The Nesting Dolls, Alina Adams, author; Nancy Peterson, narrator
This is a book about several generations of a family that started out in Russia and eventually traveled, due to circumstance and politics, from Odessa to Siberia and then to America. Russia was not a good place to be, especially for Jews. When Russia made a pact with Germans, it grew worse. The effect of anti-Semitism on this family took a tremendous toll, even without having experienced the direct result of the barbaric treatment of Jews during the Holocaust, they had already been shoved into cattle cars and arrested on false charges with no way to fight them. They were carted off to Siberia and, unlike WWII, those abuses still exist in Russia for some of its citizens, regardless of their religion. Sometimes, being saved by the bell was the difference between life and death, and still is. Bribery and deception are the way of life there. Just like in Germany, people were encouraged to inform on each other. It was an effective weapon to use against Jews. The informers were everywhere, and often, the information was false, but that did not matter, arrests and punishments took place anyway. Siberia was a cruel place with little resources and prisoners had no escape. Often, they were worked to death and practically starved. They were given few tools to help them survive. This family featured in this book, learned that they could endure far more than they ever thought they could, they could overcome far more obstacles than they thought possible so long as they were brave and courageous, willing to fight for what they thought was right and were able to get away with it. As the book advises, sometimes life gives us what we need instead of what we want.
This Russian family is followed for generations beginning in the 1930’s and continuing to 2019. When it begins, the families seem content, but soon, the politics and anti-Semitism so prevalent, began to invade their lives. If they were accused of being subversive, they were arrested. There were no second chances, there was no recourse. The accusation, not the proof, was enough. An angry word, a wayward glance, a friendly conversation could condemn a family to life in Siberia, after which all of their neighbors would come and loot their belongings with the approval of each other. Children turned against parents, parents against children, friends against friends as everyone tried to survive in this corrupt totalitarian, socialist society.
Daria and Edward Gordon fell in love. It was a romance engineered by Daria’s mother who instructed her on how to capture Edward’s heart. Edward was a concert pianist of some renown, and they thought his fame would protect them from accusations and reprisals. However, jealousy reigned. When someone objected to an overheard conversation between Daria and her mother, who spoke German, They were denounced and carted away to Siberia with no explanation. Edward had been raised in relative comfort to protect his precious hands. In Siberia, this was no longer to be. Although he complained rarely, he deteriorated. After one of their children succumbed to pneumonia, Daria grew desperate to save him and her surviving child. Daria did what she had to do to save her family. Edward and her daughter were allowed to return home, but she had to remain there. Her daily life becomes somewhat tolerable. Then she too, is allowed to leave, now with an additional child. In Odessa, things are worse than before. Her father-in-law looks down on her. Her husband is a shadow of himself, giving piano lessons and being humiliated daily. When events conspire to take her to America, the story goes in another direction.
Several generations of Daria’s family are explored in Brighton Beach, New York, a place that has come to be known as Little Odessa because the Russians that settled there made it their own. The novel illuminates the struggles and the shame, the humiliation and the taunting that the Russian Jews had to endure. It illustrates the different ways that their Russian culture altered their behavior and their expectations. In Russia, cheating, bartering, even stealing from one another was often acceptable behavior in order to survive. In America, it was not the way of life, but it often continued that way in Brighton Beach.
The book is lacking in that it pays little attention to the events occurring in the outside world at that time, as if these people were practically insulated from all but their lives in Little Odessa. The characters were not as well developed as one might hope and the skipping of generations of family members covered, left gaps in the story which caused some confusion. The ending seemed to give way to the need to be politically correct, and perhaps not factually correct in the way it described the relationship between Gideon and Zoe. Although Americanized in many ways, the Russians seemed not to have advanced much culturally. The loose morals of women, the abuse of them as well, illegitimate children, a weakness in the men, and a headstrong quality in the women seemed to be major themes. Race was also subtly introduced, but seemed to have no purpose other than to include the author’s political leanings.
As an aside, I remember the boardwalk in Brighton Beach, before it became part of Little Odessa. All of the beachgoers strolled it and enjoyed the offerings of the vendors from frozen custard to Nathan’s frankfurters, a few blocks away. Blankets used to be spread under the boardwalk for clandestine kisses. Brighton Beach was so much fun. Little Odessa was carved out of Brighton Beach by Russian Immigrants, and it was no longer as much of a draw for many people because they created their own system of life, replicating Russia. They even had their own police force at one time, I believe. Visiting the area is now a tourist attraction, although one has to navigate it carefully. Under the boardwalk was filled in with sand to make it safer. Cops patrol it. Times have changed everywhere. The restaurants are fun, the Russian language is commonplace, but why do people seek to create the very kind of life they abandoned and escaped from to come here? It confounds me.