Double Crossing: A Jewish Immigration Story

In 'Double Crossing' Eve Tal has done something remarkable; she has combined the cadences of storytelling/almost of a fairy tale with the reality of living in a Jewish shtetl in czarist Russia at the turn of the century. With wonderful dialogue, lovely stories and vivid descriptions, Ms.Tal allows us, through her heroine Raizel, to truly feel both the warmth and fear that were part of Jewish life in czarist Russian. She brings alive the pain of separation, the pain of the choices Jews had to make to survive. I think it is something of a disservice to label 'Double Crossing' a book for young adults. It is absorbing, instructive and just plain enjoyable for all ages.

This book seems sequestered into the young adult niche, but I loved it. Picked it up because of its cover; read the first page and did not stop till the end. It is a beautiful story, told with rhythm and pulse. The most enlightening book I've read regarding the late 19th and early 20th century trek of Jews from the pale to the new world It might bother more orthodox jews because of its emphasis on assimilation, but as someone without the cultural past, it was mesmerizing.

Raisel, the main character of Eve Tal's novel, is a gifted story teller, as Tal herself is. Tal weaves folktales throughout the novel to push the story forward. Raisel finds comfort and strength in those stories, and in her talent to tell them. And she grows into a very confident young woman by the end of the novel as a result of all that she has learned during her journey across the ocean from Russia to America. Tal paints a vivid picture of an anxious young immigrant who ultimately sets goals for herself that you know, in the end, she will realize.

This beautifully written story brings to life fully human characters, child and adult, as well as the distant time and places in which their struggles occur. It will resonate with any readers who have immigrant ancestors or who have themselves made the journey into a new culture, trying to absorb enough of the new to function while maintaining enough of the old to feel in balance, finding themselves changed in ways they never expected.

Eve Tal's Double Crossing is the kind of young adult book -- rich in historical detail, with compelling characters -- that adults as well as adolescents will love. Raizel doesn't want to go to America, although everyone else in her family thinks it is a wonderful opportunity for her to escape Czarist Russia and the pogroms that threaten every Jewish village. She will help Papa start a new life for all of them. But Raizel has never been away from home, and the journey across Europe and the Atlantic Ocean seems even more dangerous and frightening to her, especially since her ultra-religious father won't let her eat anything that isn't kosher, and practically nothing is. In the end, though, it is Raizel, taking charge and taking matters into her own hands, who makes the journey possible. We journey with her every step of the way, through separation, loneliness, the indignity of immigration health inspections, and the capricious rules of Ellis Island. Based on Tal's grandfather's immigration story, this is a book for anyone who has ever had to brave an unknown and cross into uncharted ground.