Russian Tattoo: A Memoir - Tapa dura

"Elena Gorokhova's memoir of her journey to America is delightful, hilarious and bracingly candid, a memorable odyssey of learning and striving as she escapes from the crumbling old world to a strange and mystifying new life."--David E. Hoffman, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Dead Hand

"Russian Tattoo is the story of an immigrant, of leaving what you know and love. It is the story of mothers and daughters--a story of love, forgiveness, and the desire to belong."--Anya Von Bremzen, author of Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking

""Russian Tattoo" is a page-turner from the start. . . . Gorokhova fills her story of arriving in the U.S. with telling, fascinating details . . . [and] bravely, frankly shares her life."--Eloise Kinney "Booklist "

"Blazingly entertaining."--Caroline Leavitt (blogger)

"This incredibly powerful book slips into your unconscious with charm and warmth and then grabs you by the gut. By the time you reach the end, you ll have experienced the laughter, sorrow, joy, regret, love and hurt of a real life. And you ll have a lump in your throat the size of Petersburg. With a magical command of language, Elena Gorokhova has painted images on my brain I won t forget, as if I d lived those moments myself. Because, somehow, I did."--Alan Alda"

"Russian Tattoois the story of an immigrant, of leaving what you know and love. It is the story of mothers and daughters--a story of love, forgiveness, and the desire to belong."--Anya Von Bremzen, author of Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking"

Blazingly entertaining. --Caroline Leavitt (blogger)"

"Russian Tattoo is a page-turner from the start. . . . Gorokhova fills her story of arriving in the U.S. with telling, fascinating details . . . [and] bravely, frankly shares her life."--Eloise Kinney "Booklist "

From the bestselling author of A Mountain of Crumbs, a “brilliant and illuminating” (BookPage) portrait of mothers and daughters that reaches from Cold War Russia to modern-day New Jersey to show how the ties that hold you back can also teach you how to start over.

Elena Gorokhova moves to the US in her twenties to join her American husband and to break away from her mother, a mirror image of her Soviet Motherland: overbearing, protective, and difficult to leave. Before the birth of Elena’s daughter, her mother comes to help care for the baby and stays for twenty-four years, ordering everyone to eat soup and wear a hat, just as she did in Leningrad.Russian Tattoo is the story of a unique balancing act and a family struggle: three generations of strong women with very different cultural values, all living under the same roof and battling for control. As Elena strives to bridge the gap between the cultures of her past and present and find her place in a new world, she comes to love the fierce resilience of her Soviet mother when she recognizes it in her American daughter.

“Gorokhova writes about her life with a novelist’s gift,” says The New York Times, and her second memoir is filled with empathy, insight, and humor.