Praise & Reviews

On Bittersweet Place

“The novel—Wineberg’s first, following her acclaimed story collection Second Language—concerns Lena Czernitski, a young Russian Jewish immigrant trying to find her place in the glamour and darkness of 1920s Chicago.”—The Millions’ Most-Anticipated Fall Preview, 2014 (recommended by Emily Mandel)

“In the pages of Ronna Wineberg’s On Bittersweet Place, one finds echoes of Anzia Yezierska and Betty Smith; in the fictional story of Lena Czernitski’s immigrant family in the first quarter of the 20th century the reader recovers a piece of our larger American history. Quite impressive.”—Erika Dreifus, author of Quiet Americans

“On Bittersweet Place is as much the coming-of-age story of the Midwest as a diverse and thriving urban center as it is Lena’s.”—Bloom

“Ronna Wineberg’s On Bittersweet Place (Relegation Books) is a familiar story told with new rhythms. A first novel, this is an immigrant tale of a young Russian Jew who flees Ukraine with her family as a 10-year old and grows up in Chicago in the jazz age 1920s. The writing is compelling, the story universal.”—The New York Jewish Week

“Wineberg's coming-of-age story of Lena Czernitski, a young Russian Jew who has fled the Ukraine with her family to brave the challenges of assimilation in 1920’s Chicago, has all the elements of a classic. It is a lovely novel with a heroine of depth, intelligence, and tremendous heart.”—Shelf Unbound

“Lesa Lockford expertly captures the voice of Lena as she moves through adolescence into adulthood, from an unsure girl afraid she will never speak unaccented English to a confident, successful woman. Wineberg’s (Second Language) quintessential American story of belonging, family life, heritage, and pursuing the American dream will resonate with listeners.”—Library Journal (audiobook review)

“Youth is never all sweet, and On Bittersweet Place’s Lena, a Russian-born Jewish teenager in 1920s Chicago, certainly has her share of troubles. The sweetness is there, though, in this heartfelt coming-of-age tale–– in the tenderness of Wineberg’s beautiful prose and the pluck of its resilient young heroine. A story that stays with you.”—Anne Korkeakivi, author of An Unexpected Guest

“On Bittersweet Place has a modest scope, but in the background there are questions of identity, the evolution of cities in the 20th century, and the minute effects of sweeping historical change. The contrast Wineberg achieves is impressive.”—Tobias Carroll, The Forward

“…an impressive and moving coming of age story”—Largehearted Boy

“Told in the first person, this is a highly engaging story with a thoughtful and believable protagonist. It would be of interest to adults and older teens. Highly recommended for synagogue and high school libraries.”—Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews

“A powerful evocation of the complexities of the early 20th-century immigrant experience too often sugar-coated and sentimentalized. Rich with precise period detail and iconic historical references, On Bittersweet Place brings to life the travails and triumphs of one Jewish-American family readers will not easily forget.”—Joan Leegant, author of Wherever You Go

“A tender—and tenderly rendered—portrait of a young Russian emigre undergoing transplantation shock in the New World. Wineberg's wide-eyed protagonist never sheds her guileless idealism, nor does Wineberg's limpid prose ever shed its unassuming grace.”—Peter Selgin, author of Drowning Lessons

“Wineberg does an outstanding job of capturing the universal immigrant experience, in this case through the specific example of Russian Jews who have fled the pogroms, and the vibrant and unpredictable nature of life in Roaring 20’s Chicago.”—Read Her Like an Open Book

“[Lena] is a remarkable young woman with a spirited edge. Wineberg presents an insight into a world unknown and unimagined by most readers, but a world that has become increasingly familiar in our changing times. Although globalism and immigration patterns have shifted from Europe to world-wide populations, Lena's perspective illustrates not just the difficulties associated with adolescence, but the suffering that occurs when unwelcomed foreigners are marginalized, taunted, and abused. Unfortunately, the story remains current and potent.”— Literature Arts Medicine Database

“Ronna Wineberg has brought this period of American history in Chicago to life. Lena’s story not only provides a glimpse into the life of a Jewish immigrant and her family in the ‘20s but lets readers rejoice in the beauty of Lena’s growth and her ability to see good in a world that has not always appreciated her.”—Jewish Book Council

“Perhaps the greatest strength of On Bittersweet Place is its simple prose, which makes the book easily accessible. Oftentimes, a book is written from a child’s perspective yet is narrated in an embellished, complicated voice. However, this novel maintains a straightforward voice, one that Lena could have had. This prose not only renders the story more compelling but is also appropriate for one of Lena’s bigger struggles: communicating boldly with those around her.”—Harvard Crimson

Second Language

“The situations of Ronna Wineberg’s characters are diverse, but they circle one inescapable theme with flawless emotional accuracy: that few are fulfilled, and even fewer will live out their lives without at least trying, bravely, to make a break for it.”—Rosellen Brown

“Reading the stories in Second Language is like entering a series of complex, absorbing worlds…This is a beautifully written and deeply satisfying collection.”—Margot Livesey

“A strong collection of thirteen short stories, this book is a quest into beautiful prose and insight. Powerful language passes throughout, proving Wineberg to be a wonderful storyteller. The central theme of the book is people looking for their escape, but it is in the individual stories that reveal Wineberg’s real talent, each showing a unique world, giving the overall work a resonating tone. Lines like: ‘A good piano can transport you. Not from her to there. But in your mind,’ are peppered throughout the work, like little seeds that sprout and grow. Initially, coming across as deceptively simple, Wineberg's metaphors are anything but simple and ordinary.”—Eric Hoffer Award for Books

“Wineberg’s characters are reflective, pensive, torn between what feels right and what feels good. Each woman encounters a troubling path; an ill parent, a decaying marriage, a furious child…Throughout the collection, whether they are standing before their lovers or their spouses, their parents or their doctors, the women in Second Language find that they are able to cope with the seemingly unbearable, and that their instinct and intellect will give them the words.”—Jaclyn Thomas, Small Spiral Notebook

“Revisiting the snippets I had highlighted in the collection Second Language, I was struck by their ability to elicit gut-level emotional responses all on their own; as if these soulful epigrams had become wrapped up in their respective stories only by chance.”—Steven Hansen, Small Spiral Notebook

“The following comments by Cynthia Ozick about writers and their work (Metaphor and Memory. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989, p. 266) captures precisely the powerful stories in Wineberg’s provocative book: 

the writer is an imaginer by trade, will suggest a course of connection, of entering the tremulous spirit of the helpless, the fearful, the apart. The writer will demonstrate the contagion of passion and compassion that is known in medicine as empathy and in art as insight.

It is exactly what Ronna Wineberg does as a writer.”—Lois LaCivita Nixon, Literature Arts Medicine Database

Review of “A Crossing,” Lois LaCivita Nixon, Medical Ethics and Humanities

“In this collection of beautifully crafted short stories, Ronna Wineberg deals with unfulfilled longings, deeply-held secrets, the effects on aging on the mind and the body.”—Jewish Book Council

“Ronna Wineberg does a wonderful job of showing all her characters fully in the world they inhabit, writing almost in real time of the pain that walks hand in hand with beauty and joy. All of her characters make leaps and are awkward from time to time, and all of them come to a realization of how they want to live their life. At the heart of it all, Second Language is a collection of stories about how women free themselves.”— Kelly Zavala, Other Voices

“The judges named Ronna Wineberg runner-up for her short story collection Second Language.”— Union for Reform Judaism