(If receiving this via email, please click on the title above to read the entire review, and check out other reviews on my blog at rawlesreads.blogspot.com!)
A very different writing style here - broken, gauzy, flowing.....not much dialogue but I think that is on purpose - really suits the story. The story is Austin's - a Russian immigrant to the US who because of a language misunderstanding, ends up deported to Russia, then flees to Mexico, and begins the process of trying to legally enter the US. His American wife takes their three children home to wait for him.
Begin Heartbreak.
This was a bit too depressing for me this summer - lots of themes here including family, loss, mental breaks, and lots of stubbornness! Because Manko based this story on the true story of her grandfather, there is a certain poignancy as well. But I was bored. I skimmed. Nothing much happened. Which, as another reviewer pointed out, might be just exactly what the author was going for in atmosphere.
I appreciated that Austin was so determined to enter the country legally, and was dogged in his efforts to make the Consulate hear him. My husband is foreign as well (citizen now), and we went through all the hoops to get him into the US legally. But this is 1934 and things are different. Reds are the enemy; they will not listen to Austin. So he keeps up with his inventions, his drafts, his brilliance, just knowing that they will see how much his work will help the US so they have to let him in to be with his family.
Bless his heart.
I expected the ending to be tragic. Or at least hopeful. But I did not feel either of these things. I felt like I was missing the last chapter, it was that sudden. I found myself even WISHING for the tragic ending over that. Sigh. What I will say is that the title makes a lot more sense at the end. That, at least, was brilliant. I think this author is worth watching as well.
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