A review by sarahkeelereads
Dreams In The Golden Country: the Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl, New York City, 1903 by Kathryn Lasky

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

Years ago, I read and reread Zipporah Feldman's diary fascinated by this fictionalized account of an immigrant experience in New York City in 1903. When I spotted a copy on a "pay-what-you-want" shelf at my local bookstore last month, I felt like I'd been reunited with a dear long lost friend. While I've grown and changed, Zippy's diary kept me every bit as a engaged at age 35 as it did when I was 10. Even though we only meet the characters through short snippets captured in "diary entries", they feel real, complex and multidimensional -- a testament to the skill of the author. Despite the hardships portrayed in this book -- illness, death, family estrangement and the brutality of tenement life -- there's plenty of joy in these pages, too.