Margarita Gokun Silver
  • About
  • Books
  • Writing
    • Plays
    • Features & Reported Essays
    • Travel & Food
    • Personal Essays
  • Workshops
    • Upcoming
  • Painting
  • Contact
  • About
  • Books
  • Writing
    • Plays
    • Features & Reported Essays
    • Travel & Food
    • Personal Essays
  • Workshops
    • Upcoming
  • Painting
  • Contact
"...laugh-out-loud funny... a particular pleasure to see our splintered country through the eyes of this determined and appreciative emigree. Humor, it turns out, opens wide a door to patriotism." 
- NPR Books
Picture
"I thoroughly enjoyed Margarita's witty and acerbic voice. This book was a delight!"
 
​– Jen Mann, NYT bestselling author of 'People I Want to Punch in the Throat' 
"Deeply relatable... filled with many poignant moments. Whether you are an immigrant, the descendant of immigrants, Russian-American, Jewish, a mother, a wife, this book is a quick, easy summer read that is sure to delight while tugging at your heartstrings."  
- The Jewish Book Council
"Hilariously funny, whip-smart and absolutely fascinating…Silver shows that the only person she needs to ever become is herself. Just amazing."
​- Caroline Leavitt, NYT bestselling author of 'Pictures of You' and 'With or Without You'
"Gokun Silver is a witty, gifted writer... "
Los Angeles Review of Books

"... hilarious immigrant tales. From one USSR immigrant to another... I related a lot."
- Margarita Levieva, HBO's 'The Deuce' 
Fake an exit visa, fool the Soviet authorities, pack enough sausage to last through immigration, buy a one-way Aeroflot ticket, and the rest will sort itself out. That was the gist of every Soviet-Jewish immigrant’s plan in the 1980s, Margarita’s included. Despite her father's protestations that they'd get caught and thrown into a gulag, she convinced her family to follow that plan.
 
When they arrived in the US, Margarita had a clearly defined objective – become fully American as soon as possible, and leave her Soviet past behind. But she soon learned that finding her new voice was harder than escaping the Soviet secret police.
 
She finds herself changing her name to fit in, disappointing her parents who expect her to become a doctor, a lawyer, an investment banker and a classical pianist – all at the same time, learning to date without hang-ups (there is no sex in the Soviet Union), parenting her own daughter ‘while too Russian’, and not being able to let go of old habits (never, ever throw anything away because you might use it again). Most importantly, she finds that no matter how hard you try not to become your parents, you end up just like them anyway.
 
Witty, sharp and unflinching, I Named My Dog Pushkin will have fans of Samantha Irby and David Sedaris howling with laughter at Margarita’s catastrophes, her victories and her near misses as she learns to grow as both a woman and an immigrant in a world that often doesn’t appreciate either.


Picture
​Winner of the 2021 PenCraft Book Award (1st Place for Memoir)
Picture

Available on:

Amazon
Apple
Kobo
Google 
​Bookstores in UK/EU

Press and Interviews

​NPR Books
Jewish Book Council
Moms Don't Have Time To Read Books Podcast
​The Foreign Service Journal
Los Angeles Review of Books
Centro Sefarad Israel (in Spanish)
​Hippocampus Magazine
​Constant Wonder Show/BYU Radio
Lovely Books Podcast
URJ
Jewish News (UK)
Jewish Telegraph (UK)
Jewish Boston
​Narratively

​Read excerpts at:

Forward
Tablet

Brevity
​

Listen to a sample on:

SoundCloud ​

See reviews on:

​Goodreads​
​
NetGalley
Picture
© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.