The Patriots

The Patriots is historical fiction at its best. The story is told from three perspectives: Florence, her son Julian, and his son Lenny. They each have lived part of their lives in Russia, and part in the U.S. Florence moved to Russia from Brooklyn in the 1930s and got trapped under Stalin and Lenin's regimes. Julian (whose Russian given name is Yulik) was born in Soviet Russia, emigrated to America later, and still works in Russia sometimes. These two characters tell the bulk of the story.

It's 500 pages of complex, in-depth, well-edited language and word pictures. Krasikov doesn't use florid language, but builds layers of description. I felt as if I was inside the tiny rooms in the communal apartments. Or struggling with the conflict show more between freedom and political principals.

The themes are relevant today, despite much of the action taking place in the mid-twentieth century. How far are you willing to go to defend your family when you have no weapons? When you're well and truly trapped, is there any way to ease the burden?

I learned a lot about this time and place in history, and came to know all the main characters well. Krasikov is a master of this genre.

Thanks to Random House, Spiegel & Grau, and NetGalley for a review copy in exchange for my honest review! show less

This was a wild ride of a book. Krasikov tells the story of Florence, a young Jewish woman coming of age in Brooklyn and feeling stifled by the life expected of her. It's the height of the Depression and she's outraged at both the stark inequality she sees around her and the lack of opportunities for women. She gets a job with a firm connecting the Soviets with American companies and meets a Soviet engineer and after his return to the USSR, she sets out in 1934 to join him.

She's not the only American emigrating eastward at the worst possible time. And when she arrives, she finds the Soviet Union less open and free than it had presented itself. But Florence has grit and stubbornness and she makes a life for herself, marrying and having show more a son, before being arrested and sent to the Gulag.

None of that is a spoiler as there's a second story being told concurrently; that of her son, a man with an adult son who emigrated to the US in his teens and is now working with an American oil company, seeking to take advantage of the newly open Russian economy. But Russia in 2008 isn't a safe place to do business, and Julian is also tasked by his wife with bringing their son home from Russia, where he went to take advantage of the new business opportunities there.

Florence's story is impossible to walk away from. I couldn't stop reading about this idealistic and stubborn woman who was negotiating her way through a dangerous world. She was a very real character living through the most interesting of times. Julian's story, which begins as he is a child surviving in a Soviet orphanage, started well, but eventually it couldn't keep pace with Florence's story. As her situation became more and more perilous, Julian's became the safe world of a comfortably-off American executive. The story of doing business in Putin's Russia was interesting, but it couldn't compete. And, like in so many novels in which a modern story brackets the historical one, one story became a drag on the other.

I did love this book. Krasikov was born in Ukraine and was raised in Georgia, so her depiction of the people and environment were starkly vivid. I will certainly be watching for her next book to be released. show less

I have been waiting for Krasikov's first novel since the 2008 publication of her short stories, and I was not disappointed. This is a profound and beautiful family story but not just another entry in the history-of-Russia-through-the-eyes-of-a-family book. Florence Fein is a Communist true believer, an American who leaves it all behind to make a life in the young Soviet Union. It grows up and around her, swallowing her and her family whole; her story is mirrored by that of her adult son, struggling with his own child who is also trying to make a life in the new Russia, itself poised to swallow *him*. Or will it? This book is about so many things- secrets, promises, regrets, redemption. Just beautiful.

Back in 2011 I ran across Sana Krasikove's first book, ONE MORE YEAR: STORIES (2008), and was simply blown away by this young woman's talent. In my review of that book, I had this to say: "Remember this name, readers: Sana Krasikov. Because we're definitely going to be hearing more good things about her." And, later: "... the talent; the talent is the thing here. Sana Krasikov is a writer, by God. I'll be watching for the novel she's working on. Hurry up, Sana. I'm waiting."

Well, this year her first novel has arrived, and THE PATRIOTS is simply an amazing accomplishment. Weighty, heavy, deep - these are a few adjectives that will come to mind when you pick up this novel, because, at 560 pages, this is a book you will have to spend some show more time with, a serious, globe-spanning and complex story of families in turmoil, torn apart and reunited (although not always completely). With today's often shortened attention spans, some readers may shy away from a big book like this, but I'm here to tell you, it is well worth your time.

Florence 'Flory' Fein is the central character here, an intelligent young Jewish woman from Brooklyn, who finds work with Amtorg, the Soviet Trade Mission in NYC in the early 1930s. On a temporary assignment to Ohio, she meets and falls hard for Sergey, a Russian engineer. She follows him back to Russia, but things do not end well for Flory. Because this is not a simple emigrant's happily-ever-after sort of story. It is instead an intense and detailed look at life inside the Soviet Union from the 1930s, through WWII and Korea (the Stalin years), the Cold War years, the eventual collapse of the USSR in the early 90s, all the way up to the present time, Russia and the Putin years. Flory's husband, son and grandson all become prominent characters too as the story progresses.

Sanikov obviously spent years researching and writing this book, and it shows. Because 'deep' doesn't even begin to describe the descriptive details that play such a convincing part in Flory's story of political intrigue, life in crowded communal apartments, how her US passport is confiscated (and she is made, against her will, a Soviet citizen), how she is sucked into a secret police plot of lies and accusations, her arrest and starving years in a Siberian Gulag, her part in the questioning of an American pilot shot down over North Korea in '51. I mean this is one of those generational 'sagas' that covers over seventy years of history.

THE PATRIOTS is, however, surprisingly contemporary in its story, perhaps because of the inclusion of the years of Putin, who is, of course, very much in the news these days, with his interference in world politics and elections. In fact, Flory's son, Julian, tells of Putin erecting a statue in Moscow's Dzerzhinsky Square of -

"His mentor, Yuri Andropov, who gave the KGB its ingenious psychiatric diagnosis of 'sluggishly progressive schizophrenia.' This allowed the state to fill up its asylums with anyone protesting its insanity. But, for the most part, Andropov's philosophy was endearingly primitive: 'destruction of dissent in all its forms.'"

Putin's Russia, in short, is reverting back to the repression of Stalinist times. And recently he has been successful in spreading his poisonous message to other parts of the western world. Yes, this book is very effective in making its readers consider what is happening right now, right here, in this country.

Yes, this novel is simply one hell of an accomplishment. I was not wrong about this writer. "The talent is the thing." And Sana Krasikov has that in spades. THE PATRIOTS was a book worth the wait. Bravo, Ms. Krasikov. Very highly recommended.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER show less

This is one of my favorite kinds of historical novels, which look at relationships through the lens of history and history through the relationships it helps form, with the understanding that the two are rarely separable. It's an ambitious book that lives up to its premise, charting the history of three generations torn, in a multiplicity of ways, between Russia/the Soviet Union and the United States, from 1933 to 2008. I appreciated that Krasikov's characters weren't simple or even always likeable—she did a good job of telling a story where the lines between what we do to each other and what we do for each other are not necessarily well delimited. I think the narrative could have been a bit tighter, but I don't begrudge Krasikov her show more sprawling narrative... it is a Russian novel, after all, and she's done a terrific job with it.

Thanks, LT, for the early reviewer copy, even if I wasn't very early. I've got a lot of people on my list to pass this along to. show less

First off, I really enjoyed this book. From the first pages I wanted to dig deeper into the story. Krasikov has written at book set, geographically, primarily in one place, the country currently known as Russia. But the setting chronologically and emotionally defies easy categorization. The central character is Florence, an émigré from New York seeking a new life in the early 1930's in the Soviet Union. Krasikov deftly weaves her story from that central act, moving back and forth in history and within Florence's family, as the consequences of Florence's emigration unfold in unpredictable ways. And when all is said and done, what is The Patriots really about? My vote is for redemption, although your conclusion may differ. May you enjoy show more this book as much as I did. show less

A family saga full of moral dilemmas set in an epic and repressive country - yes, this are pretty much my favorite elements of historical fiction. Told through multiple voices and generations, The Patriots is a family story that opens with the young Florence Fein leaving her family in New York City for a job and a man in the 1930s Soviet Union. As one might expect, things don't work out quite the way Florence had anticipated and in turn she and her son will spend decades trying to find a way to leave Russia and return to the United States. There are many stories in this novel, as each family member struggles to find their own way, but I loved every word - this is a a great book and every historical fiction fan should give it a try.