Reviews

Non fiction is not literature - rarely contested is that refrain, that, it is in effect a blanket statement to begin with which also at times borders apartheidism, if you will.I beg to differ. Memoirs, autobiographies, and travelogues for a few examples where the author is at liberty to embellish the narrative without fudging the facts, that satiates your literary cravings as well as stay on the factful course (for “fact” dictates the literary segregation) are all as good literature as what MJ is to pop music. Just my 2 cents.

Born and brought up in the US, and inspired by her grandmother Livija's accounts about Latvia where Livija grew up, author Inara sets out to trace her ancestry of hers and uncovers - the history of Latvia, of how neglectful of a child of Europe was that country during the 2nd world war, of her grandparents ordeal when the war broke out, of the heart wrenching displacements that ensued, the losses suffered, and the reconciliations half a century later. Gulbene, the Latvian town to where Inara travels to to visit her grandmother's younger sister Ausma, is idyllic while it also conjures up the memories and the ruins it underwent.

This book of Inara's is - partly memoir, partly biographical, partly historical, partly investigative, mostly bucolic, mostly nostalgic, mostly beautiful, mostly poignant - so many of the venn diagram circles encroaching each other's outrageously, fits the literature bill very well.

idogrocker's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

smurfolis's review against another edition

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5.0

A powerful read. This was a back and forth story of two sisters who survived Stalin and Hitler’s invasion of their Latvian home, in different ways.
I felt so close to my Grandma while reading this book who fled her home in Latvian during World War II. My Grandma never had a problem talking about coming to America but she never went into detail of anything she may have endure on her journey. This book gave me a glimpse into what her childhood may have been like growing up on her farm and how difficult her journey must have been leaving her home.

A beautiful and poetic tale from two points of view from a granddaughter who wanted to learn about her roots.

Every Latvian girl should read this book.

eowyns_helmet's review against another edition

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4.0

Lovely exploration of family -- and lost -- memory. Is it usually true that our forbears try to hide the painful memories of the past? I wonder if that is one of the roots of our bad history-telling even in school. If we can't tell -- or bear -- the truth about our own families, then how can we bear the truths of our communities and nations? Verzemnieks quote Rebecca West - it's hard to examine "what history meant in flesh and blood." Especially in places where violence has been the rule, not the exception -- Verzemniek's Latvia, witness of "centuries of migration and flight;" my Scotland and Ireland, home of dispossession, colonization and famine; or the deep wounds of slavery, genocide and mass dispossession. Americans especially think of ourselves as geneology fans, but I suspect it's mostly for the feel-good stories of overcoming adversity and achievement, the unbearable losses and the ones who fell by the wayside, were erased, never made it off the ships -- or who never managed to board in the first place.

lexbrunov's review against another edition

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5.0

It wasn't the story of exile or of life at the refugee camps, or the dark pages of Latvian history that got me crying, but the little fragments of letters and the way Inara spoke of her feelings at the end. The writing is sublime. Every living being is fleshed out, every object memorable. This book shattered my heart and glued it back together with new perspective on family, legacy, home, and meaning.

jenmat1197's review against another edition

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4.0

This is the story of the author's family. Inara was raised by her grandparents in America. But her grandparents, and her dad, fled Latvia when her dad was very small. Inara wants to discover her family's roots and learn more about the struggles that went on with the Latvians in the early part of the century. After her grandmother passes away, she locates her distance family members in Latvia and speaks to them about the past. What she learns is a story of heartbreak and strong will to survive the most dire situation.

This was a really good book. I love reading personal stories about families who survived what we would consider an almost impossible situation. Inara does a great job piecing together her family's history and rebuilding relationships with her family in Latvia that she will treasure for the rest of her life.

The only negative for me - and it is a small one - is that the language was a bit over decorated. I have never been drawn to that type of writing and this book is full of it. However - the story is worth weaving through that.

kjboldon's review against another edition

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5.0

So much sadness, yet so much beauty and love in this memoir of one family's branching in the wake of war. There are no happy or simple conclusions, only complex truths, hard gleaned.

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