• Home
  • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Write for Australian Women Online
  • Advertise With Us
  • Horoscopes
  • Style
  • Shoe Boutique
  • eFashion
  • Weight Watchers Australia

Australian Women Online

Business, career, health and lifestyle content for women

  • Home
  • BLOG
  • BOOKS
  • BUSINESS
  • CAREER
  • COOKING
  • HEALTH
  • LIFESTYLE
    • Automotive
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Pets
    • Relationships
    • Your Home
    • Your Money
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • TRAVEL
    • Discount Holidays
You are here: Home / BOOKS / Book Reviews / Book Review: Otherland – a journey with my daughter by Maria Tumarkin

Book Review: Otherland – a journey with my daughter by Maria Tumarkin

11 October 2010 by Barbara Sungaila

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Print
  • WhatsApp

Rating: ★★★★★

Sometimes the gulf between reality and imagination is vast. Often it is at its greatest when it involves those things closest to our hearts, for here the possibility of self delusion is at its greatest.

When Maria Tumarkin returns to Russia with her Australian-born adolescent daughter Billie, she is hoping to share her past and to deepen the bonds between them. However the country she left in 1989 no longer exists and she rapidly realises that she can neither predict nor shape her daughter’s responses to the physical and emotional onslaught of the trip they are undertaking. Her own reactions also surprise her. While waiting at Vienna airport for their final flight, she is expecting to connect with the ‘lost, tense teenager I was myself when the Tumarkin family departed Kharkov almost twenty years ago’. Instead she finds herself thinking ‘Oh God, I am ridiculously underdressed’.

It is this exploration of her own visceral reactions to her birth country – to the familiar and to the changed – that is a major strength of Otherland. This willingness to delve into her own uncertainly and vulnerability when things do not go as planned. As she meets up with long lost friends and acquaintances, as she deals with the petty humiliations of bureaucracy, as her daughter refuses to use the toilets on a long distance train trip – all the challenges of the journey are met with an intense introspection.

She reflects on the work of many other Russian writers and thinkers, placing herself in a vivid tapestry of words and ideas. She also quotes at length from Billie’s diaries and this youthful input gives the book immediacy by centring the action in a voice that is clear and certain. This contrasts well with the multi-layered, highly-textured structure of her own thoughts and observations. There are many rich and varied themes running through this work. It is a book about mother–daughter relationships and it is also a book about Russia. Both are themes of truly epic proportion and Maria Tumarkin does them both justice.

She was born in 1974 in the former Soviet Union in a Russian Jewish family, which in 1989 immigrated to Australia. She has published two other books, Traumascapes (2005) and Courage (2007). She lives in Melbourne with her two children and is currently working as a Research Fellow at the Institute for Social Research, Swinburne on the international ‘Social Memory and Historical Justice’ project.

Otherland is Maria’s third book. It is a complex and beautifully written work and has been shortlisted for The Age Non-Fiction Book of The Year.

You May Also Like:

Filed Under: Book Reviews, BOOKS, Uncategorized

Ads by Google
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

New Content

  • Building a Property Investment Portfolio
  • Simple Yet Effective Ways to Manage an HVAC Business
  • 5 Tips To Keeping Your Family Covered With Medicare
  • 5 Things Your Family Should Consider Before Moving
  • The Best Barista Course Adelaide For Coffee Lovers
  • The Importance Of Community For Women’s Empowerment
  • The Coolest Types Of Places You Can Visit If You Feel Like Dressing Up For A Super Luxurious Night Out
  • Set for Success: 5 Ways to Prepare Your Teen for Adulthood
  • How to start a career in 7 steps according to Jooble’s research
  • What Is Balayage Hair Colouring?

Popular Content

  • Sexy and Stylish Short Hairstyles for Women Over 60
  • Moore Weekly Stars
  • The 4 Best Cooking Oils for Your BBQ
  • Top 9 Cars for Women in Australia
  • Alice McCall Pastime Paradise Mini Dress
  • Aussie Mums open male escort agency catering exclusively to women
  • Escort Services: Do Escorts Ever Fall For Their Clients?
  • Veronika Maine Ladies Crinkle Georgette Shirred Top Mustard
  • Ellery Logo Print T-Shirt
  • Advertise with Australian Women Online

Australian Women Online © Copyright 2007 - 2022 Deborah Robinson ABN 38 119 171 979 · All Rights Reserved

Please share your location to continue.

Check our help guide for more info.

share your location