Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Away
    Away
    Away
    Audiobook8 hours

    Away

    Written by Amy Bloom

    Narrated by Barbara Rosenblat

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Moll Flanders in America, this epic, intimate novel follows a young Russian immigrant determined to make her way-and find her daughter-in the hip, harsh 1920s.

    On a morning in 1924, a young woman rises from the floor of her family's small home in Belorussia to find her parents and her husband slaughtered beside her and her infant daughter, Sophie, missing. When her aunt tells her the baby is dead, Lillian emigrates to America. She is working as a seamstress at the Yiddish Theater and enjoying cafe society when a cousin arrives and insists that her daughter is still alive-in Siberia.

    Lillian cannot stop dreaming of Sophie; she feels she must get to Russia, yet she can't afford the passage. Her only friend, an actor turned tailor, steals atlases from the New York Public Library and sews them into an overcoat for her. She crosses North America by rail, truck, and foot, encountering drifters, wardens, pimps, missionaries, and tattoo artists. From Dawson City, Alaska, she sets sail for Russia. She falls in love, falls in with the wrong people, leaps before she looks, hopes hard, and refuses to give up.

    Inspired by a true story, Away is Moll Flanders in America and Odysseus in the Jazz Age: big, wide, brilliantly imagined, unexpectedly funny, and unforgettable.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateNov 1, 2009
    ISBN9781598875263
    Away
    Author

    Amy Bloom

    Amy Bloom is the author of a novel, Love Invents Us, and two collections of stories: Come to Me, nominated for a National Book Award, and A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You, nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her stories have appeared in Best American Short Stories, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, and numerous anthologies here and abroad. She has written for the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly , Vogue, Slate, and Salon, among many other publications, and has won a National Magazine Award. Her first book of nonfiction, Normal: Transsexual CEOs, Crossdressing Cops, and Hermaphrodites with Attitude, is an exploration of the varieties of gender. She lives in Connecticut and teaches at Yale University.

    Related to Away

    Related audiobooks

    General Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    Related categories

    Reviews for Away

    3.5/5

    674 ratings74 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      It's somewhat haunting now that I have finished it, but didn't grab me while I was reading it. Not bad, but I won't read it again, and wouldn't recomend it further.
    • 4/5
      Bloom's book was beautiful, and reading it was like looking at a watercolor, colorful and hazy around the edges. Lillian's journey across the United States in search for her daughter introduced her to a myriad of oddball characters, all quite interesting in their own histories, sharing painful pasts and a human desire. The conclusion left me somewhat unsatisfied, but nevertheless, the overall experience was engrossing.
    • 3/5
      The first book to read on vacation. A very unusual book. I had to get used to the atmosphere at first, I didn't immediately like it. Later on I liked it better. Not one of my best reads, but I am glad I read it. It two weeks and a couple of books later since I read it, but I still feel the atmosphere of the book when I think back, so it made more of an impression than I had thought.It's about a young Jewish woman from Russia whose husband, father and mother get killed in a raid. She tries to bring her two-year old daughter to safety. After the tragedy she can't find the little girl and her aunt tells her she saw the girl dead in the river.That's when she decides to go to America, for a better future. At that point the story turns a bit awkward for me. A bit too unreal for my taste. Even though I believe it is based on a true situation (not all the details though) and even if I believe such things can happen. I can't blame her for the choices she makes. I think I would do what she did given the same circumstances and given the fact that she has nothing whatsoever to lose.The story turns even more unreal when she decides to go back to Russia and all the adventures she has while trying to reach her goal. Unreal, but fascinating. I think you will just have to judge for yourself by reading the book. I still can't decide what to make of this book.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed Away, but for some reason I had a hard time getting as engaged in it as I hoped to be. The main character, Lillian, bothered me at times because she seemed passive - like things just happened to her. The funny thing is that if you look at her actual actions, they aren't that passive, but somehow the whole tone of the book made them seem passive. I also felt that while the book was epic in scope, it didn't really fill out into that epic-ness - various episodes passed too quickly, and the style was a bit odd. Each episode in Lillian's life had different people in it that she never saw again, and the end of each episode in the book had a summary of what happened to those characters for the rest of their lives. Overall this didn't really work for me, as it resulted in my feeling more detached from the book than anything.
    • 4/5
      Lillian Leyb is one determined young woman. After losing her family in a violent pogrom in Russia, she emigrates to the US in 1924. She is making a new life for herself in New York City when she learns that her 4-year-old daughter Sophie may be alive. Lillian is an opportunist and not overly concerned with moral principles or sentiment. She simply does what she has to do to reunite wih her daughter--not because Sophie belongs to her, but..."that I am hers."The driving force of maternal instinct propels her across country in her relentless search. She meets many coloful characters along the way and experiences the harsh life of a solitary traveler in a pitiless land. Lillian Leyb may be damaged goods; however, she perseveres and somehow retains her confidence and zest for life.Amy Bloom has written a sometimes brash, sometimes poignant, but always enticing historical saga that titillates and entertains right up to the unexpected ending.
    • 5/5
      Wow! I was spellbound, listening to Barbara Rosenblat narrate this story while stuck on the Southeast Expressway every morning for a week. An epic journey across America in the 1920s, thoroughly engrossing, if not totally plausible. And Amy Bloom's use of language to "show, don't tell" is superb! If it weren't such adult material it would be a great example for a classroom teacher to use in teaching composition. I even learned something about the 1920s: Jewish pograms in Russia, immigrant life in NYC, railway travel, immigrant life in Seattle, WA, the Telegraph Trail through Alaska, and life in women's prisons. I want to read more by Amy Bloom (or listen to more, especially if Barbara Rosenblat is narrating).
    • 4/5
      A delightful book. The characters are what really make it, but the humor adds a lot, as does the use of historical detail.
    • 5/5
      A wildly inventive, earthy, and heartbreaking tale of a young Russian immigrant and her trek across the whole continent of America searching for her lost daughter. A great American female picaresque hero.
    • 5/5
      Away begs the question - as a mother, how far would you go to save your child? Lillian Leyb is a Russian widow, an orphan, and a mother who has lost her child to horrible violence during a Russian pogrom. As seemingly the only survivor of her family, she makes her way to America and it is in New York City where she tries to build a better life for herself as a seamstress in a theater company. When she hears that her four year old daughter might still be alive somewhere in Siberia, Lillian risks everything to get to her. She prostitutes her body, mind, and soul to get to Sophie. Lilian learns sex can be a weapon, a coping mechanism, but also her power and her comfort.It is one thing to say Lillian traveled to Siberia from New York, but it is quite another to see a map of her arduous journey from Manhattan to Chicago, to Fargo, to Spokane, to Vancouver and Dawson. The miles stretch out in an impossible-to-fathom line from one coast to the other.
    • 4/5
      An intensely readable combination of story, language and character. Dreamy, earthy, fascinating in historical detail of america in the 1920s. I wanted to know what would happen next in Lillian's life, and I'm glad the author tells us what happens to everyone else she meets along the way.
    • 5/5
      People seem to either love or hate this book. I loved it, but found that you had to just accept the story and go with it! Don't over-analyze or look for plausibility. Despite the subject matter this is a happy book, and unlike other books, you find out what happens to characters after they move on!

      I fell in love with this flawed, strong survivor, and loved being along on her voyage.
    • 4/5
      After reading some surreal stories and an almost plotless post-modern novel, I was looking for something with a clear strong narrative. This fit the bill, even though it jumps back and forth in time it is easy to follow.After her family is killed in a massacre of Jews in the 1920s, Lillian emigrates to New York. She gets a job as a seamstress in a theater and becomes the mistress of the owner. When a cousin arrives and tells her that a village couple saved Lillian's daughter Sophie and took her to Siberia, Lillian starts on a journey to recover Sophie. She decides to head west to get to Siberia by crossing from Alaska.During her travels, Lillian is befriended by a group of strange characters of dubious backgrounds. I liked the way Bloom follows through by telling what happens to these people after Lillian moves on and leaves them behind. There is a lot of violence and sorrow in the lives of Lillian and her friends; they have suffered unbearable losses. There is also hope, humanity, and humor. A fine book.This was published in 2007. I received a free copy from the publisher in 2014 as part of a promotional for another of Bloom's books. (About time I got around to reading it.)
    • 1/5
      Okay, I might actually have given this book a 1.5 if that were possible but there wasn't much I liked about it. When you don't care about the protagonist, it's hard to care about what she does or what happens to her. There were certainly some interesting characters in the book but there weren't many redeeming qualities in any of them.
    • 3/5
      My book club always has the most interesting books. This is another one I probably wouldn't have picked up on my own. I enjoyed listening to the story of a woman that comes to America from Russia and then learns that her daughter is still alive. Her journey from New York to Siberia is very interesting. The events and things she encounter make for a very intriguing adventure.
    • 3/5
      Book on CD performed by Barbara Rosenblatt
      3.5***

      From the book jacket: Panoramic in scope, Away is the epic and intimate story of Lillian Leyb, a dangerous innocent, an accidental heroine. When her family is destroyed in a Russian pogrom, Lillian comes to America alone, determined to make her way in a new land. When word comes that her daughter, Sophie, might still be alive, Lillian embarks on an odyssey that takes her from the world of the Yiddish theater on New York’s Lower east Side to Seattle’s Jazz District, and up to Alaska along the fabled Telegraph Trail toward Siberia.

      My reactions
      It took me a while to get invested in Lillian’s story, but once her true odyssey to Siberia began I was completely hooked. Lillian is a complex character – naïve, pliable, opportunistic, determined, shrewd, compassionate, complacent, persistent, and maddeningly closed-off. She is used by others, and learns to use others. While hers is a very personal journey and one she mostly makes alone, she encounters a variety of other characters that help or hinder her.

      The characters are colorful and richly drawn. I particularly liked the practical women who taught Lillian how to deal with difficult circumstances – Gumdrop, Fat Patty, and Chinky. However, I did think that some of the side stories that dealt with these characters detracted from the central plot. The novel takes place in 1924-1926, a time of jazz age flappers in the big city, but also a time when a woman traveling alone by train was easily victimized. Lillian endures setbacks that would break a weaker person, but the thought of her daughter pushes Lillian forward regardless of hardship. I must comment on the book jacket’s promised “panoramic scope” – I absolutely agree with this description.

      The story line isn’t always linear, and since I was listening I didn’t have the visual clues of paragraph breaks to alert me to shifts in time or changed viewpoints. That was confusing in places. So, even though Barbara Rosenblatt is a marvelous narrator who performed the work beautifully, I would recommend reading vs. listening for this book.

    • 1/5
      didn't finish, bogged down. After reading reviews, I feel justified, it doesn't seem that it got any better.
    • 3/5
      The story was well-written and vivid, but I found myself pulled out of the story repeatedly due to words that broke across lines and missing commas.
    • 4/5
      I won this book through the First Reads program at Goodreads. I enjoyed reading it and finished it in one weekend.
    • 2/5
      I was so excited to receive Away and even more excited to start reading it. At the beginning, it moved along with great potential and then for me, it fell apart. The novel went in the opposite direction I thought it would move to. The writing drove me insane with endless sentences. One in particular consisted of 117 words. Even though I wasn't reading aloud; I felt myself getting breathless. I am not sure if the author writes all her novels in the same fashion but based on this one; I'm not going to try.
    • 3/5
      I don't like to be here but i have to say i am one of those middle of the road readers when it comes to AWAY. I understood the premise, the use of sex, I loved the idea about reading of the journey of a Russian immigrant who struggled for life and everything in it. The first pages draw you in and then ....blah..... I put it down time and again not sure if i'd finish it. But keep turning those pages folks because it does pick up again and you'll be glad you stuck with it! I may be the only reader who feels this way....you just may love it!
    • 4/5
      Amy Bloom's AWAY is as big, complicated, beautiful, awful, funny, despairing and messy as life itself. From the back of the book: Panoramic in scope, Away is the epic and intimate story of young Lillian Leyb, a dangerous innocent, an accidental heroine. When her family is destroyed in a Russian pogrom, Lillian comes to America alone, determined to make her way in a new land. When word comes that her daughter, Sophie, might still be alive, Lillian embarks on an odyssey that takes her from the world of the Yiddish theater on New York’s Lower East Side, to Seattle’s Jazz District, and up to Alaska, along the fabled Telegraph Trail toward Siberia. All of the qualities readers love in Amy Bloom’s work–her humor and wit, her elegant and irreverent language, her unflinching understanding of passion and the human heart–come together in the embrace of this brilliant novel, which is at once heartbreaking, romantic, and completely unforgettable. This is the second of Bloom's books I've read. The first was her collection of short stories, WHERE THE GOD OF LOVE HANGS OUT, and I'm happy to report she is as good a novelist as she is a short story writer. Bloom is a psychotherapist, and her knowledge of how the human mind and psyche work serve her well as a writer. Actions here feel credible, even in extraordinary circumstances. The author's understanding of what motives people is put to excellent use. Then too, the landscape and historical period is well-depicted, and she, like her heroine covers a lot of ground -- from Russia to New York to Dawson, from Jewish immigrants to Tlingits living in a B.C. cabin. I am impressed by Bloom's use of the third person omniscient, which is a point of view easy to get wrong. There is perhaps one misstep, when she veers a little farther off-track than is necessary with the story of a woman named "Chinky Chang". It's interesting and moving, but in the end made me anxious to get back to Lillian. For the most part, however, she manages it admirably, and it gives the book not only a depth that mirrors the vast geographical territory it covers, but also the spiritual and psychological landscape. On top of that, it was a riveting read that had me turning pages quickly. Enjoy.
    • 1/5
      DNF - did no finish. Got about halfway through when I started to get Joyce Carol Oates flashbacks. I don't read JCO - to much unrelenting grimness. And I also remembered that I actually *don't* like Amy Bloom after another false start of a book where an adult was having sex with a minor. Turned me off completely. So on this one I just skimmed to the end so that I would know the answer to the big mystery of the book.

      I much prefer Anne Tyler.
    • 4/5
      Amy Bloom's, AWAY struck me as a turn of the century, Jewish immigrant version of the ODYSSEY. The main character is at once sympathetic and tragic. While I had a hard time buying the likelihood of this trip, I happily surrendered to its beautiful characterizations and prose. I easily recommend.
    • 3/5
      I read Away for a book club at the library. I've never been to this book club, or actually -a- book club, and I'm kind of wishing this wasn't the book with which I'll start.The story centers around a Jewish immigrant to America who lost her family and everything in Russia. I have trouble deciding how her frank practicality about human relationships and stations in life makes me feel. I found her callous at first. I recognize that each of the people she meets affect her profoundly, even though she seems so cold to me as she meets each one of them, and I do like her in the end. I also enjoyed getting to find out what happens to each of them after she leaves them.At any rate, not something I would usually pick up on my own, but not boring or unlikable, either.
    • 2/5
      I just wasn't that into this book. I had to keep reading some of the sentences over and over again to figure out what the author was saying.

      The story was supposed to be "epic", but it just wasn't very interesting.
    • 3/5
      I liked parts of this, and in fact, the beginning was very promising and I was ready to really enjoy it although it's not my typical sort of book. I liked some of the characters (Yaakov, Reuben, Meyer), although Lillian, the main character, wasn't one of them. The overall premise -- young immigrant who has lost everything and come to America with nothing to live for suddenly finds out she may in fact have something to live for -- was interesting, but the whole novel felt very episodic. Each section involved Lillian meeting a new character or a few, interacting with them, and then moving on to something entirely different. It sometimes fit into the narrative and sometimes didn't. Likewise, Bloom's strategy of finishing out a person's life story after their last contact with Lillian was interesting but didn't always pay off.
    • 4/5
      While a bit slow in a few sections, I enjoyed this book immensely. Other reviewers have said the writing was a bit disjointed but I only noticed it once and then I still was able to piece together what had just happened. Lillian's quest to cross America and get to Siberia had her meeting some very engaging, unusual characters. I could see this as a movie with scenes from the New York theatre life to Seattle's Skid Row to adventures in Alaska's wilderness. I would like to read more of Amy Bloom's work.
    • 5/5
      beautiful, poignant, loved loved loved
    • 5/5
      This little book's entry on my To-Be-Read list had no indication of having received awards or nominations by its title (although it did ), no notation of it being on anyone's list of best books in 2007 (although it was). No, the entry contained only two words -- "Buy It!" As I sped through the story of Lillian's road trip, from Russia to New York to Seattle to Alaska, I knew I would want to return, soon, for the luscious language, the engaging wit, the heart-rending story, the twin markers of despair and hope that mark her way. I have two words for you: Buy It! Absolutely 10 out of 10 stars.
    • 1/5
      This book was so bad, and NOT in a good way. The whole story revolves around Lillian's journey to find her daughter. I won't ruin the ending for those of you who might be unfortunate enough to pick up this book. I'll just say by the end of the book, I didn't care if Lillian found her daughter.