natalieblom's review
4.0
A very engagingly written memoir. I enjoyed the way history was woven amongst their travels and personal history. The discussion of their mother daughter relationship felt raw and candid. Props to the author for raising such an emotionally intelligent 12 year old. A great read for anyone, but especially anyone who's family emigrated from Eastern Europe.
archytas's review
2.0
This was really not my thing, which was surprising given the strength of my engagement with the compelling [b:Axiomatic|39892820|Axiomatic|Maria Tumarkin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1524132063s/39892820.jpg|61721551]. In some ways, the experience shed as much light on me as a reader, than on a writer. I had the same issues here as I had had with this year's Stella winner, The Erratics, in that there is an introspective memoir style, which when written this well (and Tumarkin and Laveau-Harris are both brilliant at putting words together) is very persuasive, that makes me uneasy when applied to others in their lives. Here, the subject of much of Tumarkin's scrutiny is her daughter, whose voice I wanted to hear much more of, as I did of the friends and family they encountered in their travels. In full disclosure, I would no doubt have struggled less had I agreed with Tumarkin on all of her historical analysis here. There is a surrendering to her voice which is necessary for this kind of writing, and I'm not sure I am, at this time in my life, that kind of reader.
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