Hewlett resident writes memoir

When Hewlett resident Esther Bogen retired from her job working in a medical office in Cedarhurst at 85 in 2008, she decided she wanted to stay busy.
Now she is 91 and has just released her first book, “Short Memoirs of a Long Life,” through Page Publishing. A friend confirmed that Page was a legitimate company, and convinced Bogen to publish her book. She invested $3,000 of her money with Page. They provide an array services, including distribution, and authors recoup their money through royalties.
“I needed to feel constructive post-retirement,” Bogen said. “I joined the local senior center, which was something I never thought I would do. At the senior center, they offer a writing class, where every week, we’ve had to bring in something we had written. That’s how the book was started. I want people to hear the stories from my generation. There aren’t many people left to tell them.”
Bogen’s book is about her family’s history, from the time when her parents left Russia to escape the pogroms (violent persecution of Jews) and came to the U.S., through raising two children as a single mother, to the revolutionary times of the 1960s and ’70s.
“I’m in my fourth romantic relationship in life,” Bogen said. “In 1914, my family began their journey here to America. We didn’t all arrive here until 1921. My mother died when I was a year old, and when I was ten, my dad died. I went to live with my maternal grandparents. By the time I was 21, I was a married Army wife.”

The world has changed radically, and nothing has remained the same, according to Bogen. “I’m not sure whether these changes are permanent or temporary,” she said. “My children were brought up in Far Rockaway. There were always people around. We didn’t have to lock our doors. When my daughter traveled the world, she used to tell people she would meet that our house was always open and welcome to them. It was not too uncommon for me to wake up in the morning and find new people resting on my front porch.”
Bogen said, this wouldn’t happen anymore. “Children today, they don’t know how to go out and play,” she said. “They text. They’re so isolated. Parents have become their children’s friends, and children have become the boss.”
Wendy Bogen, Esther’s daughter, thinks that her mother’s natural ability as a storyteller is the reason why people, young and old, want to read her book. “The book really is her voice,” Wendy said. “Friends of mine who have read the book say they can picture her voice in her book. They say that it comes across just as she’d tell you her stories orally.”
Kamie Krum, publication coordinator at Page Publishing, said that she thinks Esther’s book was written to inform younger generations about an earlier time, and to encourage them to persevere through difficult times. “I think she wants people to know that everything really does work out in the end,” she said. “With her memories of her family, she is also trying to preserve that for her grandchildren. I think it’s nice to know what they went through in her generation, compared to what my generation is going through now.”
Bogen is currently working on a second book. To purchase her book, visit http://www.amazon.com/Esther-Bogen/e/B00J6T1HJ4.