Reviews
Elena Gorokhova's memoir of her journey to America is delightful, hilarious and bracingly candid, a memorable odyssey of learning and striving as she escapes from the crumbling old world to a strange and mystifying new life., Russian Tattoo is a page-turner from the start. . . . Gorokhova fills her story of arriving in the U.S. with telling, fascinating details . . . [and] bravely, frankly shares her life., Russian Tattoo is a gripping story, Elena Gorokhova is a clear-voiced and human narrator, and her life is captivating without becoming incomprehensible. The glory of the book is in its little things: the pride that comes from feeling respected by a parent, and the trust needed to humble yourself before them., Self-effacing and candid, yet also deeply observant and as powerfully descriptive as a novel, Russian Tattoo is that rare book written by an immigrant that helps a native understand their country better, seeing it from the peeled-back perspective of a newcomer., Engaging. ... With wry, unswervingly honest observer's eye, Gorokhova chronicles the increasing strangeness of her new country. ... This work from a young immigrant's point of view is both wondrous and stinging., A refreshing amount of candor elevates this memoir of an immigrant's life in America. ... [A] wonderful and entertaining work., Russian Tattoo is the story of an immigrant, of leaving what you know and love. It is the story of mothers and daughters--a story of love, forgiveness, and the desire to belong., This incredibly powerful book slips into your unconscious with charm and warmth and then grabs you by the gut. By the time you reach the end, you'll have experienced the laughter, sorrow, joy, regret, love and hurt of a real life. And you'll have a lump in your throat the size of Petersburg. With a magical command of language, Elena Gorokhova has painted images on my brain I won't forget, as if I'd lived those moments myself. Because, somehow, I did., If Elena Gorokhova's splendid second memoir merely conveyed to readers a vivid, almost visceral understanding of the sometimes paralyzing sense of dislocation she experienced arriving in the United States in 1980 from the Soviet Union, that alone would be reason enough to read it. ... Brilliant [and] illuminating., [An] evocative memoirist building on a fine previous volume ... [Gorokhova] imbues this narrative of the gathering momentum of her assimilation with admirable esprit.