A Mountain of Crumbs
A Memoir
Elena Gorokhova’s A Mountain of Crumbs is the moving story of a Soviet girl who discovers the truths adults are hiding from her and the lies her homeland lives by. Elena’s country is no longer the majestic Russia of literature or the tsars, but a nation struggling to retain its power and its pride. Born with a desire to explore the world beyond her borders, Elena finds her passion in the complexity of the English language—but in the Soviet Union of the 1960s such a passion verges on the subversive. Elena is controlled by the state the same way she is controlled by her mother, a mirror image of her motherland: overbearing, protective, difficult to leave. In the battle between a strong-willed daughter and her authoritarian mother, the daughter, in the end, must break free and leave in order to survive.
Through Elena’s captivating voice, we learn not only the stories of Russian family life in the second half of the twentieth century, but also the story of one rebellious citizen whose curiosity and determination finally transport her to a new world. It is an elegy to the lost country of childhood, where those who leave can never return.
Through Elena’s captivating voice, we learn not only the stories of Russian family life in the second half of the twentieth century, but also the story of one rebellious citizen whose curiosity and determination finally transport her to a new world. It is an elegy to the lost country of childhood, where those who leave can never return.
Choose a format:
Book details:
- Simon & Schuster |
- 336 pages |
- ISBN 9781439125687 |
- February 2011
$17.00 List Price
Buy from another retailer:
Praise
“A January 2010 Indie Next PickOne of O Magazine’s 10 to Watch For, February 2010One of the Christian Science Monitor’s 10 Best Mother’s Day Books, 2010”
-
“A January 2010 Indie Next PickOne of O Magazine’s 10 to Watch For, February 2010One of the Christian Science Monitor’s 10 Best Mother’s Day Books, 2010”
-
“[A] witty, illuminating book . . . with telling detail, and a winning balance of affection, insight and satiric bite.”– Misha Berson, The Seattle Times
-
“Elena Gorokhova reveals with beautiful writing the panic of growing up inside the secrecy of Brezhnev’s Soviet Union. . . . Even if Elena Gorokhova weren’t such a gorgeous writer, her memoir, A Mountain of Crumbs, would be a terrific read. . . . She writes with irony and subtlety about the bright future of the Soviet Union, even as she plans her exodus. What makes this book so remarkable, though, is Gorokhova’s evocative and sensuous writing.”– Laurie Hertzel, The Star-Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul)
-
“A moving memoir about one woman’s journey from the Soviet Union . . . Captivating.”– The Daily Beast
-
“Artful memoir about the angst and joys of growing up behind the Iron Curtain. . . . Articulate, touching and hopeful.”– Kirkus Reviews
-
“Extraordinarily rich in sensory and emotional detail . . . An engrossing portrait of a very lively, intelligent girl coming of emotional and intellectual age in the post-Stalinist Soviet Union.”– Bookpage
-
“Wry . . . both comic and anguished . . . but never cold or simple.”– Booklist
-
“Three pages into this beautifully crafted memoir and you know that Gorokhova has always been a writer. . . . the kind that envelops and transports you and every so often leaves you breathless. . . . Recounted in shimmering detail.”– Bill Ervolino, The Bergen Record (New Jersey)
-
“Gorokhova has the reader in the palms of her hands. . . . Stellar . . . This compelling and unusual tale . . . is inherently captivating.”– Christine Thomas, The Miami Herald
-
“Exquisitely lyrical . . . Every page of Elena Gorokhova s coming-of-age-in-the-Soviet-bloc memoir unveils the magic of her origins. . . . Stunning.”– Anne Grant, Providence Journal-Bulletin (RI)
-
“A dream ride . . . A delight . . . with pitch-perfect lyricism, tremendous power of recall, and disarming wit.”– Kapka Kassabova, The Guardian (UK)
-
“A Mountain of Crumbs is . . . a stunning memoir: subtle, yet brimming with depth and detail.”– Viv Groskop, The Daily Telegraph (UK)
-
“Brims with an elegiac emotion and sensuality which even Turgenev, in his own European exile, might have envied.”– Charlotte Hobson, The Spectator (UK)
-
“Remarkable . . . beautiful and evocative and worth your attention.”– Nathan Thornburgh, DadWagon.com
-
“Her richly detailed story explores the reality of her politically subversive passions for language and freedom in a fearful, failing society that distrusted its citizens and repressed individuality.”– Saga (UK)
-
“Gorokhova is a lush and beautiful writer. Her tidy, witty descriptions of characters keep the book moving along at a good clip . . . the rich political milieu of the former Soviet Union sets this book apart. You really do get the feeling of what it smelled, tasted and felt like to grow up in that particular place and time.”– Ellen Silva, senior editor, NPR’s All Things Considered
-
“An exquisitely moving memoir detailing Gorokhova’s experiences of growing up behind the Iron Curtain. Her story of oppression and hope is described in distinctive poetical prose. ”– Marie Claire (UK)
-
“Despite the specificity of the memoir, the themes and characters have universality - a domineering mother, a rebellious child, finding passion and beauty in surprising places. A celebration of the triumph of the human spirit over adversity and oppression. ”– Easy Living (UK)
-
“Combining Gorokhova’s fantastic eye for an image with her acute sense for the absurd, A Mountain of Crumbs elegantly dramatizes the bewildering chasm between the projected, glittering idealism of the Soviet Union and its drab, quotidian reality. ”– Claire Allfree, Metro (UK)
-
“In this gently delightful memoir, Elena Gorokhova recounts her coming of age in Russia during 1960s and 1970s . . . There’s a wonderful cozy intimacy to her writing; her use of the present tense keeps it fresh and unburdened . . . I loved reading A Mountain of Crumbs. Gorokhova is a fine writer with a delicate, sensitive touch, whose voice in nonetheless fearless and clarion. I hope there’s a sequel. After coming of age comes surely that other great memoir, coming to America.”– Wendell Steavenson, The Sunday Times (UK)
-
“It takes talent to write a good memoir and Gorokhova has more than most. Fascinating anecdotes show us her mother’s youth, and her own recollections spring to life with an artist’s eye for those details that can conjure a mood or a moment. The privations, oppressions and joys are all described with shining curiosity in this captivating book.”– Waterstone’s Books Quarterly
-
“The Russian equivalent of Angela’s Ashes.”– Billy Collins, two-time US Poet Laureate
-
“Exquisitely wrought . . . A master class in memoir writing.”– Elena Lappin, The New York Times Book Review
-
“Gorokhova is a lush and beautiful writer.”– NPR's All Things Considered
-
“What is it about A Mountain of Crumbs that makes it so damn readable? . . . This is a rich experience -- a personal journey paralleled by huge national changes and ending in a deeply satisfying portrait of peace in America.”– Frank McCourt
-
“Her spare lyricism delicately captures a vanished world. ”– Korina Lopez, USA Today
-
“The story of a young person of sparkling intelligence . . . struggling to grow and blossom under a duplicitous, censorious, and unremittingly mean-minded social system. . . . An enthralling read.”– J.M. Coetzee
-
“A Mountain of Crumbs vividly, devastatingly conveys what it was like growing up in the shabby disillusion of the Brezhnev-era Soviet Union--and also swooningly indulges the nostalgia for place and landscape that’s seemingly steeped into every Russian soul. . . . Marvelous reminiscence.”– Ben Dickinson, Elle
Read an Excerpt
1. Ivanovo
I WISH MY MOTHER HAD come from Leningrad, from the world of Pushkin and the tsars, of granite embankments and lace ironwork, of pearly domes buttressing the low sky. Leningrad’s sophistication would have infected her the moment she drew her first breath, and all the curved façades and stately bridges, marinated for more than two centuries in the city’s wet, salty air, would have left a permanent mark of refinement on her soul.
But she didn’t. She came from the provincial town of Ivanovo in central Russia, where chickens lived in the kitchen and a pig squatted under the stairs, where... see more
I WISH MY MOTHER HAD come from Leningrad, from the world of Pushkin and the tsars, of granite embankments and lace ironwork, of pearly domes buttressing the low sky. Leningrad’s sophistication would have infected her the moment she drew her first breath, and all the curved façades and stately bridges, marinated for more than two centuries in the city’s wet, salty air, would have left a permanent mark of refinement on her soul.
But she didn’t. She came from the provincial town of Ivanovo in central Russia, where chickens lived in the kitchen and a pig squatted under the stairs, where... see more
Get our latest book recommendations, author news and sweepstakes right to your inbox
Resources
To download a file to your computer right-click on the link and choose 'save file as'
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): A Mountain of Crumbs
Trade Paperback 9781439125687(2.6 MB)
- Author Photo (jpg): Elena Gorokhova
© Lauren Perlstein(1.4 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit
Book Reviews
Reading Group Guide
This reading group guide for A Mountain of Crumbs includes an introduction, discussion questions, ideas for enhancing your book club, and a Q&A with author Elena Gorokhova. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.
INTRODUCTION
Soviet Russia of the 1960s and 1970s, where Elena Gorokhova grows up, is a bleak, disillusioned world, a land that promises everything but delivers little. How do you preserve the spark of enchantment amid the mandatory courses in scientific communism and banners proclaiming “We thank the party for the people’s welfare” above lines for toilet paper? Elena searches for the magic missing in her life and finds it in the English language— a passion that in the Soviet Union verges on the subversive.
Controlled by the state the same way she is controlled by her mother, Elena learns early to play the national game of pretending. “They pretend to pay us,” says her older sister, summing up Soviet life, “and we pretend to work.” Her mother, born eight years before Russia turned into the Soviet Union, is a mirror image of her see more
INTRODUCTION
Soviet Russia of the 1960s and 1970s, where Elena Gorokhova grows up, is a bleak, disillusioned world, a land that promises everything but delivers little. How do you preserve the spark of enchantment amid the mandatory courses in scientific communism and banners proclaiming “We thank the party for the people’s welfare” above lines for toilet paper? Elena searches for the magic missing in her life and finds it in the English language— a passion that in the Soviet Union verges on the subversive.
Controlled by the state the same way she is controlled by her mother, Elena learns early to play the national game of pretending. “They pretend to pay us,” says her older sister, summing up Soviet life, “and we pretend to work.” Her mother, born eight years before Russia turned into the Soviet Union, is a mirror image of her see more
Video
Author Elena Gorokhova: Historical Figure
Elena Gorokhova would like to meet this historical character.
Author Elena Gorokhova: Historical Figure
Author Elena Gorokhova Reveals Her Previous Occupation
Author Elena Gorokhova on acquiring talent
Critically acclaimed author Elena Gorokhova discusses A Mountain...
