GITEL’S FREEDOM
By: Iris Mitlin Lav
Published: March 25, 2025
Publisher: She Writes Press
Historical Fiction
Iris felt led to share about her own family’s experiences as Jewish immigrants to the Chicago area. Many of the stories shared in the book are from her own memories and those shared by others, but she also took the liberty of changing conversations and names to protect family members who are still living.
Gitel was born in Belorussia and immigrated to the United States in 1911. Her Jewish parents were very strict and followed Jewish law, which means she must marry Shmuel, an Orthodox Jewish pharmacist. Because he believes in liberal policies like she does, she believes this may work. They open their own pharmacy, and life seems to be going well until the Great Depression hits their Chicago suburb. This becomes the beginning of their many struggles.
The book is mostly a story of Gitel and Shmuel’s marriage, their children’s lives, and the many struggles they faced due to Shmuel’s poor health, poverty, the war, and difficulty finding work. Just when Gitel and Shmuel overcome a struggle and life seems to be going smoothly, something bad happens to force them to suffer through another situation.
Gitel has dreams of going to college and being a bookkeeper. Unfortunately, this can’t be part of their plans. She stays home with their two daughters until a situation forces Gitel to find a job. Then their struggles are put onto the daughters as well.
This is not a happy story, and I felt like the characters’ struggles were the only focus. Even when things went well, that part of the story was often glossed over to get to the next struggle. Much of the writing consists of dialogue, but at times it felt unnatural, especially when the children were conversing. The dialogue does help the story move along, and the reader can picture the situations the characters are facing. Three generations of women are shared, and each of them had their own struggles to overcome. I was very unknowledgeable about the various Jewish customs and laws, including using different dishes for different foods, the food that isn’t allowed to be eaten, and their religious rituals. The author uses several Yiddish and Hebrew terms and has included a glossary at the end of the book, which I found helpful.
Those who appreciate an immigrant’s story of struggling to make a comfortable life in America will find the characters to be hardworking, earnest, and just trying to keep their heads above water. I felt sympathy for Gitel and her two daughters, who were both forced into situations that teens today would never imagine. But the girls’ struggles only made them appreciate the small joys in life and work even harder to have successful lives as adults. I’m not a fan of the title as it relates to the end of the story. I don’t want to give anything away, but Gitel’s “freedom” seems an odd word choice for how her life changed at the end of the book. Resilience, loyalty to family, and never letting go of your dreams are values held by the characters that made this an inspiring story.
Iris Mitlin Lav grew up in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. She moved to Washington, DC, with her husband in 1969, where they raised three children. She is retired from a long, award-winning career of policy analysis and management with an emphasis on improving policies for low- and moderate-income families. She has traveled extensively in the US and abroad, and she lived in Thailand for two years in the 1970s. She and her husband now live in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with Mango, their goldendoodle, and with grandchildren nearby.
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The post Book Review: Gitel’s Freedom by Iris Mitlin Lav appeared first on Sincerely Stacie.
