Customer Reviews

Death: The Beginning

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DEATH, THE BEGINNING is an exciting book that is hard to put aside. It gives an intimate picture of life in Russia and Estonia behind the iron curtain. But it goes even further and gives us a believable glimpse of life after death behind the shadowy curtain that supposedly separates the living from the dead. According to author Tatiania, this curtain is much easier to penetrate than was the Berlin wall. Tantiana was an Estonian film critic who found herself and her adopted son being hunted down by the KGB. She watched famous filmmakers and critics being gunned down, poisoned, run over. She and her son managed to escape to the USA. While still in Estonia, Tatiana had some "psychic" experiences, communicating with the dead, seeing flashes of past lives." Now she began to have indepth interviews with dead Russian and Estonian filmmakers. They give us an unforgetable picture of the artists' lives and often tragic deaths under Communism and their new life in the beyond. No matter what politics or religion a reader has, I believe he or she will find this book unforgetable. Reviewed by Maryanne Raphael, Writers World

Up until ten years ago, author, film critic, film researcher, astrologer and psychic Tatiana Elmanovich led a successful life in her native Estonia. Then, Estonia was a part of the Soviet Union and Tatiana was receiving death threats. Why? Who knows why anything happened in the USSR.

Not unlike Voltaire's Candide (who ran from the castle), Tatiana and her adopted son fled to the United States, without funds or friends or language capability...and once successful Tatiana found herself at retirement age needing to start all over again. In her new world of anguish, poverty and fear, Tatiana Elmanovich began the spontaneous past life regressions which put meaning back into her life, and saved her. Death the Beginning is her brilliant story...and her dialogues with the spirit world.

These conversations paint a wonderful picture of life in the higher, dimension. The spirits tell of their death experiences as well as their reunions and work in the spirit world. We meet victims of Stalin's Red Terror, soldiers of WWII, a Russian priest, KGB spy...and a host of others, all with unforgettable stories. These visions tell of a closeness to God not before experienced in life, and a realization of the difficulties and negative thoughts that were part of their life on Earth.

And so, in the final analysis, Death the Beginning is a book of hope...a positive message of enablement for all of us suffering from divorce, layoffs, bankruptcy, sickness...any of our worst nightmares. Who could better write this book than Tatiana Elmanovich? After all, she lived it...and has spoken to many in the spirit world who did, too.

Tatiana writes, "This time I am ready to take the chance, casting aside earthly worries of competition, money and career. I will take my chance. And once you know that, everything is changed". Now you know why this reviewer so highly recommends Death the Beginning!

Richard Fuller Senior Editor

I and my family escaped from Estonia to America during WWII, and this was why Death the Beginning meant so much to me. It vividly portrays the experience of people who have to start over. The book is well written and interesting to read. I liked the author's sense of humour. It is factual and gives you thoughts about afterlife. It is a fascinating book, because it feeds your imagination and soothes your fear of death. After my mother died, she found a way to contact and comfort me, but I was afraid to talk about it. I thought, maybe it was the pressure of a refugee that made me see things that I was not supposed to see. In Death the Beginning I learned that I wasn't alone and similar experiences have happened to other people as well.

Ello Dykstra Newport Beach, California

I highly recommend Tatiana Elmanovich's book, "Death the Beginning," to anyone interested in spirituality, the paranormal, or Soviet and Eastern European studies, as well as to anyone who has had to struggle against seemingly overwhelming odds in his or her life. This book places the problems of the former Soviet Union in a spiritual context that is healing, uplifting, and inspiring. Those interested in this troubled area of the world will be fascinated by the author's account of her government's attempts on the lives of her and her son and by their subsequent escape from Estonia to the United States. Even after she and her son relocated in the USA, the author faced numerous obstacles, as individuals in Estonia attempted through their far-flung connections to ruin her chances for happiness in her new country. When Tatiana began to develop her psychic talents to seek spiritual answers to her difficult predicament, she began to receive communications from those who had passed on. These communications placed the issues of her life in a higher, more spiritual context and strengthened her ability to be patient, forgiving and full of hope. This book will help the reader to do the same.

As a researcher and writer on the subject of death and dying, I bought this book based primarily on the title and the preface. It was a quick buy in a "New Age" book store in San Francisco. I debated with myself as to whether I really wanted it and whether it would add anything to my research. Feeling somewhat guilty about walking out of the store without a purchase, I bought it. I'm glad I did. However, while the spiritual messages are interesting, it is the historical content that really intrigued me.

The author was an Estonian film critic in the Soviet Union before migrating to the United States. The story of her trials and tribulations with the KGB and other Soviet agencies kept me glued to the book. While we often heard about the cruelties of the Soviet hierarchy and its agencies before wall crumbled, we did not have that many firsthand, personal accounts. To hear or read the author tell it, it was worse than I had imagined. People were afraid to make friends, because even your friends could turn out to be KGB informants. Because of her confrontations with the KGB, the author was reduced from being a respected writer to being a menial laborer.

The author's spiritual awakening after moving to the United States is also very informative and inspiring.

For those interested in the afterlife; and also if communication with the otherside is possible, then this book is a must read. Tatiana writes with passion and is honest when she tells her life story. She comes across as a woman of great courage with deep wells of inner strength, and after reading this book I came away with deep respect for her and her faith. She has had a hard life but it has only made her stronger, wiser and with a deep empathy for those who suffer, so read and enjoy!