Ester and Ruzya, Masha Gessen’s book about her grandmother’ lives

Ester and Ruzya, Masha Gessen’s book about her grandmother’ lives, portrays the major tensions, anxieties and dangers faced by Soviet Jews during the period of Stalin’s reign. Discuss Gessen’s choice to alternate the chapters between Ester’s and Ruzya’s life stories and to emphasize the similarities and differences in the two women’s experiences. How does this structure serve Gessen’s purposes? What, in your view, are Gessen’s major conclusions about Russian Jewish identity and experience? What resonance do Ester’s and Ruzya’s lives have for you?