That story about your grandmother you wish you’d written

Do you remember when you thought “oh man, I should really write down stories from my older relatives so they aren’t forgotten?” Of course, most of us don’t. It’s an endeavor and we have our lives, the same way our grandmas and grandpas had there’s and didn’t exactly become biographic publishers themselves. Or maybe we don’t know how to write it or maybe we’re selfish, who knows. What I do know is that few people do record those stories and even fewer work to publish them.

Russel Lazega is one of those few and thank goodness he is. This self-published “Managing Bubbie” is written with an experienced author’s flair. Lazega moves seamlessly between gripping stories of his grandmother’s past escaping the holocaust to the familiar everyday of her interaction with family in the present day. The two sides feed off eachother so as to explain stubborn or off putting behavior. The fate of this tough as nails lady squarely in her own hands at both times.

The juxtaposition takes a chapter or two to adapt to, not for the fault of the writing but for the publication settings – moving between traditional prose to screenplay writing. But after the eyes adjust, the story is worth it.

I received a copy of this book through a LibraryThing Giveaway. This review is also on Amazon, Goodreads, and LibraryThing. The hard copy was placed in a Little Free Library.