Q&A with Alina Adams

 

 

 

Alina Adams is the author of the new novel Go On Pretending. Her other books include the novel The Nesting Dolls. She lives in New York City.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Go On Pretending, and how did you create your characters Rose, Emma, and Libby?

 

A: My first historical fiction novel, The Nesting Dolls, took place in 1930s USSR, 1970s USSR, and present-day Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Readers told me the first part, set in the 1930s, was their favorite. They knew what was happening to Jews in Western Europe at the time, of course, but had little to no idea about what they were going through in Eastern Europe at the same time.

 

Because of this, I decided to set the bulk of my subsequent book, My Mother’s Secret: A Novel of the Jewish Autonomous Region, during the 1930s and early 1940s.

 

One of the subplots was about American Jews who had actually voluntarily moved to the Soviet Union because they were true believers in the Communist cause. When readers expressed interest in learning more about that (some flat out told me they didn’t believe it could happen), I came up with the idea for Go On Pretending.

 

Rose Janowitz is a typical product of her time, an American “red diaper baby” who believed in Socialism. She went to Spain to fight in the Civil War against Francisco Franco.

 

And she supported the USSR to the point of first, traveling there to present her Marxist inspired version of Othello, then permanently moving there with her African-American husband, believing that they would have a better life in the self-professed non-racist, non-antisemitic, feminist and progressive Soviet Union than in 1950s segregated America.

 

Rose’s daughter Emma, grows up biracial and Jewish in Moscow. Because she understands the language better – and isn’t blinded by ideology – Emma sees a USSR her mother refuses to acknowledge, one that contradicts everything Rose keeps insisting is true about their lives, and makes personal choices the exact opposite of the ones Rose would want for her.

 

Finally, Emma’s daughter, Libby, romanticizes her grandmother’s past to the point where she decides to emulate it… by running off to join a revolution of her own, and leaving Rose and Emma to face the consequences of their decisions and how they’ve led all three of them into life-threatening danger.

Q: How was the novel's title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: In an incredible coincidence, I am a Soviet Jewish woman married to an African-American man! When we first met, we found out that we were both fans of the musical “Chess.” We used to joke that the lyrics to one of the songs described us: You and I/We’ve seen it all/Chasing our heart’s desire/But we go on pretending/Stories like ours/Have happy endings.

 

We’ve been married for 26 years. While, as the Russian expression goes, “It’s not evening yet,” we do like to think that we’ve gotten our happy ending. But would that have been possible if we were living in a different time and place?

 

Each of the characters in Go On Pretending gambles on an idealized future and, no matter what they see or experience to the contrary, keep believing that they will get their happy ending. The problems begin when they insist others see the world the way that they do. And when that myopia leads to catastrophe.

 

Q: Did you learn anything especially surprising in the course of researching the novel?

 

A: Yes! A key section takes place during the 1957 World Youth Festival (the Soviet Union threw a pro-democracy festival; that would have been surprising enough, but I already knew about it, going in).

 

During that festival, a young American Harvard student, George Abrams, stood in front of the Kremlin and read out loud from the UN report condemning the Soviet Union’s recent suppression of the uprising in Hungary. Crowds of thousands gathered to hear him, translating the report and debating its implications.

 

The idea that something like this could happen – and everyone in attendance wasn’t instantly arrested – below my mind! But those were the brief, halcyon days of Khrushchev. He was soon deposed, and that was the end of that.

 

Alina Adams and family

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?

 

A: That utopia is an unreachable dream. That all systems have their flaws. That all parents do the best they can. That all children think they didn’t do enough. That dreams can come true, but maybe not in the way you expected them to. That denial has its uses, and that soap operas are awesome.

 

(Another large section of the book takes place in the early days of radio soap operas as they transition to television. Yes, this is connected to the USSR. And to Middle East revolution.)

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m trying something completely different. Because I also report on the NYC school system, my agent is currently shopping around a mystery novel called Admit None, set in the world of NYC’s cut-throat private school admissions scene. There are lots of things that I know going on behind the scenes which I can’t reveal in my nonfiction… but, boy, can I let loose in fiction!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I’ll be having a launch event in Brooklyn on May 3 at 6 p.m., where there will be book reading, drinks, and Soviet-era food, not to mention fun for all! I hope folks in the area will stop by! (And if you’re not in the area, it will be live streamed on YouTube!)

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Alina Adams.