by Masha Gessen
First published 2016
Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev carry the weight of generations of displacement. Their family fled Stalin's deportations, survived chaos in Kyrgyzstan and violence in Dagestan, then arrived in America seeking refuge. The brothers face an impossible choice between embracing their new country and honoring their fractured past. Tamerlan struggles with failed dreams while Dzhokhar navigates adolescence caught between worlds. Their Chechen heritage pulls against American expectations. Islam offers answers that secular life cannot provide. The brothers watch their parents' marriage crumble and their own futures narrow. Resentment builds alongside religious fervor. They study bomb-making techniques and scout the Boston Marathon route. On April 15, 2013, their pressure cooker devices explode near the finish line, killing three and wounding 264. Masha Gessen reconstructs their journey from refugees to terrorists, examining how dislocation and identity crisis can transform ordinary immigrants into killers. She reveals the human cost of never belonging anywhere completely.
Genres: history, american, crime, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: dark, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: displacement, fractured-past
Setting: Boston, Dagestan, Kyrgyzstan, Stalin
Period: 2013
Paperback · Scribe Publications
Content warnings: violence