Sunshine Girl

Sunshine Girl by Dildora Muzafari is a uniquely personal yet highly informative story about the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of a girl who grew up in Uzbekistan in the Soviet period. Born in the 1950s in Soviet Central Asia, Ms. Muzafari shares the rich and tragic history of her family which came from a long line of Central Asian intellectuals and was severely oppressed in the Stalinist period. She then provides a first-hand view of Tashkent and the small Uzbek villages during her formative years, the Earthquake of 1966, life in a closed Soviet city during the Perestroika era, the realities of living in East Germany, a real-life escape to West Germany, the work environment at Radio Free Liberty, an immigrant's perspective on America and, ultimately, the profound transformation of her hometown after the fall of the Soviet Union. Told with humor, personality, and refreshing candor, this account adds a fresh and unusual perspective to the collection of narratives about dislocation and immigration, as well as racism and women's issues. Even those familiar with life in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe often know far less about the five Central Asian republics, and will thus find this book a beautiful and passionate window to that world. Yet this book is valuable not only as a historical account; it is also the personal story of a girl who grew up in a society where two very different cultures collided - the more modern, secular Soviet one and an ancient, traditional Muslim one - and who simultaneously fit into both and neither. Sunshine Girl follows Ms. Muzafari's struggle to free herself from the social, historical, gender, and racial constraints imposed on her by her society, find her own voice, and reach a place she could truly call home. Her bold, unique, and passionate voice carries the reader through her odyssey which stretches from Uzbekistan to Ukraine, Russia, East Germany, Hungary, West Germany, and ultimately, Michigan. It also chronicles her great love affair with an East German and the overwhelming political and cultural obstacles the couple overcame to be together.