A Jewish family from Riga emigrates to the West via Rome. The novel recounts the time spent in Rome before the move to Canada of the three generations of this family. A little long but very humourous.

Hilariously funny; heartbreakingly sad - this is a wonderful book, my favourite of the year.

although not a fac of fiction, i read every word to the end, following the characters and their histories. i enjoyed the Roman ambience -- more than in The Imperfectionists

A surprisingly good read if a little slow in places.

http://cdnbookworm.blogspot.com/2011/10/free-world.html

"My existence will be the same wherever we go." So asserts patriarch Samuil Krasnansky, a Red Army veteran who views emigration from Soviet-controlled Latvia not as a chance at freedom but as evidence of his own demise. David Bezmozgis sets his debut novel in Rome, a rest stop between two worlds, where Samuil, his wife, his sons and daughters-in-law, and his two grandchildren, await visas to travel to North America. Outsiders in their homeland, the family members now sit in limbo on the fringes of Italian society, juggling the hopes and the dangers inherent in "The Free World." The novel contains much political detail: history surrounding the Bolshevik Revolution, the late 1970s status of the Soviet Union and allusions to peace talks between Egypt and Israel. Not, in my opinion, fodder for gripping fiction but Bezmozgis's focus and precise observations allow the story to flow unburdened. Even during moments of little action, when characters brood or reflect on the past, the book moves quickly and maintains the reader's interest. Despite tinges of melodrama and the occasional skim-able chapter, "The Free World" provides a multi-faceted, genuine and unglorified version of the Jewish immigrant story.

Chatelaine Book Club recommendation April 2011: "The querolous Krasnansky family" flee the Soviet Union in the summer of 1978.