If you're wondering where you've heard the phrase "The Russians are Coming" before you're in good company. The phrase has some interesting history behind it. It was originally attributed to the first United States Secretary of Defense, James Forrestal in 1949. According to one source he said, "The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming. They're right around. I've seen Russian soldiers!" Later that same year he committed suicide by jumping out a hospital window. Obviously some issues! But keep in mind this man also held the position of Secretary of the Navy during the last year of WWII and was deeply involved two years before his death in the alien landing (or whatever) in Roswell, New Mexico. You can imagine what the conspiracy theorists made of his death. Next the phrase became the title of a film directed by Norman Jewison staring Carl Reiner, Eva Marie Saint and Alan Arkin. In the film a Soviet submarine inadvertently beaches near a small American town. The resulting human interactions made a farce of the cold war. And believe me, at that time the cold war needed all the good humor we on both sides of the Berlin Wall could muster! The book that is the subject of this review was not the basis for the movie which was actually based on a children's book by Nathanial Benchley called "The Off-Islanders." Lily Alex, the author of this book wasn't even born when the movie was made. However she was born and raised in Russia before the collapse of Communism and has lived in the USA and Canada since 1994 which does give her a wonderful background for a book exploring the interactions between Americans and Russian immigrants These interactions might not be as amusing as those between the stereotypical Americans and Russians in the movie (Believe me, you'd recognize every one of them from the gossipy switchboard operator to the stiffly formal Russian Captain), but Lily's characters have an honesty that can't be achieved by simple one-dimensional stereotypes. (You might even wonder if one of the more interesting and well-drawn characters in the book is a younger Ms. Alex!). Instead of Russian sailors, her characters are rather ordinary types like all of us: mothers, fathers, children, adulterers, con-men; there's even a bit of a connection with the Russian mafia to add spice to the mix. The story takes place in today's world in a small American city, but the Russian characters spend a lot of time remembering their lives as they led them in Russia--or the Soviet Union. Of course author Lily Alex's youth was spent in Russian during the final days of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party so she can write about those days with accuracy. For those of us living here during that time this is easily the most interesting part of the book. Another thing this critic found interesting is that in spite of the distance between the characters and their native land, they are the same people they were there with the same issues. The kind are still kind, the loyal still loyal and the brutal and selfish no less degraded by the change of scenery. There are a lot of books out describing the last days of the Russian Empire in a historical context. "The Russians Are Coming" by Lily Alex gives an individuals' personal view of the era that one can find in few other books. 
The Russians Are Coming!
By Lily Alex
Publish America
2002
Reviewed By Mike Nardine