PositiveMoment Mag...shows just how different American and Soviet sensibilities are ... At first, A Replacement Life seems like another novel about a confused young Russian in America. But as the novel progresses, something changes: As Slava embraces the history of the older generation of Soviet Jews, the writing grows in depth and breadth. Fishman raises fascinating questions about how people endure generations of hardship and persecution, particularly their need to bend the truth to survive hostile conditions. And how difficult, sometimes impossible, it is to adjust to American life. Slava is one of the few who wants to become American; in the end, he acknowledges he may not be able to escape his own Russian psyche.
