0ur opinion:Item Description:'REMARKABLE . . . A W0NDERFUL ST0RY.'
--The Boston Globe
The father is a high-ranking Communist officer, a Jew who survived Stalin's purges. The son is a 'refusenik,' who risked his life and happiness to protest everything his father held dear. Now, Chaim Potok, beloved author of the award-winning novels The Chosen and My Name is Asher Lev, unfolds the gripping true story of a father, a son, and a conflict that spans Soviet history. Drawing on taped interviews and his harrowing visits to Russia, Potok traces the public and privates lives of the Slepak family: Their passions and ideologies, their struggles to reconcile their identities as Russians and as Jews, their willingness to fight--and die--for diametrically opposed political beliefs.
'[A] vivid account . . . [Potok] brings a novelist's passion and eye for detail to a gripping story that possesses many of the elements of fiction--except that it's all too true.'
--San Francisco Chronicle
Review:Potok, well known for his novels of Jewish family life such as
The Chosen, turns to nonfiction in
The Gates of November, a wrenching family chronicle with a riveting historical undercurrent. The story of the family patriarch, Solomon Slepak, spans most of the book: ignoring his mother's wish that he become a rabbi, Slepak emigrated at 13 to America, became a Marxist in New York, returned to fight in the Russian Revolution, and rose to prominence within the Communist Party. But while Solomon remained a convinced Bolshevik, his son Volodya rejected socialism when anti-Semitism emerged during Stalin's era. Disowned by his father, Volodya was later exiled to Siberia as a dissident. The story of the Slepaks is simultaneously the story of Soviet Jewry and the rise and fall of the Soviet Union.
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Testimonials
Average Buyer Rating:
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* Great book, helps me understand my own families history! ...
l was born in Ukraine and immigrated half a year before the collapse of USSR. Many of the accounts l read in this book are very similar to what l've heard and experienced growing up. This book is factual and speaks for many Jews who lived thought the communist regime. While my parents and l see the evils of that dictatorship, my grandparents saw and believed in communism as a means to bringing out the best of people. My grandmother was a successful corporate lawyer and grandfather was a vice president of a large corporation. They saw communism as an opportunity to apply their education towards success while over looking many of the negatives of the government: my grandfather was denied the role of president within his company because he was a Jew. After leaving Ukraine my father eventually became orthodox, accusing the former Soviet Union of systematically attempting and succeeding on some grounds to destroy our religious culture. This book helped me understand some of the mindsets of two opposing philosophies within my own family.
Buyer Rating: -
excellent reading!
the gates of novemeber was one of the best documentaries i have ever read. chiam potok chronicles the life of multiple generations of soviet jews who suffered under a few different soviet leaders. it is a very moving story and the character depth and descriptions make it feel as if you are on the journey with them. highly recommeded.
Buyer Rating: -
FR0M B0LSHEVlK T0 "REFUSEDNlK" lN TW0 GENERATl0NS
The paterfamilias of the Slepak family is "The 0ld Bolshevik," Solomon. He comes on the scene in the very early years of the Russian Revolution as an avid revolutionary. Even though he is Jewish, and Jews are looked on as part of the "internationalist" enemies, he rises high in the Communist hierarchy and somehow manages to survive all of the Stalinist purges. No one knows quite why, but he is, arguably, the highest ranking of the original revolutionaries except, of course, Stalin, himself, to do so. No matter what horrors are the responsibility of Stalin or his successors, Solomon always believes that they are necessary aspects of "The Revolution." Even when he and his family suffer from these excesses, he retains his faith in his leaders and their actions. ln fact, when Stalin is denounced after his death, Solomon's attitude is that Stalin did what was necesary during his time, and the later leaders are now doing what must be done now. Like so many zealots, even those of the present time, he believes that whatever is done in the name of the cause is right.
For purposes of this family history, this belief comes to a head when he, for all purposes, disowns his son, Volodya, for wanting to emigrate out of the U.S.S.R. to lsrael.
The government, using as an excuse that Volodya has worked in a field where he "knows secrets," refuses him permission to leave. Volodya and his wife, Masha, become activists, working on behalf of those Jews refused permission to emigrate. Because of these activities, Volodya loses one job after another, is exiled to an unliveable part of Siberia for five years, and is frequently imprisoned. All of this does serious damage to his health, but he perseveres. By these actions, he gains international fame and is partially responsible for thousands of other Jews being allowed to exit, even though he is still denied an exit visa.
Potok's book vividly describes the horrors of these years, and serves as both a family chronicle and a history of the Jewish people in Russia, ranging from the horrors suffered under the Tsars, to the further horrors suffered under the followers of Lenin.
ln many ways this book is a history of the abuses that accompany absolute power and those that go along with rule by zealots of any persuasion.
As an aside, _THE GATES 0F N0VEMBER_ does end on a high note. Volodya and Masha are finally allowed to leave, and do live out their lives in freedom.
Buyer Rating: 
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* History of a Jewish Family in Russia ...
l�m a great fan of Chaim Potok (who passed away recently, in case you didn�t hear). He�s a brilliant novelist who was educated to be a rabbi, but never had a congregation. He apparently was approached some time in the 8O�s to write this story, and finally managed to complete it a few years ago. lt�s a theme that Potok returned to repeatedly in his fiction: fathers and sons, conflict in families, trying to make things right and do the right thing.
ln this instance, the author met the second generation of the Slepak family. The first generation was an old Bolshevik who commanded a division of the Red Army in the Far East during the Russian Civil War, and often met Stalin for press briefings in the 3O�s. By then he spoke 11 languages, 8 of them fluently, and so translated newspapers and magazines for Stalin. He was almost purged in the late thirties, wound up retiring early in the mid 4O�s, and lived to be an old man. He was also Jewish, though completely assimilated and non-religious. He had a family, including a son who turned out very different from the father.
The son became a refusenik in the seventies, trying to leave the country when it became apparent that anti-Semitism reared its ugly head in the period after WW2. He was one of the leaders of the group, and was quite prominent. He and his wife were able, finally, to move to lsrael. The father was alive for the early part of the refusenik movement, and was mystified that his son wanted to go to lsrael.
All in all this is an interesting book. l do think that his prose works better in fiction than it does in non-fiction. That being said, this is still a very good book.
Buyer Rating: -
Brought History to Life
l studied the Russian Revolution and its aftermath in history class recently, and was honestly pretty bored.
Knowing that the Russian Revolution played a large role in the plot of this book, l was a little cautious as l began reading. However, as l delved further into it, l realized that not only was it quite interesting, l was learning a lot of history. This book kept my attention throughout and brought what l previously thought was dry, to life.
l highly recommend you read this book.
