dealt with her feelings of disconnection from that world; a world that she would one day be expected to take part in and flourish in. It was obvious that Elena suffered from a great amount of naivety and to a certain degree had been very sheltered throughout her upbringing, and I kept asking myself if this was a byproduct of the very oppressive place in which she lived or her mother’s overprotectiveness. In some ways I felt that Elena never really matured the way that those in the West do; she never had those coming of age moments that are so crucial to forming adult perceptions. When she did finally have these moments, she had already crossed the threshold into adulthood.
It bothered me a little to hear all the comments about how the West was filled with rotten capitalist pigs, and how our society was belittled as an untrustworthy foreign melange full of greed and debauchery. I began to realize that although Elena and her parents said these things often, these ideas stemmed from the propaganda that the Soviet Union generated over many years and thorough various means. This doesn’t mean that it wasn’t annoying, only that I understood how a group of people could be so indoctrinated into thinking that the progressive west was just too radical and progressive. To tell you the truth, the Russia of this time sounded horrible, and stories of waiting in line for hours to procure a few rolls of toilet paper seemed as alien to me as capitalism probably seemed to Elena and her family. The Russia of this time period was no joke, and Gorokhova really succeeds in identifying the menacing aspects that the government used to keep its citizens under control. These sections, to me, were the darkest of the book, and lent Elena’s reminiscences a casual cruelty and sense of abiding provocation.
There was a very deep sense of pragmatism that permeated the minds of the characters in this story. Despite the very foreign aspects of life in cold war Russia, it was clear to see that the people living in this society were not only downtrodden and overburdened, but deeply instilled with a degree of pride and a false illusion of superiority. As Elena realizes that life in Russia is not what she wants and takes steps to release the country’s hold over her, she begins to see that the life she and her family have been living is one of half realized dreams and fruitless sacrifice. Though the situation that enables her to escape is not a perfect solution, it’s one I think many will be able to relate to, and one that Elena herself feels a begrudging appreciation for, despite it’s challenges and inconveniences. When all is said and done, Elena is able to make peace, not only with herself, but more importantly, with her mother and her homeland.
Though this wasn’t my favorite memoir, it did provide a lot of chewy food for thought and a very deep exposure to a way of life that’s extremely alien to my own. It was filled with the cultural details that readers of this genre will appreciate, but there’s no denying that the story is rather bleak. I did end up admiring Elena Gorokhova for her stoicism and her ability to persevere, and I think that this is a book that would open a lot of readers’ eyes to the very different lives that are lived outside the United States.
This book has been compared to the Russian version of Angela’s Ashes, and has also been touted as being amusing and wry, which is not exactly my experience with it. While I did grow to appreciate this coming of age story, the first hundred pages were a little rocky for me. When the storyline began to shift, I must say I was a little more pleased that the book was going in a different direction. I’m not sure if my reactions were due to the very maudlin aspects of life in Russia or due to the fact that everything in this tale seemed so dark and reeked of cynicism, but for the most part, I found this to be a very heavy read. It’s not that this was a bad book, but it was, for the most part, rather darkly portrayed.
Elena is a girl like most. She hungers for love and opportunity and doesn’t quite understand how to discover the secrets behind these things and how to figure out the mysteries of life. She’s very secretive with her mother and doesn’t seem to have a very healthy relationship with her at all. It was easy to see why, though, because her mother was extremely militant about controlling her daughters and forcing them to do the things that she found acceptable. I got the feeling that Elena was proud of her mother, but that doesn’t translate into intimacy, which is something I don’t think Elena had with anyone in the story. A lot of her reactions to the world around her were very familiar to me because a lot of them dealt with her feelings of disconnection from that world; a world that she would one day be expected to take part in and flourish in. It was obvious that Elena suffered from a great amount of naivety and to a certain degree had been very sheltered throughout her upbringing, and I kept asking myself if this was a byproduct of the very oppressive place in which she lived or her mother’s overprotectiveness. In some ways I felt that Elena never really matured the way that those in the West do; she never had those coming of age moments that are so crucial to forming adult perceptions. When she did finally have these moments, she had already crossed the threshold into adulthood.
It bothered me a little to hear all the comments about how the West was filled with rotten capitalist pigs, and how our society was belittled as an untrustworthy foreign melange full of greed and debauchery. I began to realize that although Elena and her parents said these things often, these ideas stemmed from the propaganda that the Soviet Union generated over many years and thorough various means. This doesn’t mean that it wasn’t annoying, only that I understood how a group of people could be so indoctrinated into thinking that the progressive west was just too radical and progressive. To tell you the truth, the Russia of this time sounded horrible, and stories of waiting in line for hours to procure a few rolls of toilet paper seemed as alien to me as capitalism probably seemed to Elena and her family. The Russia of this time period was no joke, and Gorokhova really succeeds in identifying the menacing aspects that the government used to keep its citizens under control. These sections, to me, were the darkest of the book, and lent Elena’s reminiscences a casual cruelty and sense of abiding provocation.
There was a very deep sense of pragmatism that permeated the minds of the characters in this story. Despite the very foreign aspects of life in cold war Russia, it was clear to see that the people living in this society were not only downtrodden and overburdened, but deeply instilled with a degree of pride and a false illusion of superiority. As Elena realizes that life in Russia is not what she wants and takes steps to release the country’s hold over her, she begins to see that the life she and her family have been living is one of half realized dreams and fruitless sacrifice. Though the situation that enables her to escape is not a perfect solution, it’s one I think many will be able to relate to, and one that Elena herself feels a begrudging appreciation for, despite it’s challenges and inconveniences. When all is said and done, Elena is able to make peace, not only with herself, but more importantly, with her mother and her homeland.
Though this wasn’t my favorite memoir, it did provide a lot of chewy food for thought and a very deep exposure to a way of life that’s extremely alien to my own. It was filled with the cultural details that readers of this genre will appreciate, but there’s no denying that the story is rather bleak. I did end up admiring Elena Gorokhova for her stoicism and her ability to persevere, and I think that this is a book that would open a lot of readers’ eyes to the very different lives that are lived outside the United States.
March 1, 2025
Overall I’d say good! I loved the tie backs to earlier themes on the book and referencing Russian culture stuff. I wasn’t bored and I don’t usually read nonfiction so this was a win for me. Also made me really sad but happy (ugh I really liked this one).
May 2, 2019
Seen and discussed reading as a buddy read with Shell (@booksbythecup) - January 2018
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