MASHA GESSEN is a journalist who has written for Slate, Seed, the New Republic, the New York Times, and other publications, and is the author of numerous books, including The Future is History, which has been nominated for the National Book Award.
PRAISE FOR ESTER AND RUZYA "Reviewers sometimes call a work of
nonfiction 'as exciting as a novel, ' but that would be an
understatement applied to this extraordinary family memoir . . .
Ester and Ruzya will remind you how much life, history and
emotional and moral complexity the genre can convey in the hands of
a wonderful writer."--The New York Times Book Review
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This energetic but unfocused account awkwardly merges several strands: the author's experience with the threat of breast cancer, discussions of genetic inheritance in Jewish families and a look at how the ability to test for genetic predispositions to various diseases is changing lives. With a family history of breast cancer, journalist Gessen (Dead Again: The Russian Intelligentsia After Communism) was not surprised to learn she had inherited a "deleterious mutation" in the BRCA1 gene, one of two genes known to be linked to breast and ovarian cancer. The BRCA1 mutation was first discovered in Jewish women, a "compact population" with a higher-than-average breast cancer rate. Gessen describes her narrow options, with "nondirective counseling" steering her toward prophylactic removal of her breasts and ovaries. Then she jumps the track to talk about Dr. Henry Lynch, who, in 1966, first suggested that predisposition to cancer might be hereditary. Gessen also covers Huntington's disease, maple syrup disease among Old Order Mennonites, eugenics and how a genetic testing program is affecting marital choices for some Orthodox Jews. Gessen covers a fair amount of ground, but in a haphazard fashion. The book's strongest parts are on genetics and heredity in the Jewish community. (Apr.) Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.
PRAISE FOR ESTER AND RUZYA "Reviewers sometimes call a
work of nonfiction 'as exciting as a novel, ' but that would be an
understatement applied to this extraordinary family memoir . . .
Ester and Ruzya will remind you how much life, history and
emotional and moral complexity the genre can convey in the hands of
a wonderful writer."--The New York Times Book Review
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