Growing up, life was about Chinese jump-rope, Bazooka gum…and When Zaidy was Young. As kids, we found nothing more captivating than listening to Heshy, Manny, Uncle Isadore, Mrs. Pitkin, and all the rest of Shmuel Kunda’s colorful cast of characters come to life on our family tape recorder (for the un-initiated, yes, we’re talking about the Pre-CD-Player Age). When I think about it now, though, I realize that as much as we loved the hilarity of those When Zaidy was Young tapes, a lot of their pull came from their endearing depictions of the Lower East Side of years ago. There was something so compelling, so…curious about the way life was back then, with haggling pushcart peddlers and crowded, dreary tenement buildings, in the city of New York that was so similar—yet so different—from what it is nowadays.
I felt the same pull when reading This is America. Set against the backdrop of the early nineteen hundreds, this magnificently written, well-researched historical novel literally makes you feel as if you were transported back to that time period, where you could peek into the lives of Tcharna Gordon and her family as they valiantly try to “make it” in the New World they’ve been thrust into. You can just picture the overwhelmingly noisy and busy streets of New York, over-run with carriages and even some automobiles…the overcrowded sweatshops where so many girl work, and where Papa is insisting that Tcharna find a job…the dizzying atmosphere in the Coney Island amusement park…
Of course life for the Gordons is not exactly one, big, nostalgic bed of roses—far from it. This is America pulses with the very real—and very painful—feelings of a family ripped apart by differences that run too deeply to be pushed under the rug. Reading the book, we become aware of our own array of emotions that rise to the fore as the plot twists and develops—empathy for Mamme’s hurt, frustration for Tcharna’s angst, amusement for Bina-Gittel’s antics…
This is America is not your typical book. It is a book that enlightens as it entertains; broadens your horizons as it provides enjoyment. Read it and see for yourself—you will not be disappointed!
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