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A review by dcliz
A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka: A Memoir by Lev Golinkin
5.0
Despite being an American Jew growing up in suburban Connecticut in the 80s, I have remained almost entirely ignorant of the effort to help Soviet Jews emigrate, although my mom tells me that our synagogue provided readings about their plight for Passover. This memoir, by someone about my age, was as eye-opening (how Israel helped by creating relatives to send "summons" for hopeful emigrees, the destruction of birth certificates and school transcripts at the border, the threat of terrorists targeting groups of refugees) as it was charming (the life-changing receipt of a donated winter coat, watching American's throw away plastic cutlery on July 4, discovering that many towns in the U.S. have the same name).
Most of the book centers on the author's recollections of his early childhood and his family's journey out of Ukraine to Vienna, and finally the United States. It is funny, poignant, heart-breaking, and hopeful, and a good reminder why so many people today still try to make a new life in the U.S.—even if it means sacrificing a career as a doctor to become a security guard—to try to give their children a better future. My own ancestors emigrated from Russia about 100 years before the author's family, and the book has made me curious whether they received help from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.
Most of the book centers on the author's recollections of his early childhood and his family's journey out of Ukraine to Vienna, and finally the United States. It is funny, poignant, heart-breaking, and hopeful, and a good reminder why so many people today still try to make a new life in the U.S.—even if it means sacrificing a career as a doctor to become a security guard—to try to give their children a better future. My own ancestors emigrated from Russia about 100 years before the author's family, and the book has made me curious whether they received help from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.