Zinovy Gutman

In Pursuit of Liberty Zinovy Gutman

This book is a story of a young couple-a Jewish boy from Ukraine and a Russian girl from Yaroslavl who met in college in the mid-seventies of the last century in the realm of the Soviet Union. The couple is trying to build their life together, pursuing basic happiness, but the more they learned about their surroundings, about the reality of the socialist political system and true history of their country and their families, the more they realized that happiness cannot exist without freedom, and they turn their focus on pursuing their liberty. The story follows the couple and their two kids through the escape route of Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union through Austria and Italy in the late eighties and brings them to the United States. Since all events described in this book really happened, its genre fits into the historical memoir genre, though it can also be read as a true novel. The author uses a light ironic style, filling the book with curious episodes the couple encountered on their way, and peppers it with jokes and anecdotes circulated in the Soviet Union at that time.