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Welcome

I started this blog in 2013 to share my reflections on reading, writing and psychology, along with my journey to become a published novelist.​  I soon graduated to about twenty book reviews a month and a weekly 99-word story. Ten years later, I've transferred my writing / publication updates to my new website but will continue here with occasional reviews and flash fiction pieces, and maybe the odd personal post.

ANNE GOODWIN'S WRITING NEWS

An Avenging Angel? A Replacement Life by Boris Fishman

12/12/2014

13 Comments

 
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Young Russian immigrant Slava Gelman’s writerly ambitions stretch far beyond his post among the pondlife at a New York magazine. Following the death of his beloved grandmother, his grandfather commissions him to build upon their sketchy knowledge of her escape from the Minsk ghetto to submit false claims for reparations from the German government on behalf of various inhabitants of “Soviet Brooklyn” who don’t quite fit the strict criteria of experience of ghettos, forced labour and concentration camps. Initially reluctant, Slava discovers in these accounts, not only way to reconnect with his own cultural history, but also the perfect outlet for his literary skills.

I was looking forward to reading this novel both for yet another oblique perspective on the second world war and its aftermath and for the sheer audacity of the premise, reminiscent of Shalom Auslander’s fictionalisation of an elderly Anne Frank in Hope: a Tragedy. Unfortunately for me, the novel failed to deliver the promised humour; nor, given that Slava was required to invent the survivor narrative, his grandmother having shared little of her trauma with her family, did I learn as much as I’d hoped. I also found the flashy prose slowed the pace, especially in the first two-thirds of the novel. However, I became more engaged towards the end with the appearance of Otto, German civil servant and amateur sleuth, raising moral questions about whether, and if so under what circumstances, it’s ethical to lie.

To a friend she would not lie, but to the law she would not tell the truth. (What law? Where was the law when the Minsk ghetto was being “liquidated” along with her mother, father, grandfather?) For a person like Grandmother, there was no law but what we find in each other. (p272)

The Gelmans managed to leave the Soviet Union only because all sides had agreed to pretend that they were going to Israel. The Soviet government wouldn’t release Soviet citizens directly to the United States. But it would release its Jews to Israel, “family reunification” being less humiliating to the USSR as the refugees’ reason for emigration than discontent with socialism. If there was no family in Israel, as there usually wasn’t, it was manufactured. […] At every step, everyone had lied about everything so the one truth at the heart of it all – that abused people might flee the place of abuse – could be told. (p276)

A Replacement Life is also a novel about transgenerational trauma and the immigrant experience of coming-of-age: at the beginning of the novel, Slava has rejected his background in an attempt to fulfil the American dream; by the end, he is prepared to heroically defend his roots. Hats off to Boris Fishman for exploring this important topic but, for an account of a young person collecting Holocaust survivor narratives, I rather preferred Jenna Blum’s Those Who Save Us. Thanks to One (an imprint of Pushkin Press who published By Blood) for my review copy of A Replacement Life.

I didn’t think I was capable of rising to Charli Mills’ latest flash fiction challenge, to write a 99-word story on the subject of angels, until this novel unlocked my creativity:

The Angel of Death raged through our people, anointing us with yellow stars. Some perished in gas ovens, others by disease and starvation; some survived through happenstance, determination and guile. Even once the purge was over, we were forced from the debris of our homes. Exiled among strangers, the less we remembered, the more we grew content.

Years passed before they came for our stories, armed with notebook and pen. What did these well-fed youths know of suffering? What did they care? Yet when they promised compensation, we opened up our hearts. The Avenging Angel had arrived at last.


Finally, I hope this musical accompaniment is to your taste.
Do you think it's ever more ethical to lie?
Comments welcome, as always, on any aspect of this post.


Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
13 Comments
Norah Colvin link
13/12/2014 05:10:12 am

Hi Anne,
The theme of this book is based upon a very interesting premise. It makes me think of those who, believing they have been wronged, think it's okay to 'twist the truth' to get back what they think is owed to them, something to which they think they are entitled, 'milking the system' for example. That lying is dishonest and unfair. But 'lying' to escape an oppressive situation, a situation without law as described in the quotes from this book. I don't know. Who wouldn't find a way of escaping. Would there be any honour in suffering for honesty's sake?
Your flash paints such a bleak and appalling picture. What a desperate situation for those people to escape from; but to only really escape its torment by not remembering. They were "lucky" to escape the Angel of Death. Why not ride on the wings of the "Avenging Angel". Unfortunately telling the stories ignites the memories and may bring no real joy. I think you have achieved exactly what you wanted to in this flash. Well done.

Reply
Charli Mills
14/12/2014 12:25:42 am

Sense of entitlement is a good point, Norah!

Reply
Annecdotist
16/12/2014 01:18:41 am

Agree with Charli about people's sense of entitlement – makes me think of compensation claims for tripping over a kerbstone which just puts up everyone else's insurance premiums (premia?).
I also see your point about enduring honest suffering, but sounds a bit Catholic for my liking!

Reply
Charli Mills
14/12/2014 12:24:03 am

Such a sticky question. One could always justify a lie. After all, those who hid Jewish neighbors lied about doing so to those in authority. Some, lied about having Jewish grandparents. Others told the truth and turned in their neighbors for perverse reasons (revenge, sense of power, greed, lust). So ethically, who is right, the truth-sayer or the liar? Perhaps it's the intent that makes the lie or the truth a moral dilemma. Or danger of violence or death. Maybe it's as simple as trying to survive. But where do we draw the line? Who deems it ethical in one case and not in another. Life choices are complex without the atrocities of war and repressive politics. Another captivating book review and a stunning flash. That opening line is brilliant and has me cheering for the last line. Enjoyed the music, as well!

Reply
Annecdotist
16/12/2014 01:21:27 am

Difficult, isn't it? The motive would be a good measure of whether or not it's ethical, but when we get down to the level of basic survival I'm not sure how possible it is to hang on to those morals.
Glad you liked the music – something we were singing in the choir last term.

Reply
geoff link
14/12/2014 01:06:29 am

An interesting question, Anne. I have never seem the dilemma myself. Indeed those who 'have to tell the truth' seem to be at best misguided and at worst cruel and unconscionable. I'm of the do the least harm to the greatest number school and if that means lying, well so be it. Where's the honour or justice or compassion in truth for truth's sake? It's not, for me about being honest but being honest enough. On the micro scale why hurt someone by telling, for example, their beloved father was an unfaithful rat when knowing the truth merely hurts them and serve no other purpose. On the macro scale I read the other day the US government suppressed evidence of cannibalism amongst the staring Japanese at the end of WW2 on the grounds that it would make reconciliation almost impossible. Dishonest? Yes. Correct in the light of modern history? Definitely. These philosophical dilemmas aren't often real as there's no 'whole truth' but a mixture of truths tied into the perception of facts and opinions and judgements. If one is trying to live a good life, lying is a necessity, a constant and we shouldn't be afraid to admit we lie, we lie regularly and it is good, it is right, it is proper and it is moral. But then again maybe I'm lying....

Reply
Annecdotist
16/12/2014 01:32:20 am

Interested that you see it as more cut and dried, Geoff, and of course isn't our law entrenched in the principle of "the least harm to the greatest number" which is why traditionally there's been no input from the victim of a crime (hope I'm not getting too muddled here straying away from my knowledge base). But sometimes victims really need to have their say.
An extreme case perhaps but there was an article in the Guardian at the weekend about a woman campaigning to stop FGM stemming from her own experience of being cut as a baby. Yet she still had to tread carefully in confronting her father who had authorised this being done to her
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/dec/13/fgm-my-daughter-will-never-be-cut-it-stops-with-me
Although he acted in good faith, I think we'd agree this is wrong. How much should his truth be protected? Does he need to see the error of his ways to safeguard future generations?
I was also interested in your remark about cannibalism among the Japanese being suppressed. Probably a good thing, but is that in contrast to the Truth and Reconciliation Hearings in South Africa?
Loving these comments that raise ever more questions (for me at least).

Reply
geoff link
16/12/2014 02:14:14 am

I feel I must have failed to get my point across as usual!! I was not (and never will) be supporting our legal system in my comments. It is so far from perfect . It is fixated on truth and justice and not on fairness. The whole concept of following precedent and the common law means once a law is set you are bound by it come what may however egregious the results. That's why the Court of Equity across 300 hundred years ago to moderate the impact of strict common law. An example, showing why our legal system is better than Scotland (not really)! If you have a lease and breach a covenant, in England, even though the lease says the landlord can take back possession for that breach whoever large or small the law (now entrenched in statute) says the tenant must be given the chance to put the breach right and if he does then the landlord cannot simply walk into the property and throw the tenant out. Not in Scotland where the tenant can lose his lease even for a minor breach. We still have examples in England of such extreme interpretations not moderated by fairness so the system still stinks often. I don't know if that is the reason victims have no say - I think in fact it is political policy rather than the courts but the result is the same. I'm not sure about victims having a say, in truth: if someone hurt Linda I'd want them punished severely but am I really the best person to judge? I suppose I'm not clear when you say they should have their say, what that might mean? Influence sentencing? Ask for mercy?
My view is the law should aim to do what is right and balance fairness and competing priorities. Thus I'm on the side of the victim in the FGM case and so should the law be. Do you mean by the father's 'truth' some notion of honour? His 'good faith'? I see no right for the father to that truth. For some it might go to mitigation but it is far outweighed by the victim's right not to be cut.
And what the Japanese and South African experiences, and those in Vietnam and Cambodia and Rwanda and any number of scarred places tell us is that there is no one right answer where the pure unadulterated unsanitised truth is a good thing or the right thing. Sometimes a fudge is better, sometimes brutal truth is the cleansing that is needed. I'm just not hung up on truth as some sort of trump card that always wins. Life is far too complex for that. There are just as many people who say 'all I want to know is the truth' as there are who don't want to hear their loved one died the most painful and lonely death and would rather imagine a swift and peaceful end. Who is right? The recipient of the news that's who. Why should the latter group have a truth foisted on them that they don't want, they don't need and causes untold pain and harm?
As ever, Anne you get me thinking and my head spinning. We may well be saying the same thing and then again maybe we aren't. But it is a good area to debate. Thanks

Annecdotist
17/12/2014 09:45:23 am

Thanks for the return volley, Geoff, and I do think we're more in agreement than it seemed.
I'm actually not in favour of victims having their say in lawcourts, even though it might be extremely distressing for them to be denied this and it might be what they need psychologically to recover. But I think the job of the courts is to be impartial and not swayed by emotions.
As for the matter of FGM, I suppose it's a question of whether laws are enough to change practice, which doesn't yet seem to be the case. I suppose the campaigner in this case was both still scared of her father but also not wanting to be to confrontative to set him actively against her campaign.
I agree that the truth isn't necessarily a trump card, and truths can conflict. But there's probably a difference between what tends to be good for the individual and society as a whole.
Now I've bamboozled you I'm actively awaiting your wrong post on the subject!

sarah link
14/12/2014 09:15:55 pm

Interesting post, review, and comments. A lot to think about... I'll be back (as it's after midnight here). Great flash.

Reply
sarah link
15/12/2014 08:22:57 am

With your reading/reviewing of books after WWII, psychology (therapists/psychologists), and your earlier post on obedience, I immediately thought of you when I saw this book:

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Such-Good-Girls-Holocausts-Survivors/dp/0062344188">

Have you read it? It looks like something you might really enjoy.

Reply
Sarah
15/12/2014 08:25:49 am

The link didn't work. Hmm... Well, it's called "Such Good Girls". Here's the plain link:

http://www.amazon.com/Such-Good-Girls-Holocausts-Survivors/dp/0062344188

Reply
Annecdotist
16/12/2014 01:37:20 am

Thank you, multiple middle-of-the-night Sarahs! Sorry about the links, I don't think Weebly approves of live links (which is a bit of a pain for me as cut-and-paste isn't so comfortable physically). Thanks for the recommendation, it does look like one for me although I'm not sure about straying away from fiction!!! Will have a further think.

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