Panoramic in scope, Away is the epic and intimate story of young Lillian Leyb, a dangerous innocent, an accidental heroine. When her family is destroyed in a Russian pogrom, Lillian comes to America alone, determined to make her way in a new land. When word comes that her daughter, Sophie, might still be alive, Lillian embarks on an odyssey that takes her from the world of the Yiddish theater on New York’s Lower East Side, to Seattle’s Jazz District, and up to Alaska, along the fa... (show more)
Panoramic in scope, Away is the epic and intimate story of young Lillian Leyb, a dangerous innocent, an accidental heroine. When her family is destroyed in a Russian pogrom, Lillian comes to America alone, determined to make her way in a new land. When word comes that her daughter, Sophie, might still be alive, Lillian embarks on an odyssey that takes her from the world of the Yiddish theater on New York’s Lower East Side, to Seattle’s Jazz District, and up to Alaska, along the fabled Telegraph Trail toward Siberia. All of the qualities readers love in Amy Bloom’s work–her humor and wit, her elegant and irreverent language, her unflinching understanding of passion and the human heart–come together in the embrace of this brilliant novel, which is at once heartbreaking, romantic, and completely unforgettable. (show less)
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This is a biting tale. Another in a long list of women searching for peace by either running away from persecution or running towards their goal wi... (show more)
This is a biting tale. Another in a long list of women searching for peace by either running away from persecution or running towards their goal with honed focus and the eccentric characters that shape their destinies.
It starts in Russia with violence towards a Jewish family and works it's way through the NY theater district in the 20's, Chicago to the West Coast and then Alaska into a women's jail and then on foot towards Siberia. It is condense and sharp an easy page turner and perhaps I grew accustom to the writer's tempo but the last half became seamless and melodic. (show less)
This book was not nearly as good as people that recommended it to me suggested. As a matter of fact, it was sort of bad. One thing that it had go... (show more)
This book was not nearly as good as people that recommended it to me suggested. As a matter of fact, it was sort of bad. One thing that it had going for it was its short, burst style of narrative, which was interesting and appealing. Images floated by as you read it and it really allowed for some tastes, smells, and approaches to characters that you wouldn't normally pay attention to. The big problem with the text was that it was too sporadic, too snappy, and way too unfortunately short. The characters seemed contrived with their adulterous cyclical nature, and the story really missed a great deal of what would normally make it interesting. I think one thing that I particularly hated about it was the review that it got that I read prior to reading it that suggested, and sincerely suggested, that it was in line with and comparable to Doctorow's Ragtime, one of my favorite books. I wouldn't put it with that. While there was sex, there was no humor, while there were stark relationships, there was no meat to them. It was an entirely unfortunate delve into a shoddy and wispy story that, if it were written longer and more in depth, may have turned out to be something special. A shame considering I have really heard some great things about her short fiction and other texts that were shortlisted for the national book award. (show less)
How does one rate a book which one read voraciously... but ultimately disliked the overall story? If I go for quality of writing, it would be a 4 star... but if I rate it based on how much the characters, and plot, appealed to me, it goes down to a so-so 2. Okay, then, let's give it a 3 star and call it done! I wanted to like this story of an immigrant woman trying to rebuild her life after tragedy, but I didn't like the way she constantly surrendered to others (in and out of bed!). For all o... (show more)
How does one rate a book which one read voraciously... but ultimately disliked the overall story? If I go for quality of writing, it would be a 4 star... but if I rate it based on how much the characters, and plot, appealed to me, it goes down to a so-so 2. Okay, then, let's give it a 3 star and call it done! I wanted to like this story of an immigrant woman trying to rebuild her life after tragedy, but I didn't like the way she constantly surrendered to others (in and out of bed!). For all of her determination, Lillian Leyb plays a strangely passive role through much of the book, and that disturbed me in a way that kept me from fully enjoying the action. (show less)
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If you go to Amazon.com, you will find that the reviews are all over the board on this novel. I found it interesting that there were just as many people who loved this book as hated this book, and more than a few people placed this novel squarely in the middle of the scale.
41 *****
21 ****
17 ***
19 **
27 *
This is my first novel to read by this author. All in all, fairly enjoyable; just a few complaints. Her sentences go on and go, very Dickensian, and, after a while, very tiring and... (show more)
If you go to Amazon.com, you will find that the reviews are all over the board on this novel. I found it interesting that there were just as many people who loved this book as hated this book, and more than a few people placed this novel squarely in the middle of the scale.
41 *****
21 ****
17 ***
19 **
27 *
This is my first novel to read by this author. All in all, fairly enjoyable; just a few complaints. Her sentences go on and go, very Dickensian, and, after a while, very tiring and annoying. Smooth, elegant language punctuated by coarse, crude words. Some reviewers have praised this style of writing, but I found it jolting. She does, however, have a way of painting a picture of the tone, atmosphere, and feeling of a scene. Descriptive and enjoyable to read, if you don’t get bogged down in her interminable sentences. In fact, the author does a better job of describing the scenes than letting the reader get inside the head of the main character. We learn about the motives and emotions of lesser characters, but we hardly get a glimpse inside Lillian’s head, beyond the recurring nightmares from which she suffers (which, it’s interesting to note, stop happening after about 2/3 of the book, with no explanation). The main character, Lillian, loves her dictionary and thesaurus, and it is amusing to read the passages where the author inserts several words in Lillian’s thoughts; for example: “Lillian adores, loves, admires, idolizes the handsome men, in their sharply pressed suits” or something to that effect. She is learning English and it’s amusing to see her learn how to use these new words she hears and says. Also, a lot of mention of words in Yiddish and Russian that have other meanings or words that exist only in Yiddish, Russian, French, or English (pizza pie, subway, etc). Interesting that this book says a lot about language.
The aspect of this book that was very off-putting was that Lillian had a very sexual relationship with nearly every person she came in contact with. I don’t know what kind of statement the author was trying to make. I don’t think it’s necessary to be so graphic. It was disconcerting and this is the reason I gave the book such low marks. (show less)
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