Books Read: 19

Another book I have finished recently is Why She Married Him by Myriam Chapman. It is the story of a young Russian Jewish woman named Nina, who has moved to Paris with her family in order to avoid the revolution happening in Russia. She mets a man named Abraham (older, but also Jewish and from the Russian empire), who is a Social Democrat, like herself, but he is a harsh and serious man. They court for awhile and eventually get married, to everyones amazement. The story begins with their wedding night, which shocks Nina and she begins to reflect over her life at how she came to this point. It goes to their courtship and how they met and their difficulties as a couple. It moves further back to the very beginning of Nina's life, how her parents met and her growing up in Russia. The dangers of being hunted in Russia for being Jewish during the Social Democratic movement, which Nina was involved in as a small child. This prompted their move because her mother was worried she would be sent to Siberia. They end up in Paris with another family they were friends with in Russia. This family has a son, who is about Nina's age named Sasha. They grow up together and fall in love, but Sasha's family has moved to New York and he wants to join them. He promises he will write to her and return to Paris for her. However, two years pass and she does not hear from him and then she mets Abraham. By the end of the novel we find out that this story is about the author's grandmother and this is based on her manuscript.

I really enjoyed this story. I thought that set up was interesting. I liked the reflective, looking back set up of the story. It helped that every time there was a change in period there was a page saying theme and year period of that section and each chapter had month and year too. I'm not entirely sure I got the "answer" to why she married Abraham, but it was still an enjoyable and fun read.