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casspro's review against another edition
4.0
Marafioti has a very honest and clear approach to her memoirs. It has some really beautiful chapters and gives a little history/anthropological study at the same time. Although her family life never really irons out and despite her embarrassment over her father's behavior and mother's accent, she never seems like she's ashamed of her heritage. It makes me want to do more family research and hope that I have some Gypsy buried down along the lines.
snowblu3's review against another edition
4.0
Requested this from the library in 2011. They finally got a copy in 2022! I still hadn’t read it, and still had interest in reading it. After such a long wait, I was not let down.
krissyronan's review against another edition
4.0
Very good book about the immigrant experience for a Russian Gypsy who moved to America.
linda48's review against another edition
5.0
The book brings back memories of my childhood. Funny and heartbreaking.
dreamofbookspines's review against another edition
3.0
A little more rambling/meandering than I like memoirs to be, but it's interesting. Marafioti has had some fascinating life experiences. Overall enjoyable. Unlikely something I'm going to read again (mostly because of the rambling).
groundedwanderlust's review against another edition
3.0
This memoir started out very interesting. I couldn't wait to read what happened to Oksana next! But around the middle, her story got really weird (being a memoir, it is a true story, which makes what happened freaky, scary, and sad). By the end, the story was vague and it left off with an awkward cliff hanger.
dewey7962's review against another edition
5.0
An interesting look into what it's like to be an immigrant in an unfamiliar country and have to go through the process of reinventing yourself. Marafioti is an amazing storyteller, I loved everything about this book.
amdame1's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
Oksana was a teenager when she, her parents, and her sister got their permission to emigrate from Russia and move to the US. They do have an uncle already living in CA, but he and his wife are reluctant (to say the least) to help Oksana's family due to prior disagreements - and Oksana's addiction to alcohol...
A fascinating account of prejudice against the Romani both in Russia and in the US.
Oksana was a teenager when she, her parents, and her sister got their permission to emigrate from Russia and move to the US. They do have an uncle already living in CA, but he and his wife are reluctant (to say the least) to help Oksana's family due to prior disagreements - and Oksana's addiction to alcohol...
A fascinating account of prejudice against the Romani both in Russia and in the US.