The incredible true story of one determined mother’s perilous flight from the Nazis and the confounded Florida family that must try to manage her 40 years later.Her devoted family only wants the best for their Bubbie. Mostly they want to ensure that their matriarch’s twilight years are spent in comfort, safety, and serenity. But how do you manage an aging, immutably stubborn Holocaust survivor … Holocaust survivor who has risen above the squalor of Poland’s ghettos; fled across the war-torn German wilderness; and survived the winter-ravaged Pyrenees alone on foot with three children? You probably don’t.
Managing Bubbie is the heartrending, hilarious family memoir by Russel Lazega that recounts the frequently hectic, ever-exhausting trials of one Jewish family in Miami Beach as they try to oversee the care of the elderly, unmanageable Lea Lazega. As they scramble for an acceptable assisted living facility and struggle to get her medication in line, they discover the difficulties of controlling a woman who time and again eluded catastrophe by refusing to be told what to do.
A tapestry of an American family in the 1980s, Managing Bubbie also revisits the Holocaust period (and the whirlwind story of this young mother’s remarkable escape) to mine the love, hope, and humor that emerged from the deepest despair. Anyone who savors a soft heart with a sharp funny bone will laugh, cry, and commiserate with the confounded family who must manage their beloved, impossible Bubbie.
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A WISHING SHELF BOOK REVIEW
2nd October 2019
TITLE: Managing Bubbie (audio version)
AUTHOR: Russel Lazega
Star Rating: 5
‘Superbly crafted storytelling. It’s almost impossible not to enjoy it!’ A ‘Wishing Shelf’ Book Review
REVIEW
I very much enjoy ‘listening’ to books, particularly in my car on a long, boring motorway. I also happen to enjoy a good ‘family saga’. So this little gem from the pen of Russel Lazega seemed perfect for me. And, you know what, it was! I was driving from Cardiff to London (and back) on the M4 (the most boring motorway in the world) when I plugged in my iPod, set my speed to 67mph and pressed played.
What followed was the delightful story of a woman’s life. And what a life it was! From living in Poland’s ghettos, surviving the holocaust and fleeing across a war-torn Europe to living in America in the 1980s, this is an amazing story. It is a story of ‘moments’ as we get to enjoy the ups and downs of her family as they try to ‘manage’ this wonderful – although a little stubborn – woman.
Personally, I always enjoy a book the most. The feel of the paper. The smell. But, I must say, this audio book might just have changed my mind. This is a good as it gets, with the talents of Tony and Golden Globe winner Linda Lavin, The Love Boat’s Gavin Macleod, Tony and Emmy nominated Lainie Kazan, The Nanny’s Renée Taylor, Grammy nominated Judy Tenuta and many more. I see from Amazon that this is an independently published book. How the author organised such an array of talent for his book, is beyond amazing! But I congratulate him whole heartedly.
I thoroughly recommend this book – in any format – to anybody who is interested in World War Two and the holocaust. Also, anybody who simply enjoys the ups and downs of family life will find this to be a gem.
Enjoy!
A ‘Wishing Shelf’ Book Review
http://www.thewsa.co.uk
4 ½ stars
Managing Bubbie is a heartwarming and humorous book. In truth, it’s not so much about her family managing Bubbie (Grandma) as it is about Bubbie managing her family. And it’s about the importance of family, of staying connected, of caring. I’m glad that Lea nudged her grandson to write down her stories to share. I’m sure it hasn’t brought him the great wealth she thought it might, but I’m happy that I got to read about this strong, brave woman.
As I said, this is a heartwarming tale. It’s about a heroic woman, a single mother, who did everything in her power to save herself and her children from Hitler and the Holocaust. She often found herself in danger, but her ingenuity helped her stay safe and alive. It goes back and forth between pre-WWII and WWII Europe and post-WWII in the United States, especially Miami. We get to watch Lea struggle to keep her family together and safe as she moves from Poland to Brussels to France to Spain to Portugal, and finally to the United States. Nothing was easy, but Lea was an exceptional woman and up for the challenges that came her way.
But it was different back then — ve all helped each other. Today – everyting is “Me. Me. Me.”
It’s sad that Lea’s generation is dying out, mostly gone now. I agree with her opinion that people used to do their best to help others. We’d all be better if we could reach back and regain some of that comfort and support from the days before social media.
Lea was a remarkable woman. She raised her family, her children, her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren to be upstanding citizens. It’s good that they know what she went through, what she suffered. It’s reassuring that they’ve learned something from her sacrifices, both in Europe and in the United States. Leas was clever, observant, creative, determined, persevering, loving, and dedicated. She’s the main reason she and her children survived. Her family is blessed to have had her in their lives.
I enjoyed the book. I will say that it could have used some additional light editing. There are some missing words and incomplete sentences, but, overall, it wasn’t much of a problem to read the desired meaning into the gaps.
I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway. I thank Goodreads and the author for their generosity in allowing me to read this book, but it had no effect on this review. All opinions in this review reflect my true and honest reactions to reading this book.