Description

Rating: Not rated

Tags: Biography, Jews, Lang:en

Summary

Ita was born in the wrong place at the wrong time. The place was the former Pale of Settlement which was a large swath of land in western Russia where Jews were forced to live for centuries. The year was 1918 and Russia was in the midst of two revolutions. The first occurred with the abdication of the last tsar of Russia culminating in his execution. The second was the bloody civil war that ensued for control of the country. Ita was caught in the middle during this time of great political and social upheaval. Wave after wave of murderous anti-Jewish riots, or pogroms, descended upon Jewish shtetls, and the only chance for her survival was to escape. Escape was not easy. In fact, it could be deadly. In Ita's own words, along with her daughter's (Sherry V. Ostroff) historical and cultural background information, she describes her privileged life in Russia, the bloody pogroms, and her harrowing escape. Ita faces each roadblock with resolve, including a new country that doesn't want her, and proves why she is, indeed, the lucky one.

**

Review

"The Lucky One" is Ita, a young girl born ina world about to be turned on end from pogroms against Jewish people on Russiansoil in 1918 and the years that followed. At first this memoir's name seems tobe a misnomer. How could any child facing the terrors of those times be deemed'lucky' in any sense of the word? The answer to this question lies in the factthat she survived and eventually even thrived. This process forms the crux of amemoir that takes its readers into the world of revolutionary Russia, when Jews were marked fordeath and an onslaught of horror evolved.

Sherry V. Ostroff is the now-adult Ita's daughter, sois in the perfect position to blend her mother's memories with her own insightson family stories about life in Russia,Romania, and the longjourney Ita undertook to get to America.Ostroff's mother was a storyteller, starting her daughter on Bible stories andeventually moving into the saga of her family's struggles in the "oldcountry".

Luckily, Ostroff realized the treasure trove in hermother's memories and encouraged her mother to work with her to craft them intoa book. The Lucky One is thatbook: a testimony to the survival of children and Jewish people, and the sagaof a country torn asunder by civil war. Ten years after her mother handed her a100-page manuscript in response to her daughter's request, Ita was gone. Itfell upon Ostroff to preserve this story for future generations.

It should be noted that Ita's manuscript has not beenheavily revised. To fully capture the cadence and personality of her mother'svoice, Ostroff chose to make only minor corrections to make the memoir readable(" Although the grammar is poor, herstory is clear."). That her immigrant mother struggled with theEnglish language is evident, but in the interests of capturing her mother'svoice, Ostroff points out that " If aword was omitted, I have used brackets to show my addition; this was done onlyto improve meaning." Readers should not expect perfection, therefore;and if the brackets throughout sometimes prove a reading challenge, they do helpto reinforce Ita's real voice.

As a mother's words alternate with her daughter'sinsights, Jewish traditions and encounters are described from two generations'experiences. The vivid words and travels from Russia to Romania and then toAmerica capture a young girl's observations and create a "you arethere" atmosphere that explores and contrasts the social climate and feelof three countries: " Fire was thefeared dread of the people and when a fire broke out all differences andreligions were forgotten and everyone helped each other." Anotherexample of this: " If you had asked meat that time how God made rain I would have explained it this way. God had abigger water barrel then the water carrier on a cloud and when God pulled theplug, it rained."

Readers who enjoy memoirs, and especially those wholook for sagas of struggle to survive and flourish against enormous odds, willappreciate Sherry V. Ostroff's attention to bringing her mother's words tolife, and Ita's vivid descriptions of that world. Given America's newfound attention toimmigration issues, one could not hope for a timelier read than The Lucky One.

D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer
Midwest Book Preview

From the Back Cover

My mother, Ita, has been deceased for about 20 years, but recently we have been working side-by-side writing her memoirs.
Ita was born in the wrong place at the wrong time.  The place was the former Pale of Settlement which was a large swath of land in western Russia where Jews were forced to live for centuries.  The year was 1918, and Russia was in the midst of two revolutions.  The first occurred with the abdication of the last tsar of Russia culminating in his execution.  The second was the bloody civil war that ensued for control off the country.  Ita was caught in the middle during this time of great political and social upheaval.  Wave after wave of murderous anti-Jewish riots, or pogroms, descended upon Jewish shtetls, and the only chance for her survival was to escape.  Escape was not easy  In fact, it was deadly.  In her own words, paired with the historical and cultural background information, Ita described her privileged life in Russia, the bloody pogroms, and her harrowing escape.  Each roadblock Ita experienced, including a new country that did not want her, she faced with resolve and proved why she was, indeed, the lucky one.