This book was both gripping and difficult to read. The words in this review cannot do its content justice. I was impressed by the spirit of Vanya (Ivan), even as a little boy he retained his dignity in a world that seemed to strip him of every comfort, both physical and mental. His inner light shined through, and it was not lost on the many lives that he touched, even as a small boy. The reason why I gave this book only four stars was not because of the content, which is moving beyond words. I could not give it 5 stars because of the way that it was written. The writer is a journalist by trade, and that shows in the telling of this book. The way that it is narrated, sometimes from first-person, at other times "first person through a second person narration" is not confusing to understand, but throughout the book I was yearning to hear the voice of Vanya himself. Although he was a small boy throughout this book, and we find out at the end of the book that he did help in writing it by recalling his memories, I often wondered if more of his thoughts could be included as a young man today. Another confusing thing is that I felt that Sarah, the British journalist's wife, although she seemed concerned about Vanya's fate, I was troubled by her slowness to act and to help him with all of her strength. She and her husband apparently spent years in Russia learning the culture, observing the conditions. I feel that they did not consider the Soviet psyche and way of thinking in writing this book. Unfortunately, they seemed to villify Russian institutions - rightly so in some cases, but the author neglected to mention the suffering of the Russian people themselves. Of course orphans always suffer the most, they are at the mercy of others with no family unit to watch after their needs. I felt that there were just reasons why many Russians in this book acted the way they did. Those reasons were not explained or researched. One other aspect which I did not feel accurately explained was that conditions were bad for many people in the former USSR .... citizens, workers on the kolkhoz. There were no medicines, no goods available in the stores. The ladies who were working in the baby houses were probably suffering a lot, too. That does not give them an excuse to label Vanya as imbecile and send him to an internat because of a mild physical disability. That may have been the result of the motto of the Soviet government .... "those who don't work don't eat." Naturally, a physical disability in a worker causes him to be not productive, and therefore not a good citizen. They attempted to remove who they thought would be unproductive workers from the rest of society. What was forgotten along the way was the spirit of the child, the spirit of the individual. Many of those Russian children had at least one living parent, even thought they were under state care. They were convinced by doctors to give the care of their babies up to the state, which could take care of them better. The story of Natasha, Vanya's mother is a very sad one. She really did seem to care for Vanya, but at 18 months she felt like she could no longer care for him because of his disability, her extreme poverty, and problems with alcohol. Reformation of this system needs to come not only from saving children from languishing in the state system, but PROVIDING THE ADEQUATE SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR THEIR PARENTS so that Mommies and babies can stay together! My husband went through traumatic childhood experiences of extreme poverty which color his life into adulthood. There are lessons to be learned for everyone from sharing experiences of triumph of the human spirit over the suffering that is ever-present in this world. I am in awe of Vanya (John Lahutsky) and all that he went through. I am happy for him and his Mom Paula Lahutsky, and glad that he was able to share his story with us. Perhaps this book warrants a sequel, i.e., thoughts of a young man who has matured in American society having gone through those experiences as a young boy. On the other hand, it may have been very painful for Vanya to recall in detail those years of suffering. Perhaps he did not feel up to it, or he, in a way, chose to start over his life entirely and "leave the past in the past." This is an unbelievable story - a true story of a young boy who survived the horrors of the Russian orphanages and an asylum in the 1990's, was identified as an imbecile, and was repeatedly deserted yet he somehow had the strength and self-will to persevere and was ultimately adopted by a single woman from Bethlehem, PA! A British reporter and his wife met this boy and kept in touch with him during the four years when he was assigned to work in Moscow. Ten years later the reporter decided to write this story. I strongly recommend this book.
Do You like book Il Bambino Della Casa Numero 10 (2010)?
saw the dateline episode on this amazing story tonight. looking forward to reading this book...
—dany
Wow! To imagine this happened in my lifetime! So sad compelling encouraging incredible
—Dakota
A tough read, but a quick one, and worth it.
—thearicl
Gripping and heartbreaking but well written.
—Cleo41
