REPLACEMENT LIFE (P.S. (Paperback))

In "A Replacement Life" (for convenience, ARL) author Fishman has given us a little world, compassed in a bit over 300 pages, in which characters, families, neighborhoods, faiths, and historical forces live and interact with varied and sometimes obscure(d) motivations and intentions, and with sometimes surprising results--just as happens in what we are pleased to call real life. The book is a product of solid craftsmanship and painstaking care, yet flows along neatly, without the smell of the lamp (but for one small indulgence to be noted later). As a narrative, ARL occupies a happy ground between formulaic Steinbeckian progressions and allusive Proustian labyrinths. It is not difficult to follow, although it does demand attention from the reader. The plot moves resolutely forward in time, but Time's Arrow darts lightly forward, backward, and sideways as characters' dialogue and actions advance the plot.The protagonist, Slava, is something of a sporadically energized Bartleby the Scrivener: he would prefer not to be drawn into composing individually false but communally truthful accounts of lives snared by war and Holocaust, but he does, and finds his constructions carrying him to a thought-provoking resolution with a compensation agent of the Federal Republic of Germany.The character sketch of the tough, canny, streetwise grandfather is worth the price of admission. Fishman has made him much more than a voice-balloon sidekick or comic companion. Grandfather trails a history and carries a bag of intentions that unfold gradually, but never appear to be fully disclosed. Other characters--relatives, friends, Slava's ladies--also appear as distinct individuals rather than page puppets.The one small perturbation in the reading experience (for some, at least) may be the author's decision to drop snippets of admired prose and poetry (listed and sourced in ARL's endnotes) into his narrative. Some fit neatly into the passing scenery; others call attention to themselves by creating a bump in context, like encountering a ruby in your borscht.The greatest art displayed in ARL is Fishman's artful interweaving of personal plotlines into broader issues of history, truth, and justice. They appear not as didactic hectoring by a narrator or as the kind of tedious speeches Ayn Rand characters are wont to unleash upon one another, but as natural outgrowths of characters' interactions. Result: a novel that can be read as fairly light entertainment, but also as a thoughtfully induced meditation.Meanwhile, the embryo of a good screenplay is kicking at the walls of ARL, yearning to get out.All in all, very nice. Let's have another.

What an interesting book. In the beginning, I had a slightly difficult time with the sometimes deliberately fractured English, but I got used to the writing as I continued to read the book. Imagine this: the main character, Slava,writes mostly made-up stories for people who want repatrations from the German Govn. because of crimes against Jews during WWll. Of course, these made up stories are what did, in fact, actually happen to some individuals during the war, but not necessarily to the people whom the writer is trying to help. Does Slava get caught? A major theme running through the book is the relationship the writer has to his now-deceased grandmother and his living grandfather. How do we get to know the stories of the departed? Who can tell the real stories of what these people lived through? Does it really matter in the end if the stories happened to this person rather than that person: don't all people who suffered under the Nazis deserve reparations?Another theme in the book is the immigration story: these immigrants are Russian Jews. Though we have read their stories before, when told to us in this book, their stories take on extra poignancy. You ought not to rush through this book: enjoy the accents, the maneuvers of the people trying to influence Slava. And, don't forget two love stories that run through the book. Plus, Slava's love story with his deceased grandmother is enough to bring tears to the eyes. Enjoy

The book discredits Russian immigrants and a whole Jewish emigration experience from the former Soviet Union.....Although in the various instances across the book the main hero is trying to strike a chord of empathy and understanding with those Holocaust survivors for whom he is "concocting" the reparation claims, it appears that the book tactlessly and with ignorance handles a very sensitive topic of the material claims. Similarly, with disdain and a cavalier approach the author discusses the issues related to a Jewish emigration from the USSR. Such an approach is an affront to anyone who applied for the emigration from Soviet Union. All the applicants were becoming a pariah in the Soviet system. Some were becoming refusnieks with a perspective for "Gulag" where a number of would be emigrants spent years before they were allowed to leave the motherland. It is probably inevitable that in such an endeavor (as filing the reparation claims) a fraction of the claims could be frivolous. And the occurrence of this was probably even proved in the court of law. However, the reviewed book is causing to my mind more controversy to the subject than it has. While focusing exceptionally on the group of allegedly deceitful Soviet elderly Jewish immigrants, the book possibly unintentionally but inadvertently casts a dim view on a wider spectrum of the former Soviet Jewish émigré, many of whom are decorated war veterans.The main hero of the book, Slava Gelman, who is essentially ignorant about the Holocaust, life in the USSR and life of his grandparents (except from the snippets of the information that he heard from some of his relatives), never the less depicts his grandfather as a crook and draft dodger who was hiding from the WWII in the Uzbekistan. This smacks of anti-Semitic propaganda which, despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews were in the Red Army fighting the Germans, presented Jews as "Tashkent partisans." Such propaganda flourished in the USSR during a period of Stalin anti-Jewish, anti-Israel attacks of the late 1940s-eraly 1950s. An accusation in draft dodging is a serious one and requires a substantial proof which the book apparently is lacking of. The listed in the book hardships to be endured by Jews in order to become eligible for the reparation claims present only a fraction of those that are accepted in the claim forms. To our knowledge, one does not need to be only a survivor of a concentration camp, ghetto or forced labor regiment to be eligible to file a claim. The hardships stemmed merely from loss of abode due to a displacement caused by the German Army advancement were a sufficient factor to file the claim, according to the forms that we saw. The Holocaust victim is also recognized even the one who was born of the mother who left the area potentially falling to the hands of Germans. Usually, the claimants receive a single handout which has been in the range of $900-$2500. Although through the book the main hero is often wondering why the claimants would covet the requested money (many elderly emigrants live on government subsidies), the reviewer knows that for elderly emigrants even these paltry sums could be important.The book states that "Deceit was a survival skill in the USSR, where some lies were `a better kind of truth.'" With the experience of almost 40 years of the life there I cannot corroborate this statement in its entirety. Although the main hero is trying to convince the reader that in America one can live without any moral compromises, which allegedly were typical of the old country, the author and his hero are apparently falling themselves into that transgression. Namely, the book peddles a very controversial topic in the heart of which lays essentially a grotesque situation-betrayal of a Grandfather by his grandson, a literature ploy which may warrant an expectation of the commercial success. Besides, in order to make an otherwise a dull story of improprieties in the claims for material compensations to the Holocaust survivors juicier, the author abundantly peppers it with erotic exploits of his main hero.The book would have fared better had the author balanced his story with a more nuanced approach to the controversial topic of reparations claims and a more serious attitude applied to the issue of the Jewish emigration from the USSR. With that said I wish the author success in his future [email protected]

A little disappointing but interesting and what's described in the story probably has happened. Not riveting reading though. Set in New York.