Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday: March 30th

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pick this week actually released yesterday but I am very excited that it is out:

The Free World: A NovelThe Free World: A Novel by David Bezmozgis

 From Goodreads:
Summer, 1978. Brezhnev sits like a stone in the Kremlin, Israel and Egypt are inching towards peace, and in the bustling, polyglot streets of Rome, strange new creatures have appeared: Soviet Jews who have escaped to freedom through a crack in the Iron Curtain. Among the thousands who have landed in Italy to secure visas for new lives in the West are the members of the Krasnansky family — three generations of Russian Jews.

There is Samuil, an old Communist and Red Army veteran, who reluctantly leaves the country to which he has dedicated himself body and soul; Karl, his elder son, a man eager to embrace the opportunities emigration affords; Alec, his younger son, a carefree playboy for whom life has always been a game; and Polina, Alec's new wife, who has risked the most by breaking with her old family to join this new one. Together, they will spend six months in Rome — their way station and purgatory. They will immerse themselves in the carnival of emigration, in an Italy rife with love affairs and ruthless hustles, with dislocation and nostalgia, with the promise and peril of a better life. Through the unforgettable Krasnansky family, David Bezmozgis has created an intimate portrait of a tumultuous era.

Written in precise, musical prose, The Free World is a stunning debut novel, a heartfelt multigenerational saga of great historical scope and even greater human debth. Enlarging on the themes of aspiration and exile that infused his critically acclaimed first collection, Natasha and Other Stories, The Free World establishes Bezmozgis as one of our most mature and accomplished storytellers.


This book is a perfect selection for the Immigrant Stories Challenge.

What are you waiting on?

6 comments:

  1. I like the sound of this one Colleen, great pick.

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  2. I'm off to find this one right now! What a great pick, and how nice that I don't have to wait for it :)

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  3. I think I'd enjoy this one, Colleen. Mine today is also about people who have immigrated....and about family.

    Here's MY WOW POST

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  4. I've been reading a lot of fiction that features Jewish characters caught in the disaspora; most recently, I read The History of Love by Nicole Krauss and Heidegger's Glasses by Thaisa Frank. The Free World sounds suitably panoramic.

    Anyway, here's a WOW for you (the first of several I hope):

    http://richardlecomte.blogspot.com/2011/03/waiting-on-wednesday.html

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  5. this book sounds fantastic! i'm glad you brought it to my attention!!

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