Such a Life

Plot

What I like best about this book is the voice. It was written in Yiddish, then translated into English - but in such a way that you can still "hear" the Yiddish inflections and sense the spunky personality behind the story. Essentially the book comprises five betrothal stories among Russian Jews, kind of like Fiddler on the Roof. Three are about her father, one is about her sister, and one is about her cousin. One of the prospective husbands is only thirteen, one has spent a lot of time in the city and is kind of goyish, one is actually a goy, etc. Four of the couples wind up getting married, and one doesn't. The author also includes other details, such as a Cossack raid and a lot of women who have hysterics for one reason or another. Sometimes the story drags, what with all the secret trysts and lies to parents and spying brothers. But overall it offers an interesting angle on family life in the shtetl, as well as Jewish life in pre-revolutionary Russia