Beyond the Pale

By: Elana Dykewomon

Narrated by: Elana Dykewomon

Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Beyond the Pale - winner of the Lambda Literary Award - tells the stories of two Jewish women living through times of darkness and inhumanity in the early 20th century, capturing their undaunted love and courage in luminous and moving prose. The richly textured novel details Gutke Gurvich's odyssey from her apprenticeship as a midwife in a Russian shtetl to her work in the suffrage movement in New York.

Interwoven with her tale is that Chava Meyer, who was attended by Gurvich at her birth and grew up to survive the pogrom that took the lives of her parents. Throughout the story, historical background plays a large part: Jewish faith and traditions, the practice of midwifery, the horrific conditions in prerevolutionary Russia and New York sweatshops, and the determined work of labor unionists and suffragists.

©2003 Elana Dykewomon (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Incredible!

I loved this book. I love this author. I cannot remember when a book has touched me so deeply and personally. Made even more special by the narration of the author herself. Very highly recommended.

Thoroughly enjoyed it!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

It was savvy and to the point!...stories were great!

What about Elana Dykewomon’s performance did you like?

I liked how it was narrated, simple, easy and at times funny!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

YES!

Beautiful

Gripping. Compelling. Compassionate. Historically moving. All these words come to mind as I think back on this well written story. More than a story.

Sadness

This story has some of the saddest history woven around its characters. It's presentation is not typical . Sad

good story with too much internal dialog

the underlying story is beautiful, but there are long stretches where it's just internal rambling of a preteen and that really dragged on over and over. just to mention, since the summary doesn't, there are alot of female sexual relationships. one last thing, if you know your history... you can see alot of the awful things coming.

Not my cup of coffee

I you are member of LGBTQ+ comunity than this book is for you. It is a story about 2 russian jewish girls (cousins) falling in love. I gave it 3 stars because some of the story has interesting info from that era. It is set i New York city at the beginning of 20th century.
The author also narrates the book and it’s awful.
Her voice is so monotonous.
I didn’t enjoy this book at all and my standards aren’t high at all.

great historical fiction with a lesbian twist

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this book to anyone who is into historical fiction, as this gives great insight into the experiences of immigrants in the early 1900's NYC as well as the oppression of Jews in Russian and elsewhere during that time period

What was one of the most memorable moments of Beyond the Pale?

the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire was as memorable as it was upsetting and difficult to read, though wonderfully written. Also the moments detailing the Pograms in Russia were painfully real, beautifully written and so tragic.Through her narration and writing you truly felt right there in the midst of the action, and you mourned the losses of loved ones right along with the main protagonist.

What about Elana Dykewomon’s performance did you like?

It was so incredibly authentic... these stories could have very well been her own stories that she is passing on to me, the listener

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I was in tears toward the end, the factory fire... I challenge you to make it through that part of the book (after reading all of the events leading up to it) with a dry eye

Leaving the Safety—and Danger—of Home

When I first read “Beyond the Pale” I realized it had been a long time since I’d read any fiction with such scope and authority. Entire towns, entire histories brought to life.

What Dykewomon does so well is vividly animate the social geography of Russian Jews during the progroms; the experience of leaving the homeland, and of labor solidarity; and finding sexual identity in the New World.

Dykewomon reads her own work so beautifully, you’ll feel like she’s telling you the story spontaneously in your ear, dishing the dirt on the characters in the neighborhood.

Beyond the Pale -

I am so glad Elana narrated her book. No one else could have done it justice.

Love the story / performance mixed

I read this book years ago when it was first published, and I loved it then, and I love it now. Elana Dykewoman captures something essential about the immigrant experience - the cultural and political and emotional worlds they experienced, including unbearable trauma and tremendous joy. At the same time, her main characters are navigating the dynamics of belonging and exile and making new home in relation to learning how to be women-loving-women in a world where there is hardly even language and only the barest beginnings of community for them. It is about family and loyalty and being true to yourself in a changing world. And beautifully written.

That said... having an author-read book is always a bit risky. Elana Dykewoman gets some things absolutely right. She has the Yiddish inflection and expressions and pronunciation that are absolutely required for the characters' voices to feel authentic. What she doesn't have is voice acting ability to create characters whose voices sound different on the recording. So there were times when dialogue that would be clear visually on the page became confusing when listing - hard to know who was speaking. Especially where there are changes in who is narrating. Also, there were far more than the usual number of editing glitches - not a huge deal, but noticeable.

Because this book is probably thought of as "niche", I imagine there may not have been a substantial budget for hiring voice talent - so I'm glad Dykewoman made it happen anyway. Revisiting this story in a new way was wonderful, despite the less-than-ideal recording.

It is a very moving and difficult and beautiful story. Well worth it.