Away by Amy Bloom

Away

by

Amy Bloom

Chosen by my old library book group in Columbia City  for their February selection,  I looked forward to reading Away by Amy Bloom.   It is the story of a young Jewish mother,  who after her family is all murdered in Russia in the early 1920s and her toddler daughter goes missing and is presumed drowned,  immigrates to the United States.  After living in New York for a few years she learns that her daughter may still be alive so she sets out to return to Russia.  Such a story  strongly appealed to my preference for historical novels.   But I was in for a disappointment.   I didn't really care for the main character named Lillian.  It wasn't so much that the majority of the book involved her sleeping her way across North America, I am not a prude,  as it was her attitude about it.  Whether she was sleeping with a man or woman,  she had nothing but contempt for her partners.  She also  had nothing but contempt for her murdered husband back in Russia.   In fact she didn't seem to like anyone. On a positive note,  I listened to this book on audio and the narrator did a nice job with the book.  And, in the last hour of the book,  Lillian finally slept with someone she liked.  At risk of being overly harsh,  I would label this book as raunchy.  It certainly will not make my top ten list this year.  If you have an interest to learn more you can click on the author's name and book title above to read more about them.  And the video below is about the community in Russia where Lillian believes her daughter may be living.