{"title": "Born as a Joke", "authors": [{"author": {"key": "/authors/OL16469422A"}, "type": {"key": "/type/author_role"}}], "key": "/works/OL45637739W", "type": {"key": "/type/work"}, "description": {"type": "/type/text", "value": "A memoir by Alex Aspen chronicling a remarkable life journey \u2014 from childhood in the Soviet Union to a daring escape and a new life in America. Born as a Joke is a raw, honest account of survival, immigration, and the search for identity across two worlds."}, "subjects": ["memoir", "Soviet Union", "immigration", "survival", "Russia", "refugee", "coming of age", "true story", "America"], "subject_people": ["Alex Aspen"], "subject_places": ["Soviet Union", "Russia", "United States", "America"], "subject_times": ["1970s", "1980s", "1990s", "Soviet Union", "Cold War era"], "excerpts": [{"excerpt": "I was born on May 11, 1975, in the town of Mirny, Arkhangelsk Region. The name sounded deceptive. There was very little peace in those northern lands. History and pain were tightly intertwined there.", "comment": "Opening paragraph that introduces the author's birthplace and sets the tone of the memoir \u2014 a story of survival beginning from the very first breath.", "author": {"key": "/people/alexaspen"}}], "links": [{"title": "Buy on Amazon", "url": "https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GW2JZ2R4", "type": {"key": "/type/link"}}, {"title": "Buy on Apple Books", "url": "https://books.apple.com/us/book/born-as-a-joke/id6773873383", "type": {"key": "/type/link"}}, {"title": "Buy on B&N", "url": "https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/born-as-a-joke-alex-aspen/1150270166?ean=2940196204678", "type": {"key": "/type/link"}}, {"title": "Buy on Bookshop", "url": "https://bookshop.org/p/books/born-as-a-joke-alex-aspen/e7bf00089580e12b?ean=9798235834330&next=t&digital=t", "type": {"key": "/type/link"}}], "latest_revision": 2, "revision": 2, "created": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2026-06-18T14:27:18.255606"}, "last_modified": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2026-06-18T14:40:54.529475"}}