Asya's Laws takes readers on a Latvian woman's courageous journey from her young adulthood in an impoverished and oppressive homeland to the promise of a new life and lasting love half a world away in America. Family, friends, loves, country, and culture shape her laws about love as she transforms from a young woman to an adult, wife, and mother. From the joy of a lover's first kiss to the outrage of religious discrimination to the devastation of a husband's betrayal, Raines shares her lessons with emotion and honesty.
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"...Part memoir of growing up...as the Iron Curtain unravels...part cautionary tale about the unpredictability of life and love..." -- Jim Barnes, Editor, Independent Publisher Online
About the Author
As a young Jewish girl growing up in the city of Riga, Asya Raines came from a family of meager means, subject to the maddening practices of a Communist regime. She attended public school in Riga, and graduated from the Latvian Technical University in 1975 with a degree in economics. Raines arrived in the United States in 1997, leaving her native Latvia in pursuit of love.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love and history,
This review is from: Asya's Laws: Lessons in Love Lost and Found (Hardcover)
"Asya's Laws" is a fascinating, multi-layered autobiography. It is the story of a Jew in an anti-Semitic society; the story of a Baltic communist experiencing the upheaval of perestroika and the downfall of the Soviet Union; the story of an immigrant struggling to integrate into a new and alien environment; but most of all, it is the story of a woman.
Twice-divorced Asya Raines, a Latvian Jew who immigrated to the U.S. in 1997 while in her mid-forties, relates her life-history as viewed through the prism of her relationships with her friends, her family and her lovers. Her mostly tongue-in-cheek "laws" are the lessons that she learns along the way. She shares these lessons with the reader in a way that is both entertaining and instructive, but totally lacking in pomposity, arrogance or false piety. (Example: "a real man does not leave a lady waiting at the theater!") Asya has an inspirational ability to learn from the past instead of becoming embittered by it, to understand and even forgive the bad things that other people do, to recognize and learn from her own mistakes, and to look forward to the future and the adventures that lie ahead. Asya's distinctive voice, relayed admirably by Charles Fleetham, has a slight but charming foreign accent. It demonstrates how she has held onto her roots while simultaneously adapting to her new surroundings. She occasionally addresses the reader directly, enhancing the intimacy of the narrative. At the end I found myself hoping that at last she has found "true love." I would thoroughly recommend this book both to the romantic at heart, as well as to anyone interested in learning what life was really like behind the Iron Curtain.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Latvian History, Worldly Love,
By
This review is from: Asya's Laws: Lessons in Love Lost and Found (Hardcover)
First of all, from Asya's Laws, I learned about the history of and life in Latvia, a country I knew nothing about.
Secondly, the book gives a first-person brutally yet tenderly honest story of one woman's struggles, triumphs, limitations, pain and glory in loving the men in her life, as well as her friends, and relations. I was able to read this book so quickly, as the language and tone flow so well. The titles and quotes at the beginning of every chapter are poignantly developed. Asya's Laws made me feel frustrated at times with the author's extreme patience with exasperating souls but it also made me laugh and left me with a feeling of satisfaction.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Little Masterpiece with Love,
This review is from: Asya's Laws: Lessons in Love Lost and Found (Hardcover)
Asya Raines' little masterpiece invites us to her spiritual home. Like the concierge of an intimate hotel, she welcomes us. We are for an evening her pampered guests reading in a quiet sitting room and sipping a glass of her vintage Champagne. Asya's words so well-sculpted by the deft hand of Charles Fleetham encourage us to put aside our loveless travels with their many contradictions and conflicts. If we pause to reflect upon Asya's hopeful message in our hearts, we just might allow ourselves to fall in love for the first time or once again and never be the same! -- Christopher J. Webb, July 14, 2006
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