Reviews
Alexander's jaunty tale of love and immigration
Alexander's jaunty tale of love and immigration is rich in humor and old-country aura, a story of a young Romanian couple that left the dictatorship of Ceausescu for the stone canyons of New York City, in America, the country of main character Nicki dreams:
"In May 1977," he begins his narration, "I passed out at the medical center on Alexandras Boulevard in Athens. My wife Lydia passed out six-and-a-half weeks later at the Monet exhibition in Manhattan.
"We were young then. Passing out and taking chances was what we did.
"People were nice to us and although in Manhattan, instead of helping, they stepped cautiously away from Lydia's slender body stretched on the floor, I didn't think they were less caring than the people in Greece. In Manhattan, it was the liability that frightened them. In Greece, where common sense was stronger than the fear of liability, the nurse at the medical center placed my head in her statuesque lap and slapped me."
Soon after Lydia and Nicki's arrival in America, alienation and homesickness begin to challenge the value of their newfound freedom, and then, Lydia discovers that she is pregnant.
Bounded by love, free from the ties of homeland and family and friends, Lydia and Nicki plunge headfirst into their very new life, and readers will breeze through this "real tale with a happy ending" with eager glee, buoyed by Alexander's sweet wit and true gift for understanding the common threads connecting all of humanity, be they refugees or patriots alike.