What do you think?
Rate this book
Tender
WHAT IF Nabokov’s Lolita were not a teenage girl longed for by an older man, but was instead a boy, romanced and manipulated by a middle-aged woman? Would the gender reversal make the lovers and readers hold the forbidden relationship to a different standard?
Written by an expert in nuanced emotions, TENDER is a novel of love, passion, power and survival set during the final days of the Soviet Union, telling the story of a Jewish boy Sasha desperate to escape the confines of his nationality.
Trying to avoid his predestined bleak future and fascinated by the subversive, intellectual wonderland offered by his eccentric teacher, Isabella Orlov, Sasha succumbs to a forbidden love affair with the much older woman. The education he desperately needs to avoid the draft ironically also becomes his sexual awakening.
Full of Jewish and Russian humor and cultural insights similar to Anya Ulynich’s Petropolis and Alina Bronsky’s Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine, TENDER reveals the class struggles and anti-Semitic attitudes so common to Russia. TENDER offers a tale rich with emotional intelligence and causes us to re-examine our understandings of societal norms and our own core values.
Written by an expert in nuanced emotions, TENDER is a novel of love, passion, power and survival set during the final days of the Soviet Union, telling the story of a Jewish boy Sasha desperate to escape the confines of his nationality.
Trying to avoid his predestined bleak future and fascinated by the subversive, intellectual wonderland offered by his eccentric teacher, Isabella Orlov, Sasha succumbs to a forbidden love affair with the much older woman. The education he desperately needs to avoid the draft ironically also becomes his sexual awakening.
Full of Jewish and Russian humor and cultural insights similar to Anya Ulynich’s Petropolis and Alina Bronsky’s Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine, TENDER reveals the class struggles and anti-Semitic attitudes so common to Russia. TENDER offers a tale rich with emotional intelligence and causes us to re-examine our understandings of societal norms and our own core values.
372 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
About the author
Iosif Rikhter
1 book1 followerDr. Iosif Rikhter was born in Russia, while it was still the Soviet Union, and attended an elite high school which specialized in math for gifted students. After receiving an engineering degree, he immigrated to the U.S. and earned his doctorate in medicine, specializing in psychiatry.
Richter operates a private practice in San Francisco where he lives with his wife and four children.
Richter operates a private practice in San Francisco where he lives with his wife and four children.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
August 12, 2014
Tender is a subtle, nuanced novel with a unique tone, and one to savor slowly for its many hidden treasures. It unfolds quietly and resonates long after. In fact, it was not until I put it down (the second time) that I began to really process the story tucked within its pages.
This is an unorthodox coming-of-age story, set in Soviet Russia amongst a backdrop of devastating antisemitism, constrictive cultural and social rules, and a palpable, though concealed, antiestablishment sentiment bubbling underneath. Written from the perspective of a young Jewish boy, Sasha, as he gropes his way through childhood and stumbles out into young adulthood, Sasha is introspective and removed at the same time. The beautiful narration reads as though he is a keen observer of his own world; hyperaware of the messages both hidden and unhidden all around, yet largely distant from their impact.
To gain footing in unstable socioeconomic surroundings, Sasha is incessantly driven by his parents to stick to a preplanned blueprint: build toward something resembling security by earning straight A’s, pleasing his teachers and superiors, avoiding the army and becoming an engineer. It is not until he meets Isabella - his unhappily married, culturally privileged and relatively free-spirited teacher with a pathological need for love - that Sasha’s world expands. With Isabella, the vibrant, elite underworld of the Soviet Empire opens, saturating him with broadened possibilities and loosened restraints. So enamored is he of this new world, with it’s music, art, and intellectual celebrity, that he seems oblivious to the possible danger of the unfolding circumstance in which it arises: an apparently innocuous sexual affair with his teacher.
Soft, round, wide-eyed Isabella manages to convince both Sasha and the reader of her innocent and maternal nature. She nurtures and comforts him as she does all her students; holds his hand and guides him through adolescence; respects him as an adult while protecting him as a child. Moreover, Sasha describes the affair, nonplussed and in great detail, seemingly without emotional involvement - indeed, he appears to be in greater control than she. This, of course, is the greatest skill of a manipulator and predator: she persuades her victim that he’s in control, while writing the next scene in her head.
Tender gets at the fundamental complexity of human relationships, and the disturbing, yet compelling, dynamic between controller and controlled in those which are intrinsically abusive. I recommend it for all lovers of literature, particularly anyone with an interest in human behavior.
This is an unorthodox coming-of-age story, set in Soviet Russia amongst a backdrop of devastating antisemitism, constrictive cultural and social rules, and a palpable, though concealed, antiestablishment sentiment bubbling underneath. Written from the perspective of a young Jewish boy, Sasha, as he gropes his way through childhood and stumbles out into young adulthood, Sasha is introspective and removed at the same time. The beautiful narration reads as though he is a keen observer of his own world; hyperaware of the messages both hidden and unhidden all around, yet largely distant from their impact.
To gain footing in unstable socioeconomic surroundings, Sasha is incessantly driven by his parents to stick to a preplanned blueprint: build toward something resembling security by earning straight A’s, pleasing his teachers and superiors, avoiding the army and becoming an engineer. It is not until he meets Isabella - his unhappily married, culturally privileged and relatively free-spirited teacher with a pathological need for love - that Sasha’s world expands. With Isabella, the vibrant, elite underworld of the Soviet Empire opens, saturating him with broadened possibilities and loosened restraints. So enamored is he of this new world, with it’s music, art, and intellectual celebrity, that he seems oblivious to the possible danger of the unfolding circumstance in which it arises: an apparently innocuous sexual affair with his teacher.
Soft, round, wide-eyed Isabella manages to convince both Sasha and the reader of her innocent and maternal nature. She nurtures and comforts him as she does all her students; holds his hand and guides him through adolescence; respects him as an adult while protecting him as a child. Moreover, Sasha describes the affair, nonplussed and in great detail, seemingly without emotional involvement - indeed, he appears to be in greater control than she. This, of course, is the greatest skill of a manipulator and predator: she persuades her victim that he’s in control, while writing the next scene in her head.
Tender gets at the fundamental complexity of human relationships, and the disturbing, yet compelling, dynamic between controller and controlled in those which are intrinsically abusive. I recommend it for all lovers of literature, particularly anyone with an interest in human behavior.
August 12, 2014
Iosif Rikhter’s TENDER is a mesmerizing read - I literally couldn’t put it down and finished it in two days.
From the very first sentence, Dr. Rikhter’s debut novel grabs your attention and takes you on a beautifully written journey of a young Jewish boy coming of age in the very anti-semitic climate of 1970’s Russia. TENDER paints a vivid picture of the growing pains of adolescence that many of us can relate to, but colored with unexpected twists and turns that give this novel a truly unique feel that stays with you long after you’ve finished reading. TENDER’s young protagonist is both keenly insightful and utterly naive as he focuses on being the best of the best in order to avoid the Russian army, as he discovers women, and as he grows closer and closer to his enigmatic high school teacher who introduces him to an underground world of Jewish artists and intellectuals, and who threatens to become a distraction the likes of which he’d never imagined.
TENDER is a truly captivating and intriguing read that poses a lot of complex questions about the morality and ambiguity of love, lust, relationships, and political mores - questions that are just as relevant today as they were in 1970’s Russia. I LOVED IT AND HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!
From the very first sentence, Dr. Rikhter’s debut novel grabs your attention and takes you on a beautifully written journey of a young Jewish boy coming of age in the very anti-semitic climate of 1970’s Russia. TENDER paints a vivid picture of the growing pains of adolescence that many of us can relate to, but colored with unexpected twists and turns that give this novel a truly unique feel that stays with you long after you’ve finished reading. TENDER’s young protagonist is both keenly insightful and utterly naive as he focuses on being the best of the best in order to avoid the Russian army, as he discovers women, and as he grows closer and closer to his enigmatic high school teacher who introduces him to an underground world of Jewish artists and intellectuals, and who threatens to become a distraction the likes of which he’d never imagined.
TENDER is a truly captivating and intriguing read that poses a lot of complex questions about the morality and ambiguity of love, lust, relationships, and political mores - questions that are just as relevant today as they were in 1970’s Russia. I LOVED IT AND HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!
August 15, 2014
As an American growing up in the United States in the 60's and 70's, always interested in Russian culture, this book is of immense interest to me. Very well written and with attention to cultural detail, it touchingly evokes a thorough understanding of what it was like to grow up in such an interesting and troubled time in the Soviet Union. The author tactfully provides insight through the eyes of the Jewish youth Sasha who narrates, guiding the reader through his everyday impressions and passions. And for me the title is a triple entendre as tender means at once compassionate, vulnerable, and nautically tending to lean with the wind. A thoughtful and intelligent read.
August 13, 2014
Iosif Rikhter has written an outstanding book on the life of Soviet society of the early 70 -s with all its nostalgic, sweet, grotesque and tragic overtones. 'Tender' is both thrilling in its narrative and fundamental in its observations. Here is a book that you will reread and then pass it on to your friends. The protagonist is definitely worthy of his creator and It is very refreshing to feel that Rikhter is very fond of him. A little too long, but -- a must!"
August 14, 2014
This book reads in a single breath, and when you’ve finished, you immediately want more. This is all true. Every Jewish boy of my generation, born and brought up in Soviet Russia, can identify himself with Sasha. Rikhter is a genius!
August 5, 2014
I just read Iosif Rikhter’s TENDER – a psychologically intense novel about love and anti-Semitism in Soviet Russia. An unlikely romance between a high school teacher and her student will certainly grab your attention but the book goes far beyond an inauspicious love story. Iosif Rikhter crafted the music and colors, fears and hopes of the Soviet life in the mid-70-ies into an original and insightful mosaic, having transformed his seemingly unique material into a universally relevant experience. Read the book – you are in for an exciting ride.
August 13, 2014
Wow, what a book! I could not put it down. As it says on the cover, it resembles Lolita, but the other way around, in the sense that it's told through the eyes of a young Jewish boy who is having sexual adventures and coming of age in Soviet Russia in the 1970s. It turns out they did have sex in the Soviet Union after all, contrary to what Soviet officials said. Can a teenager have an affair with his high school teacher in Moscow in the 70s? And how would that end? Can a Jew become successful in the Soviet Union? Read to find out.
August 18, 2014
TENDER is a moving and psychologically sophisticated coming of age story set in the Soviet Russia. A subversive tale of love, antisemitism, and survival, it upends conventions and poses as many questions as it answers. Although it is set in a totalitarian state in the 1970's, its transcends its temporal and cultural boundaries to depict a deeply emotional experience relevant to all. A must read for anybody who loves literary fiction.
October 13, 2014
I loved the book Tender by Iosif Rikhter. I was drawn in pretty much from page one. I really liked how the author showed the steady rise of the main characters relationships and I thought that it didn't feel too forced or fake.
I gave the book a four because of some distracting grammatical errors that weren't caught by the editor.
I won this book through goodreads first reads giveaway
I gave the book a four because of some distracting grammatical errors that weren't caught by the editor.
I won this book through goodreads first reads giveaway
August 15, 2014
This book is an amazing window into the past, into the reality that is no more. Clever and funny, this book paints the soviet time with colors so diverse and unexpected, one cannot stop from looking back into "the prism" the author offers to his readers. The author's unique voice and the characters are so vivid, it is hard to put this book down.
August 18, 2014
When in his life journey one inevitably approaches the final tender years, it is only natural to want to look back at the road traveled and to try and understand how you got from there to here. Looking back at the beginning of his journey, Iosif Rikhter (he, or his protagonist - a contemporary of mine, judging by the years on which falls his adolescence) does it with deep insight and inimitable humor and elegance. His ability to seemingly effortlessly return to the age of his protagonist and, thus, to shed the years of experience and acquired wisdom (which the author clearly possesses in abundance) is striking. As is his gift of delivering a clear and incisive picture of a Soviet Jewish adolescent to the American reading public. While some Jewish teenager experiences (such as, for example, being at the same time nourished and suffocated by overbearing Jewish parents or yearning for the first sexual encounter, while being both curious and afraid at the same time) are universal, the others (such as growing up under rigid, oppressive and, sometimes, plainly idiotic political system) are unique to Russia of those years. Rikhter does a masterful job weaving both into one colorful, emotionally charged yarn. Let us extend a warm welcome to this talented newcomer to the literary scene.
August 7, 2014
Dr. Rikhter's novel is mind-boggling! He describes human habits, behaviors, intolerance and relationships by digging into the deepest and darkest of psyches.
Much like the great classics that resonate with us even AFTER we put the book down, so too does Rikhter's TENDER. A book with a story that will keep us thinking, responding, reacting to the characters, our own selves and the world around us. Think twice what is O.K. or acceptable --- and then, who's to say it isn't?
Absolutely a wonderful book for any time of the year. I read it this summer and highly recommend it to anyone that loves the feeling of not being able to put a book down!
ABSOLUTELY A MUST READ!!
Much like the great classics that resonate with us even AFTER we put the book down, so too does Rikhter's TENDER. A book with a story that will keep us thinking, responding, reacting to the characters, our own selves and the world around us. Think twice what is O.K. or acceptable --- and then, who's to say it isn't?
Absolutely a wonderful book for any time of the year. I read it this summer and highly recommend it to anyone that loves the feeling of not being able to put a book down!
ABSOLUTELY A MUST READ!!
August 15, 2014
What a pleasant surprise! Since I was raised in the Soviet Union at almost the same time, “Tender” revived memories and feelings that I did not expect to ever revisit. At the same time I was treated with facets of a teenager’s world that I would never imagine. With a climactic twist, the author makes the reader realize that nothing is as straightforward as it initially appeared. The plot kept me hooked until the last word, and some scenes and phrases have not left me since. I am looking forward to the next installment of this fascinating saga.
August 14, 2014
Tender, the first novel from newcomer Iosif Rikhter, is a coming of age story set in communist Russia in the 1970s. Like most good novels, it transcends its setting and relates to many aspects of life everywhere – social, personal, and sexual. A series of episodes, seen through the eyes of a sensitive young boy, exposes all shades of grey in the black-and-white fabric of socially accepted norms and morals in a totalitarian state, or for that matter, in any state. I liked it a lot.
August 15, 2014
Insightful
Tender offers a fascinating personal view into 1960s/70s Soviet Union and the Jewish experience. The protagonist's "tender" experiences -- in all of the definitions the author suggests -- make for a compelling read. The Jewish/Russian humor adds colorful detail and keeps it light. I would recommend Tender for anyone interested in an insightful view of a boy's challenging coming-of-age experience in an equally challenging environment.
Tender offers a fascinating personal view into 1960s/70s Soviet Union and the Jewish experience. The protagonist's "tender" experiences -- in all of the definitions the author suggests -- make for a compelling read. The Jewish/Russian humor adds colorful detail and keeps it light. I would recommend Tender for anyone interested in an insightful view of a boy's challenging coming-of-age experience in an equally challenging environment.
August 18, 2014
Tender is the book which matches its title. Like the word 'tender' it has many meanings. It radiates and inspires various feelings. It works on many levels. If you want to read a good story, you will find it here -- a story of coming of age, a formation of a character, and a search of true happiness. If you want to deep into unfamiliar social territory, you'll find here a canvas of customs, rituals, views and social mores, that are still largely unknown to American audiences. There are also plenty of psychological insights, universally valuable in any part of the world -- be it Soviet Russia or the USA. The book's perspective (the story is told by its protagonist) obviously benefits from the author's roots as a Jew who grew up in the post-war and post-Stalin's Moscow, capital of Soviet Union, and also from his vast experience as American psychiatrist. Since his arrival to the USA, Russia and the world changed, and some readers would love to experience "the old world" of Moscow of the 1960s and 70s, resurrected in the book, while others would find here important lessons (or just reminders) on the eternal subjects of love, friendships, family, society, and morals.
August 15, 2014
Enthralling Bildungsroman! Akin to Adam Johnson’s The Orphan Master’s Son, TENDER is a subversive, hilarious and moving tale of love and survival set in a totalitarian state. An insider's view of the formative years of the baby boom generation in the Soviet Union from the outsider perspective of a Russian Jew, it skillfully conveys the realities and feel of the time and place while focusing on the unique experience of a sensitive, brilliant, ironic adolescent as he looks back to his earliest years, gradually progresses from a toddler's first crushes to an ambiguous relationship with an inspiring high school teacher, and learns to navigate his treacherous political, social and emotional environment. Written in an accessible style with a good mix of humorous dialogue and well-paced narrative, TENDER successfully combines universal appeal and fascinating insights into a particular period and culture.
August 15, 2014
A wonderful book with an understanding of the last days of the Soviet Union, and people and their emotions living at that time, expressed by an insider. Iosif Rikhter obviously spent his youth there at that time, and has brought us an engaging story with a psychological output which could only be achieved by a professional. I highly recommend TENDER!
August 10, 2014
In his remarkable first novel TENDER, Iosif Rikhter's depicts Soviet Russia as a primal "pre-freidian" society. One hundred years prior Chekhov described Russia in similar clinical terms. It is not a coincidence that both writers were physicians. Teenage Sasha's strange relationships with women, which are inseparable from his Jewish identity, parallel those of Chekov's characters who were very much products of their subculture and class. Like Iosif Rikhter Chekhov was himself a minority, a "maloros" i.e. a Ukrainian. TENDER brought up vivid memories of my Soviet youth in 1970s. The issues raised in the novel, however, are universal and transcend both the time and the setting of the novel. It is suspenseful, insightful, and is a must read.
August 18, 2014
I could not put it down!
A coming of age novel of a Soviet Jewish childhood while growing up. Although I found myself laughing at times, there is much that is serious and sometimes disturbing in this book. Good easy flowing writing, thoughtful, sincere, and funny. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the experience of a Jewish child in the Soviet Russia in the late 70's/early 80's
A coming of age novel of a Soviet Jewish childhood while growing up. Although I found myself laughing at times, there is much that is serious and sometimes disturbing in this book. Good easy flowing writing, thoughtful, sincere, and funny. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the experience of a Jewish child in the Soviet Russia in the late 70's/early 80's
August 10, 2014
Wonderful book, highly recommended!! Passionate, scandalous and compelling. Rikhter's heritage works in his favor; he gives new light to issues that tend to remain in the dark corners of daily discourse - too disgraceful, shameful and shocking for most to write about.
I certainly enjoyed Tender and highly recommend it.
I certainly enjoyed Tender and highly recommend it.
August 23, 2014
It is Rikhter’s literary chemistry that still haunts me days after I finished TENDER – a work in which its young protagonist is set like a reagent among a precisely mixed cast of catalytic characters and subjected to compromising, broad-band social power dynamics. The yield is more than a great page-turner, rich with intriguing culture and conflict (which it is), but also a provocative, thoughtfully posed moral question about what can be expected of the human spirit nurtured under arbitrary, pervasive, and violent inequality. I found this a truly fascinating and entirely unique piece of fiction - the best I've read in the past 10 years - that rings true and timely on a multitude of fronts, and I’d recommend it to all!
August 20, 2014
easy to read coming of age story of a Russian boy with a twist. Parts of it did warm the "cockles of my heart" but some parts the "wordiness" was a distraction from the story. I was a little disappointed that some of the characters were not developed more, but I am sure then the book would have be twice a long(it was the correct length). All and all a very enjoyable read
August 23, 2014
This wonderfully witty and insightful debut Bildungsroman combines unflinching and richly detailed rendering of the cultural and political incongruities of the pre-Perestroika Soviet Union with unabashed cannot-put-it-down voyeuristic seduction of the intense but surprisingly joyless sexual travails of its characters.
The version I read could use tighter editing.
The version I read could use tighter editing.
August 20, 2014
Beautifully written and very engaging. The young man's journey captured my attention and my curiosity as to the outcome carried me along. I was not disappointed. Anticipate and looking forward to a sequel.
Want to Read
July 14, 2014I won a free copy of Tender through a Goodreads giveaway! I can't wait to read it.
August 20, 2014
Wow, what a journey into the past! The details are so photographically precise…, the epoch is not always so photogenic...Excellent book!
August 24, 2014
Tender is a brilliant rendering of what living in Soviet Russia as a precocious Jewish adolescent was actually like, combined with a heartbreaking and very screwed up love story. I recommend it to anyone interested in any or all of those themes.
As a person who frequently judges books by their covers (alas!), I was skeptical of Tender due to its decidedly weird photoshop-lite cover but decided to try the first chapter anyway and was immediately hooked. The book managed to win me over with its premise and brisk, refreshing writing style.
Tender is also populated by a colorful assortment of Russian characters, which lend a nice balance to the gravity of some of its subject matter. Overall, the book manages to explore some deep emotional territory, has some truly memorable scenes and is very funny -- quite a feat for a first-time author.
As a person who frequently judges books by their covers (alas!), I was skeptical of Tender due to its decidedly weird photoshop-lite cover but decided to try the first chapter anyway and was immediately hooked. The book managed to win me over with its premise and brisk, refreshing writing style.
Tender is also populated by a colorful assortment of Russian characters, which lend a nice balance to the gravity of some of its subject matter. Overall, the book manages to explore some deep emotional territory, has some truly memorable scenes and is very funny -- quite a feat for a first-time author.
September 6, 2014
Excellent! TENDER is a moving story of a boy growing up in the Soviet Union. Iosif Rikhter takes the reader on an incredible journey through Sasha's first kiss, exploring the world beyond his parents' beliefs and coming to understand the limits of the world in which he lives. One quickly feels connected with this boy as his struggles to understand himself and the world around him. The story provides an intense range of emotions as a boy comes to know himself, setting a life course inclusive of his experiences and of his own desire. TENDER is hard to put down and leaves the reader satisfied and looking for more!
August 25, 2014
I loved Tender -- a mosaic of brilliantly told stories that bring up your own childhood memories.
The novel is an Interesting read for anyone, whether born in Soviet Russia or not.
It is also a poetic rendering of one's younger and tender years with a touch of light humor and sadness.
The novel is an Interesting read for anyone, whether born in Soviet Russia or not.
It is also a poetic rendering of one's younger and tender years with a touch of light humor and sadness.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews