How To Make a Life by Florence Reiss Kraut
Thank you to the author and She Writes Press for the privilege of reading this novel.
The novel starts of with a horrific event. In 1905, in Kotovka, Ukraine, a pogrom wipes out most of the village and all but three members of the family, three of who were hidden in the root cellar, while above ground, atrocities were being committed. Huddled, terrified in the root cellar were a mother and her two young daughters. After waiting several hours, once it became silent outside, she emerges to a sight that will remain forever behind her eyelids. The devastation, the horrors are incomprehensible. She is heartbroken but she is also angry as she and her husband had spoken about leaving before something like this would happen. They had even prepared by hiding valuables, enough to take them to America. Now, they are alone. Just the three of them.
Thus begins the story of a family that will span four generations. We will find that decisions made far in the past will reach into the future of each new generation. The mother, now Ida, and her two daughters travel to New York City to go stay with a cousin. The tenements are a squalid noisy place compared to the green open spaces, and comfort they knew in the Ukraine, but there is some comfort as the language and the culture is familiar to the one, they left behind. The determination and resilience that Ida displays trying to provide for her daughters is inspiring. The older child becomes responsible for the younger while the mother works. Family is what is most important. Family must be protected. We watch the Weissman family as they progress through the years. We see them grow, fall in love, marry, have children, die and the cycle continues. Some family members stay in New York, and some descendants travel to far places. Their journey through life is filled with ups and downs and throughout the strong family connection is maintained. Not always happily, often just stoically, resentments surface, bargains are made, there are decisions made that cause turmoil and unhappiness. But the final message is family endures.

Ida and Bessie flee a pogrom in the Ukraine for a new life in America. This first step should be the launching pad for all great things. It doesn’t quite work that way. Bessie and Abe Weissman’s family has its problems. An affair, a mentally sick daughter and a daughter that disappears plagues them. They try their best to make things right but can’t make all things right. This story covers three generations, the ripple effect of poor choices and the outcomes they must live with. This was a very compelling read. I loved the character development and how it was set all over the world. Each character was an integral part of the story. I really enjoyed this story. I have it 4 stars. I kept reading because I had to know how it worked out for everyone. I want to thank Netgalley & Florence Reiss Kraut for my copy of How To Make a Life, for an honest opinion. It was my pleasure to read and review it. I hope you enjoy it as well.

How to Make a Life follows three generation of the Weissman’s family, their Grandmother Ida and mother Bessie left Ukraine for America in 1905. Ida was married, almost her entire family was killed in the Ukraine, including her husband Moshe, mother and three of her children. She believed by immigrating to America, she could save her two remaining daughters and it wasn’t the case.

A historical saga that takes you from the tenements of Orchard Street and to the battlefields of WW II and the hippie era of Woodstock and traveling to India and Israel . Bessie and Abe Weissman’s children and grandchildren have their struggles and Ida couldn’t protect them from life.

Like all family’s things happen, illness, accidents, infidelity, divorce, estrangement and aging. I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and She Writes Press in exchange for an honest review. It was a long and involved story that started off with a very violent chapter in Ukraine, Ida was a strong and resilient woman, her determination to start again and support her daughters in a new country was admirable, and especially when she couldn’t speak English. How to Make a Life by Florence Reiss Kraut and for me it was far too long and I was overwhelmed by what happened to each character and three stars.

I love a good family saga. A book will definitely capture my heart if it spans generations, especially if it is generations of women.

The story starts with Ida who must escape the Ukraine in the early 1900s after most of her family is slaughtered in a pogrom. She is able to save two of her daughters and make her way to America. The books spans 100 years of generations, and the characters are very believable. You are who you are because of the family members that came before you.

I was given this book for my honest review.

Full disclosure - Florence Reiss Kraut is my client. I found this book fascinating with well-drawn characters and historical perspectives that really put you into their shoes.

Couldn't put it down, a must read, AMAZING! Very well written, a genuine can't put down book! You follow the emotional and twisting lives of the characters past & present!

Disclaimer: I received this book from the author for Indie Blog Hop Tours. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: How To Make A Life

Author: Florence Reiss Kraut

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 3.5/5

Diversity: Ukrainian characters

Recommended For...: historical fiction lovers

Publication Date: October 13, 2020

Genre: Historical Fiction

Recommended Age: 18+ (violence, gore, romance, sexual content, death)

Publisher: She Writes Press

Pages: 320

Synopsis: When Ida and her daughter Bessie flee a catastrophic pogrom in Ukraine for America in 1905, they believe their emigration will ensure that their children and grandchildren will be safe from harm. But choices and decisions made by one generation have ripple effects on those who come later—and in the decades that follow, family secrets, betrayals, and mistakes made in the name of love threaten the survival of the family: Bessie and Abe Weissman’s children struggle with the shattering effects of daughter Ruby’s mental illness, of Jenny’s love affair with her brother-in-law, of the disappearance of Ruby’s daughter as she flees her mother’s legacy, and of the accidental deaths of Irene’s husband and granddaughter.

A sweeping saga that follows three generations from the tenements of Brooklyn through WWII, from Woodstock to India, and from Spain to Israel, How to Make a Life is the story of a family who must learn to accept each other’s differences—or risk cutting ties with the very people who anchor their place in the world.

Review: For the most part, after chapter 1, the book is fairly good. The book does well to convey the plight of immigrants and their resiliency. I think a lot of people forget that their roots in this country only go back a few generations and that their family was doing the same as today’s immigrants are trying to do. The book did well to keep to historical facts and to blend them into the story as well. The characters were well developed and the world building was well done as well.

However, I do think that the opening chapter can dissuade people from reading the book. The book opens up and it’s a really violent scene. While this conveys the hopelessness and terror the characters feel, it can sometimes be a bit too much for some readers.

Verdict: It was good, just a bit gorey.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC copy of this novel. This novel spans a family though generations as you experience their joys and heart ache. The author showed the diversity of the siblings and how the issues changed and stayed the same for each generation. While I was interested in the characters, I felt certain plot lines weren't developed enough and others were repeated. Overall, an enjoyable book about how the experiences of past generations impact future generations.

Kraut writes an absorbing multigenerational family saga. The story begins in Russia and ends in New York City over a century later. Readers get acquainted with each generation"s family members and their trials and tribulations. I enjoyed reading this novel because the characters are so real and believable. Family dynamics are never easy and sometimes hurts and grudges do not fade with time. I was completely engrossed while reading, waiting to see what would happen next.

This book was near and dear to my heart in many ways, as my own family fled from Belarus and the pogroms that threatened their lives. Well written, truly, for me, understandable. As I read it, I remembered past stories that were handed down to me from my father. While I was too young to truly comprehend the horror he escaped and the subsequent life and scars he carried with him, this book was amazing. You read the book, you read about survival, you read about the toll it takes on the lives of this family, and in reality the lives of so many families. This book will be one I will re-read as I absorb once more what this family went through, and remember some of the stories told to me about my own family. My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Florence Reiss Kraut’s novel, How to Make a Life, is the saga of four generations of an immigrant family who begin by escaping the pogroms in Eastern Europe (in 1905) for a life in New York.

When that awful day started Chaya Amdur was a wife, and the mother of five children: a set of twin girls, a young boy, a toddler, Beiah, and her baby, precious Feige. In a matter of minutes, as Chaya ran for cover hiding below ground, The Russians slaughtered the rest of her family. When Chaya (and Beilah) saw their family dead, (Feige was too young to remember anything), that is when Chaya made the decision to go to New York. When they arrive Chaya becomes Ida, Beilah becomes Bessie and little Feige becomes Fanny. Life is not easy for Ida. They manage to find a small space to live (in the tenemants), Ida gets a job, and young Bessie lands up being responsible for Fanny ... At his point, which is extremely early in this sage of four generations of a family, I already could not put this book down.

Suffice it to say, that Bessie goes on to have five children, Ruby, Jenny, Irene, Morris and baby Faye, with her husband, Abe Weissman. The book continues on with their lives, and their children's lives; covering the gamut of the major events of the 50's. 60's (woodstock), 70's (Israel, Kibbutz, Yom Kippur War), 80's, 90's, and into the new milleneum. This book is a trip through time with the Weissman family.

When the book ended I still wanted to read more. I loved Florence Weiss Kraut's writing style and I loved her incredible story! I am so thankful to have been given the opportunity to read this book by @netgalley and @shewritespress in return for my honest review. #5stars

𝐈𝐧 𝐊𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐯𝐤𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐲𝐚 𝐀𝐦𝐝𝐮𝐫, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐤 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, “𝐈𝐝𝐚. 𝐈𝐝𝐚 𝐀𝐦𝐝𝐮𝐫.” 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰.

Ida Amdur is fleeing a pogrom in Ukraine with her two daughters, Beilah and Feige in 1905. They will be Americans now, but to do so means closing the door on the abominable horrors her family suffered. It is also an end to her prosperous life, her very identity. Names may change, but it is more than tickets for the ship and a few personal belongings they bring with them to their new life. The memories are sealed tight in her eldest child’s brain, haunting even her dreams and keeps the pain Ida suffered fresh in her mind. It is the youngest, the beautiful Feige, nay Fanny, with her delicate beauty and mind untainted by the past who is her shining hope, her angel. Ida, however, doesn’t have the gift of leisure to spend her days and nights with her girls, she must toil to put food on the table and a roof over their heads in this new country. It is Bessie who must be a little mother to Fanny, feeding her in the evening and putting her to bed while Ida works. Life is coming together again but not seamlessly, and fate isn’t done with them. No matter how much she sacrifices, it never seems to be enough. The only thing she knows is, she must never look back if she is to survive. Naturally, Bessie is the daughter who carries the past into the roots of the future through her own children and everyone who follows.

The roots are stronger for growing in the darkest of years but survival comes at a cost. Bessie knows better than anyone that there is no escaping your origins. Taking on guilt, regret, shame that she didn’t ask for but must carry seems to be passed down to her children just like genes, one must wonder, does trauma, life experience travel through the blood too? What about someone’s namesake, can it too carry sorrow, joy? How else to explain her own eldest Ruby’s strange spells? The things she knows without understanding? Bessie is doing her best for her mother Ida, her husband Abe and their five children (Ruby, Morris, Irene, Jenny and Faye) but she feels so much older than her years. No matter how vigilant she is, she knows how quickly things can turn to tragedy and Ruby seems to be a catalyst for danger. As the years pass, the children come of age and find themselves tied in the knots of their family.

There is love and resentment when responsibility falls heavy on the shoulders of certain children. Despite the silence of the past, the choices they make as they fall in love and attempt to build their own futures, drudge up memories of Kotovka, Ukraine and the brutal murder of their people. Memories that Ida and Bessie have kept locked away from the delicate ears of her American children. It is as if the past is a poison, one that can vanquish any person or thing they hold dear. Yet, what people refuse to remember will always come to the surface.

The dynamics between the siblings is evidence that it isn’t only Ida and Bessie who have sacrificed. So much is out of our hands, and when mental struggles engulf one sibling, it is an undertow that takes everyone with them. In being the rock, one sister has buried her own desires, and when they awaken she can’t seem to steer them in the right direction. Sins seem to echo through time.

Once inside Ruby’s mind the reader can’t help but feel the chaos in her head and Florence Reiss Kraut’s incredible mastery of writing characters whose every emotion flows within the reader makes you feel they are your own. Each character has struggles, grudges, needs, wants, connections, and shame, so much shame- deserved or not. Sometimes we burn everything down around us through no fault of our own. Ruby and Jenny’s tangled lives evoke the bond of sisterhood but it’s not all glory and grace, anyone with a sibling knows this too well. How much should it cost to be a good sister, brother, mother, husband, wife, daughter or grandchild? What do we owe our ancestors and must history keep taking a pound of flesh for every child born?

Ruby and Jenny aren’t the only siblings struggling with each other. When Ruby’s adult son Michael decides to better understand his Jewish identity, embracing his religion it too creates waves of dissension between her and his sister Abby. Can you navigate faith when way those around you live their lives against your beliefs? Do you cut them free?

It’s not all doom and gloom, every family has it’s free spirits. There is Woodstock and detours, cross-country travel, Spain, India, Israel, faith, college, marriage, divorces, children, careers, love affairs… all the joyful and disastrous events in any life. Naturally mistakes are made, some unforgivable that push the family apart, sometimes with good intentions and at other times born out of old hurts and jealousies. This was not a light read, it will break your heart and hang you out to dry but I was riveted. A heavy read for the fall. Yes, add it to your list!

Publication Date: October 13, 2020

She Writes Press

"How to Make a Life" by Florence Reiss Kraut is a saga of a Jewish family that settled into New York City and raised their family in and around NYC. There are 4 generations mentioned in the story which at times is hard to follow. There are so many family members and branches of the family mentioned that it was somewhat hard to connect with any particular character's story.

Simply put this was a beautiful book! It starts in 1905 in the Ukraine as a mother and 2 of her children escape a tragic pogrom to start over in America. The reader finds themselves on this family’s journey through the decades .....to present day. Although there are many characters throughout the book, the author develops each one and you feel as though you are right there experiencing each character’s life’s challenges,, heartaches, accomplishments and celebrations.
Well written, poignant portrayal of life.

302 pages

5 stars

What a wonderful book.

Our story begins in the Ukraine in 1905. Ida and her two daughters are the only survivors of a pogrom. She decides to move to the United States. Ida is badly damaged by the murders of her entire family. She speaks only a few words of English when she arrives in New York, but she is determined to make do.

This book follows Ida's life and her subsequent family for about one hundred years. The lives, loves and losses of this extended family will make the reader smile and almost cry.

Ms. Kraut's characters are so very real. There are numerous people described in the book, but the author takes the time to imbue them all with unique personalities. The reader gets to know these individuals in just a few words.

I felt like I personally knew the women about which Ms. Kraut writes. They were so very real. We all have had family dramas – whether the issue was real or imagined did not matter. What mattered was the emotion behind the hurt.

This is a great book and I will treasure it and re-read it over again.

I want to thank NetGalley and She Writes Press for forwarding to me a copy of this most touching book for me to read, enjoy and review.