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You Are One of Them by Elliott Holt
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You Are One of Them (edition 2013)

by Elliott Holt

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3591771,129 (3.73)19
Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. HTML:

Sarah Zuckerman and Jennifer Jones are best friends in an upscale part of Washington, DC, in the politically charged 1980s. Sarah is the shy, wary product of an unhappy home: her father abandoned the family to return to his native England; her agoraphobic mother is obsessed with fears of nuclear war. Jenny is an all-American girl who has seemingly perfect parents. With Cold War rhetoric reaching a fever pitch in 1982, the ten-year-old girls write letters to Soviet premier Yuri Andropov asking for peace. But only Jenny's letter receives a response, and Sarah is left behind when her friend accepts the Kremlin's invitation to visit the USSR and becomes an international media sensation. The girls' icy relationship still hasn't thawed when Jenny and her parents die tragically in a plane crash in 1985.

Ten years later, Sarah is about to graduate from college when she receives a mysterious letter from Moscow suggesting that Jenny's death might have been a hoax. She sets off to the former Soviet Union in search of the truth, but the more she delves into her personal Cold War history, the harder it is to separate fact from propaganda.

You Are One of Them is a taut, moving debut about the ways in which we define ourselves against others and the secrets we keep from those who are closest to us. In this insightful forensic of a mourned friendship, Holt illuminates the long-lasting sting of abandonment and the measures we take to bring back those we have lost.

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… (more)
Member:ablachly
Title:You Are One of Them
Authors:Elliott Holt
Info:Penguin Press HC, The (2013), Hardcover, 304 pages
Collections:Read but unowned
Rating:
Tags:ARC, ALAMW13, cold war, russia

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You Are One of Them by Elliott Holt

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β€œIt's easy to love someone you haven't let down.”
― Elliott Holt, You Are One of Them

As the description suggests this work of Historical Fiction is about the doomed friendship of two young women during the Cold War.

Maybe not as fictional as I had thought. I read several reviews that this book is loosely based on a true story which I did not know when I decided to read it. Although I did enjoy this book I did not love it.

I enjoyed aspects of You are one of them and found the mournful tone to be very engrossing. This was one that was on my to be read list for quite awhile and I just had enough one day and read it in one night. I really enjoyed it although certain things I had issues with and I will include spoilers..

SPOILERS:

I know it says it is about the friendship between the two women..Sara and Jenny. But, for me, it is as much a coming of age story as anything else. One of the reasons I did not give it a 5, although I liked it, was because I was a bit let down by the ending. I know and understand that many books end in an abstract way, leaving the reader to decide on what they think happened.

But since the book really is about Sara's journey to find out if her friend is still alive..if she did not in fact, perish in the plane crash.. I wanted to know if it was Jennifer or not. Since we do not find out anything in regards to that issue,which is supposed to be what the book is about, that is what leads me to think this is really a coming of age tale more then anything else. Sara comes to the realization that it does not matter if it is Jennie or not..she doesn't need her anymore.

While I can appreciate the message, since the book is all about BOTH girls I was invested in Jenny's story and at the end of the day, the plot was really more about Sara and letting go of a friendship rather then keeping it. Honestly I am not sure if I would have chosen to read it had I know how different the book would be from what it is marketed as.

Also there were alot of side plots that I did not find as interesting as the central premise, particularly the romance aspect. Frankly I skimmed those parts as I found them rather dull. I really thought, going in, this was less a coming of age or romance then an intense mystery so I was a bit let down honestly although the writing was wonderful.

So I give it 3 stars and did enjoy it but wish some things had been a bit different. ( )
  Thebeautifulsea | Aug 5, 2022 |
Elliott Holt did an interview with The Millions, as well! This makes me wish every book had author explanations for the choices in cover and plot, which helps with my comprehension of the novel. http://www.themillions.com/2013/09/the-do-or-die-novelist-an-interview-with-elli...

To add a little more intrigue -- the blog Talking Covers just posted the author, designer and photographer's thought on the cover of the hardback. Excellent! http://talkingcovers.com/2013/07/23/you-are-one-of-them

Goes right along with my obsession of The Americans tv show. The closing pages also really resonated with me, having lost friends along the way that were tough to let go. ( )
  amandanan | Jun 6, 2020 |
If you're expecting a mystery thriller, you're going to be disappointed. I must have read too much into the book's summary. ( )
  Ltwente | Mar 19, 2018 |
Good but a little thin. Like The Americans but without the wigs. ( )
  laurenbufferd | Nov 14, 2016 |
This is a story about defection: spies defecting to Russia during the cold war, and personal defections as the main character (Sarah) loses loved ones to death and to divorce. The book is well written with strong characters and a compelling story. Ms. Holt has done a great job of weaving the story of the political atmosphere of the Cold War into the psyche and experiences of her characters. ( )
  LynnB | Jul 29, 2016 |
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The babble, babble, words, like the solitary child who turns himself into children, two, three, so as to be together, and whispering together, in the dark. -- Samuel Beckett, Endgame.
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For my mother, who wasn't afraid of anything
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The first defector was my sister.
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Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. HTML:

Sarah Zuckerman and Jennifer Jones are best friends in an upscale part of Washington, DC, in the politically charged 1980s. Sarah is the shy, wary product of an unhappy home: her father abandoned the family to return to his native England; her agoraphobic mother is obsessed with fears of nuclear war. Jenny is an all-American girl who has seemingly perfect parents. With Cold War rhetoric reaching a fever pitch in 1982, the ten-year-old girls write letters to Soviet premier Yuri Andropov asking for peace. But only Jenny's letter receives a response, and Sarah is left behind when her friend accepts the Kremlin's invitation to visit the USSR and becomes an international media sensation. The girls' icy relationship still hasn't thawed when Jenny and her parents die tragically in a plane crash in 1985.

Ten years later, Sarah is about to graduate from college when she receives a mysterious letter from Moscow suggesting that Jenny's death might have been a hoax. She sets off to the former Soviet Union in search of the truth, but the more she delves into her personal Cold War history, the harder it is to separate fact from propaganda.

You Are One of Them is a taut, moving debut about the ways in which we define ourselves against others and the secrets we keep from those who are closest to us. In this insightful forensic of a mourned friendship, Holt illuminates the long-lasting sting of abandonment and the measures we take to bring back those we have lost.

.

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