Shavlan: A Woman’s Journey to Independence – by Eunice E. Blecker – independent book review – Historical Fiction (Lithuania, Russia, Eastern Europe)

SHAVLAN is obviously a labor of love. The author, Eunice Blecker, is sharing the life story of her beloved grandmother, Sarah Taube Grazutis, whose experiences can easily stand in for millions of Jews living in Eastern Europe in the late 1800s and early 1900s. For anyone (like me) interested in the history of European Jews or the reasons behind their mass emigration, here’s one person’s representative tale of living with constant persecution, limited opportunity, and physical threat. One warning though: you will have to deal with the fact that the book is not all that well written. Awarded three stars on Goodreads.

Like many of this time and place, Sarah Taube is born into a loving family struggling to survive under harsh conditions. Meeting societal and family expectations, she marries, gives birth to six children, and dedicates herself to keeping her family fed and safe. After a disappointing sojourn to the United States, her husband Charles ultimately leaves Sarah Taube and his children behind, hoping to establish a better life for the family as a tailor in South Africa and planning to send for them.

It’s a time when communication is difficult, unreliable, and letters often got lost. But despite long periods of hearing nothing, Sarah Taube continues hoping her family will one day be reunited. And she grapples with the same challenging questions facing many other Jewish parents:

• How can I financially support my children?
• Is it better to send one or more of them to live overseas with distant relatives in order to protect them, even if I might never see them again?
• Is there any way to keep my son from serving in a military known for its antisemitism?
• How far should I go when cooperating with my enemies?

Years pass as Sarah keeps the family together in the small shetl of Shavlan through war, resettlement, personal tragedies, and even as the very town she lives in shifts between Lithuanian, Polish, German and Russian control.  As you can see from the full title of the book, all these hardships transform her — from a deferential wife into a competent and resourceful independent woman who knows what she wants and how to get it.

From Sarah Taube’s story, I learned what it was like to live under the often shifting restrictions placed on Jews in the Pale of Settlement and the constant threat of periodic pogroms. I also found it fascinating to read details of an émigré’s actual trip from Eastern Europe to the United States, including conditions aboard ships, how food was handled, and what it was like to pass through Ellis Island. And how important support from the wider Jewish community was to each Jew’s success. I also appreciated that the author included an epilogue where she details what happened to her various family members. 

I mentioned the book is not very well written. Here’s what I mean. There are errors in syntax. Bits of information are awkwardly stuck into sentences and many transitions are either abrupt or non-existent. The dialogue is often clumsy and, in places, completely unbelievable, especially some of the words coming from the mouths of children. But since I was reading SHAVLAN more for story and background information than anything else, I overlooked the writing and just kept going. If you’re interested in the topic, you will hopefully be able to do the same.

More about the author, Eunice E. Becker.