The Patriots: A Novel | cavlibrary | TinyCat |

2024-04-26 3:44 am

The Patriots: A Novel

by Sana Krasikov

Hardcover, 2017

Status

Available

Call number

F KRA

Tags

historical fiction, Soviet Union, immigration and emigration, United States

Genres

Historical Fiction

General Fiction

Collection

Publication

Spiegel & Grau (2017), Edition: 1st Edition, 560 pages

Description

"When the Great Depression hits, Florence Fein leaves Brooklyn College for what appears to be a plum job in Moscow--and the promise of love and independence. But once in Russia, she quickly becomes entangled in a country she can't escape. Many years later, Florence's son, Julian, will make the opposite journey, immigrating back to the United States. His work in the oil industry takes him on frequent visits to Moscow, and when he learns that Florence's KGB file has been opened, he arranges a business trip to uncover the truth about his mother, and to convince his son, Lenny, who is trying to make his fortune in the new Russia, to return home. What he discovers is both chilling and heartbreaking: an untold story of what happened to a generation of Americans abandoned by their country."--Amazon.com.… (more)

Barcode

5402

Awards

Historical Novel Society Editors' Choice (Literary)

Language

User reviews

LibraryThing member lisapeet

This is one of my favorite kinds of historical novels, which look at relationships through the lens of history and history through the relationships it helps form, with the understanding that the two are rarely separable. It's an ambitious book that lives up to its premise, charting the history of

three generations torn, in a multiplicity of ways, between Russia/the Soviet Union and the United States, from 1933 to 2008. I appreciated that Krasikov's characters weren't simple or even always likeable—she did a good job of telling a story where the lines between what we do to each other and what we do for each other are not necessarily well delimited. I think the narrative could have been a bit tighter, but I don't begrudge Krasikov her sprawling narrative... it is a Russian novel, after all, and she's done a terrific job with it.

Thanks, LT, for the early reviewer copy, even if I wasn't very early. I've got a lot of people on my list to pass this along to.

LibraryThing member santhony

I received this book, free of charge, in exchange for writing an honest review. I’ve received numerous books in this manner, a number of which were very disappointing. This novel, however, was simply magnificent.

The story is told through shifting time frames, the oldest following Brooklyn Jewess

Florence Fein in Depression era United States, as she pulls up stakes and travels to the Soviet Union, both on ideological grounds and in search of a prior Russian lover. Florence is naïve and idealistic, eventually running afoul of Soviet authorities as a result of her nationality, her ethnicity and her activities.

A near current thread follows Florence’s son, as he returns to Russia, on business and with the intention of discovering documentation concerning the persecution of Florence and his Jewish father, who died in the Stalin era purges. He also has a son who has emulated his grandmother Florence, in moving to Russia, with eerily similar experience.

This book is not only a highly entertaining novel, it is one of the best history lessons on both Stalin era Soviet Union and current day Russia that I have ever read, with focus on culture, economics, business and most strikingly, the everyday lifestyle of Russian citizens. Highly recommended.

LibraryThing member psychomamma

I received this book from Library Thing's Early Reviewer program. It took me a long time to read and was difficult for me, I'm not entirely sure why. The story revolves around Florence, a 2nd generation Russian American, who gets disillusioned by the American Dream and decides to go back to Russia

against her family's wishes. She then, through a series of misadventures which I won't detail because of spoilers, lives her entire life there, through the Stalinist era and spouts the Party line of Communist Russia even though it never entirely works for her or her family. I think my problem was that I didn't really "get" Florence, and I didn't really like her either. But I get the feeling that this book is based on real history and wanted to get through it because it did teach me a lot about a period of history that I didn't know much about and found interesting. Sana Krasikov is a talented writer, although the subject matter wasn't my favorite topic. It's worth a read, especially if you are interested in Russian history or Russian/American Cold War history.

LibraryThing member BradKautz

First off, I really enjoyed this book. From the first pages I wanted to dig deeper into the story. Krasikov has written at book set, geographically, primarily in one place, the country currently known as Russia. But the setting chronologically and emotionally defies easy categorization. The central

character is Florence, an émigré from New York seeking a new life in the early 1930's in the Soviet Union. Krasikov deftly weaves her story from that central act, moving back and forth in history and within Florence's family, as the consequences of Florence's emigration unfold in unpredictable ways. And when all is said and done, what is The Patriots really about? My vote is for redemption, although your conclusion may differ. May you enjoy this book as much as I did.

LibraryThing member bostonbibliophile

I have been waiting for Krasikov's first novel since the 2008 publication of her short stories, and I was not disappointed. This is a profound and beautiful family story but not just another entry in the history-of-Russia-through-the-eyes-of-a-family book. Florence Fein is a Communist true

believer, an American who leaves it all behind to make a life in the young Soviet Union. It grows up and around her, swallowing her and her family whole; her story is mirrored by that of her adult son, struggling with his own child who is also trying to make a life in the new Russia, itself poised to swallow *him*. Or will it? This book is about so many things- secrets, promises, regrets, redemption. Just beautiful.

LibraryThing member rufusraider

The Patriots by Sana Krasikov is a novel that covers a family from the 1930's to present day. The story starts by following Florence Fein in the 1930's as a college student. She is Jewish and lives with her parents in Brooklyn.

She goes to work for a company fronting for the Soviet government in New

York before they were recognized by the US government. She meets a Jewish Soviet engineer in the US for meetings with an engineering company on the design of steel mill. Florence in the translator for the Soviets in Cleveland and falls in love with the engineer. She eventually follows him to the Soviet Union.

The story follows her life and her family's life to present time.

It is sort of a modern day Dr. Zhivago starting in the 1930's after the communists have consolidated power in the Soviet Union. Like most of the Russian stories of that time that I have read over the years, it can be quite difficult to follow and get a bit tedious. It is a well written story.

LibraryThing member JanaRose1

During the Great Depression, Florence leaves her life in America for Russia. In the present day, Julian, Florence’s son, travels from the U.S. to Russia with the goal of reading Florence’s KGB file.

I’m not entirely sure what to say about this book. It was very long and tedious and seemed to

drag on and on. I kept waiting for it to get better, but it just didn’t. Not even the KGB file was interesting or intriguing. Overall, a bust.

LibraryThing member gincam

From shore to shore, “The Patriots”, from author Sana Krasikov, swirls readers through the lives of three generations of an American-Russian family as they journey back and forth from America to Russia. Florence Fein leaves Brooklyn during the thirties of the Great Depression to travel to

Russia to make a new life based on misguided, romanticized dreams. Her future unfolds never as she hoped and imagined, and what she left behind was far better than what she would encounter as the years passed. Later, her son, Julian, and grandson, Lenny, will both cross between cultures and continents as they battle their own demons and try to reconcile truth with reality. This is a story of great scope, both historical and personal, and it shines a light on a fact in history that many of us may have been unaware—that people actually migrated to Russia from America to escape the financial disarray and despair of the times.

Book Copy Gratis Library Thing

LibraryThing member BALE

This story reveals a relatively unknown part of pre-WWII history, when thousands of Americans succumbed to the allure of the Soviet revolution and emigrated to Soviet Russia. By the time they understood the dangers they were facing, it was too late. Russia surreptitiously revoked their passports

and made many automatic Soviet citizens, preventing them from leaving the country. Surprisingly, Roosevelt knowingly turned a blind eye to their predicament and left thousands of US citizens without recourse. They were forced to remain in Russia throughout WWII and beyond. Some never lived to return home, especially Jews.

In a story that spans almost eight decades, Krasikov weaves a painful saga illustrating how one decision can affect an entire lifetime. Themes of political idealism and naivete’, personal unrest and family relations fill the pages in this dark, but compelling novel.

Krasikov is a talented author. She writes seamlessly back and forth between decades. Her characters are well-developed and her story is interesting. I looked forward to reading each chapter and felt the ending was strong. I expect we will see more from this new author. Not only does she research her subject matter thoroughly, she is able to construct the elements in a creative and thoughtful manner. A powerful new novelist!

LibraryThing member alynred

Just how much would you sacrifice to follow your ideals? Such is the question at the core of Sana Krasikov's novel, The Patriots. Vibrating with the energy of its lead character Florence Fein, the novel follows generations of Florence's family as they grapple with their bonds to both America and

Russia. As a young woman, Florence follows her idealism to Russia, where she is attracted to Communism as an alluring and progressive way of life. When she is identified by the government as an alleged spy during the Cold War, her courage and grit are tested, and ultimately define the legacy she leaves for her son Julian, and her grandson, Lenny.

At well over 500 pages, this novel is a commitment - one that I would highly recommend making. Fans of historical fiction will devour this, as the plot intricately weaves through eighty years of history, leading readers from the past to modern day, from America to Russia.

I received this novel as part of LibraryThings Early Reviewers.

LibraryThing member bayleaf

The Patriots by Sana Krasikov is novel of sweeping proportions I felt difficult to put down. Florence Fein, enamored with Communist ideals AND a visiting citizen of the Soviet Union, leaves the U.S. in the midst of the Depression and remains through World War II, Stalin’s purges, time spent in a

Soviet labor camp, and the Korean War. This is all chronicled with fascinating detail in the novel. Alternating with Florence’s life, we switch to the 21st century. Florence’s son Julian lives in the U.S. and works for a company with Russian ties. While on a business trip to Russia, he searches recently opened KGB files on his mother and worries about his son Lenny who currently lives in Russia. The detail in this book is never boring, the characters and their lives always intriguing. It’s a story that teaches and entrances.

LibraryThing member iadam

I received a free advance review e-copy of this book and have chosen of my own free will to post a review. A naïve Jewish American girl immigrates to Russia in search of her Russian lover during the Great Depression looking for a perfect society under communism. Life in Russia is scary and

unpredictable. This is a very well written family saga full of tragedy, fear, prejudice, hardship, cruelty, and deprivation. Human beings are treated as slaves, life is worth nothing, they are replenishable and expendable. It seems like animals are treated with more care and respect than human beings. This is a compelling narrative, a page-turner that left me with a heightened awareness of current events presently occurring within our own country. This book is well worth the read and should be read by everyone.

LibraryThing member RidgewayGirl

This was a wild ride of a book. Krasikov tells the story of Florence, a young Jewish woman coming of age in Brooklyn and feeling stifled by the life expected of her. It's the height of the Depression and she's outraged at both the stark inequality she sees around her and the lack of opportunities

for women. She gets a job with a firm connecting the Soviets with American companies and meets a Soviet engineer and after his return to the USSR, she sets out in 1934 to join him.

She's not the only American emigrating eastward at the worst possible time. And when she arrives, she finds the Soviet Union less open and free than it had presented itself. But Florence has grit and stubbornness and she makes a life for herself, marrying and having a son, before being arrested and sent to the Gulag.

None of that is a spoiler as there's a second story being told concurrently; that of her son, a man with an adult son who emigrated to the US in his teens and is now working with an American oil company, seeking to take advantage of the newly open Russian economy. But Russia in 2008 isn't a safe place to do business, and Julian is also tasked by his wife with bringing their son home from Russia, where he went to take advantage of the new business opportunities there.

Florence's story is impossible to walk away from. I couldn't stop reading about this idealistic and stubborn woman who was negotiating her way through a dangerous world. She was a very real character living through the most interesting of times. Julian's story, which begins as he is a child surviving in a Soviet orphanage, started well, but eventually it couldn't keep pace with Florence's story. As her situation became more and more perilous, Julian's became the safe world of a comfortably-off American executive. The story of doing business in Putin's Russia was interesting, but it couldn't compete. And, like in so many novels in which a modern story brackets the historical one, one story became a drag on the other.

I did love this book. Krasikov was born in Ukraine and was raised in Georgia, so her depiction of the people and environment were starkly vivid. I will certainly be watching for her next book to be released.

LibraryThing member DanTarlin

A heartbreaking story of Flora Fein, who emigrates from the US to the USSR in the 1930s to join in the Great Soviet Experiment. Her trials and tribulations alternate with those of her son Julian and grandson Lenny as they navigate the corrupt business world of Russia in 1986, now as returnees to

Moscow after emigrating back to the US in 1975. During the course of the book, Julian tries to come to terms with his mother's decisions during the Stalin years.

The book paints a vivid picture of life during the Stalinist purges before and after WW II, which was especially bad for Jews in the Soviet Union. The reader gains a solid understanding of the no-win situation that Russians faced once the government decided to focus on someone in particular. The Gulag is also described in horrible detail.

The book is disturbing, but riveting too. A little long, but had me teary at the end.

LibraryThing member wagner.sarah35

A family saga full of moral dilemmas set in an epic and repressive country - yes, this are pretty much my favorite elements of historical fiction. Told through multiple voices and generations, The Patriots is a family story that opens with the young Florence Fein leaving her family in New York City

for a job and a man in the 1930s Soviet Union. As one might expect, things don't work out quite the way Florence had anticipated and in turn she and her son will spend decades trying to find a way to leave Russia and return to the United States. There are many stories in this novel, as each family member struggles to find their own way, but I loved every word - this is a a great book and every historical fiction fan should give it a try.

LibraryThing member browsermix

This is a story about a Russian American and her life. It is touted as a modern age Dr. Zhivago.......Not......It was very hard to get through. Very tedious. I never did finish it.

LibraryThing member MHanover10

A very compelling story about a woman who I think is misguided in believing she can make a difference in Russia not knowing what really is happening there but becomes entangled with the government that she can't leave and realizes Russia is not what she thought it was. This book made me think of

some of what is happening in the world today and what could happen in the near future.

I do think this book was way too long and I wanted to read only about Florence. Going back and forth between her story and her son's was confusing. There were too many names to remember and if I had to stop reading in the middle of a chapter I didn't know who was talking. So I sometimes lost track of what I was reading. I think the book could have been half as long. Sometimes I wanted to just give up. It is beautifully written but just too long. If you like historical fiction, this is a good read.

LibraryThing member Eyejaybee

Sana Krasikov’s engrossing novel spans nearly eighty years, and follows three generations of the Fein and Brink families

In the early 1930s, left-leaning idealist Florence Fein, already disillusioned with life in Brooklyn following the Depression, witnesses the appalling poverty and casual racism

(and specifically antisemitism) while working in Ohio as liaison and interpreter for a Soviet trade agency that is trying to purchase specialist mill components. Her experiences there, and a burgeoning friendship with one of the Russian delegates, lead her to decide to emigrate to the Soviet Union. Her family are appalled at her decision but are unable to dissuade her.

Life in soviet Russia is not the idyll she had anticipated, but she manages to forge a life, working with Russians. After a false start at Magnitigrosk, she repairs to Moscow where she meets several fellow American expats. Before long, she has set up home with Leon Brink, another American who has found work with Tass, the official news agency for whom he is a reporter.

The story moves back and forth between Florence’s struggles to adapt to her new life in the 1930s to her son Julian, who, in 2008, is helping his American firm in negotiations with a recently privatised, formerly State-owned petrochemicals conglomerate. While in Moscow, Julian meets up with his son, Lenny, who has been living there for fifteen years, working in a succession of consultancy roles.

Krasikov shines a light upon the deprivations and terror that were prevalent during Stalin’s rule. Florence’s idealism is armour-plated, but it does gradually start to disintegrate, as she comes to realise that life in Moscow in the late 1930s is more dystopia than Utopia. The alternating narratives work very effectively. The episodes in which we view Florence struggling to keep going, and the ghastly sacrifices and concessions she has to make in order simply to survive, are augmented by Julian’s reminiscences some seventy years later, as he tries to navigate through the labyrinthine mix of bureaucracy and blatant commercial extortion.

The book represents an overwhelming success. A cross-generational epic, that spans a horrific regime and its long reverberations down to the current day, it also shows the power of family love, and its ability to triumph over even the most powerful waves of self-delusion.

LibraryThing member Mary6508

I have been attempting to read this book for 5 months. Although it is well-written and well-rounded in content, it does not keep my interest. I keep going to other books. If I ever get to the end of it I will give a better review.

LibraryThing member LynnB

I see there are polarized views from other reviewers....lots of 5 stars and lots of people who couldn't finish it. I finished it, but was underwhelmed. The book really grabbed me early on, but failed to live up to its promising beginning. There are many times when multiple perspectives really add

to a story; in this case, I felt the author had to rely on the combination of first-person (Julian) and third person narration to pull together a narrative arc rather than to add depth. There are several places where the book reads more like a lecture -- on history and/or ideology -- rather than a novel.

ISBN

0385524412 / 9780385524414

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