The Patriots

November 21, 2016
Three generations of a Russian-American Jewish family are caught in the turmoil of the Soviet Union and its aftermath in Krasikov’s capacious, exhausting novel. In 1933, the headstrong young Brooklynite Florence Fein meets Soviet engineer Sergey Sokolov through her work at Amtorg, the unofficial Soviet trade mission in the U.S. After a summer affair, she follows Sergey back to the Old World, dreaming of a more equitable society; the reality she finds in the city of Magnitogorsk looks more like “appalling sanitation... endless hunger... bullying superiors.” Journeying on to Moscow, she begins to make a new life with a new love—a fellow expatriate lured by the Soviet promise of the future—but that life is soon imperiled by Stalin’s purges, as arrests, interrogations, and executions terrorize the population. By shifting frequently among narrators and time periods, Krasikov suggests that the perils of Russian life are perennial; in 2008, Florence’s adult son, Julian, now living in the U.S. and working for an oil company, returns to Moscow and finds himself faced not only with pervasive corruption, but with the possibility that his own son, Lenny, may be endangered by the unsavory business deal he’s been tasked to execute. Krasikov aims for a cubist take on the Soviet century, touching on orphanages, labor camps, universities, and the theater. The plot lags and the prose is awkward, but readers may discover some interesting details of the time and place through the extensive research Krasikov implements into the story.

December 1, 2016

Krasikov's debut novel is a sweeping, multigenerational saga about a Russian American Jewish family across the decades from the 1930s to the 2000s. The story centers on Florence Fein, a young Brooklynite who immigrates to Russia to contribute to the ideal of the Soviet state. Over the years, Florence struggles with disillusionment, becoming trapped in a system where her Jewishness and her Americanness put her under constant suspicion. In 2008, her son Julian, while in Moscow for business, attempts to find answers to his mother's past while also repairing his relationship with his son, Lenny. Florence is far from a heroic character: she is often selfish, exhibits poor judgment, and compromises herself and her associates for her own benefit. But Krasikov shows us that in the corruption and hypocrisy of the Soviet Union, one can never win. The modern sections illustrate the shifting state of Russian-American relations and the shared histories that haunt the political and the personal. VERDICT With stunning depth and maturity, this debut work does what a historical novel should: it takes us inside a time and place we may know little about, and shows it through the eyes of characters whose ideas and prejudices are of their own time, not our own.--Christine DeZelar-Tiedman, Univ. of Minnesota Libs., Minneapolis

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