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More copies of this ISBN:This title in other formats:Natasha: And Other Storiesby David Bezmozgis
Review-a-Day (What is Review-a-Day?)"To Bezmozgis's vast credit, not a line or note in the book rings false; the voice of his storyteller, young Mark Berman, is grounded by the streets of his family's neighborhood, and nothing comes off as smug or, worse still, wise. If you put a loaded rugelah to my graying head and forced me to come up with a comparison, I'd go with Joyce's Dubliners, but funny." Scott Raab, Esquire (read the entire Esquire review) Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Few readers had heard of David Bezmozgis before last May, when Harper's, Zoetrope, and The New Yorker all printed stories from his forthcoming collection. In the space of a few weeks, these magazines introduced America to the Bermans--Bella and Roman and their son, Mark--Russian Jews who have fled the Riga of Brezhnev for Toronto, the city of their dreams. Told through Mark's eyes, and spanning the last twenty-three years, Natasha brings the Bermans and the Russian-Jewish enclaves of Toronto to life in stories full of big, desperate, utterly believable consequence. In "Tapka" six-year-old Mark's first experiments in English bring ruin and near tragedy to the neighbors upstairs. In "Roman Berman, Massage Therapist," Roman and Bella stake all their hopes for Roman's business on their first, humiliating dinner in a North American home. Later, in the title story, a stark, funny anatomy of first love, we witness Mark's sexual awakening at the hands of his fourteen-year-old cousin, a new immigrant from the New Russia. In "Minyan," Mark and his grandfather watch as the death of a tough old Odessan cabdriver sets off a religious controversy among the poor residents of a Jewish old-folks' home. The stories in Natasha capture the immigrant experience with a serious wit as compelling as the work of Jhumpa Lahiri, Nathan Englander, or Adam Haslett. At the same time, their evocation of boyhood and youth, and the battle for selfhood in a passionately loving Jewish family, recalls the first published stories of Bernard Malamud, Harold Brodkey, Leonard Michaels, and Philip Roth. Review:"Bezmogis's spare, confrontational tales...take many unexpected turns, but their humanity and poignancy strike the deepest notes. Shades of Isaac Babel, Leonard Michaels, and Aleksandar Hemon in a nevertheless irresistibly original first book." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review) Review:"[A] remarkable debut collection....These complex, evocative stories herald the arrival of a significant new voice." Publishers Weekly Review:"Bezmozgis adds his wry and nimble voice to the grand tradition of immigrant literature....Flinty and intriguing, Bezmozgis' well-made stories play well in conjunction with Aleksandar Hemon's The Question of Bruno." Donna Seaman, Booklist Review:"[S]tunning....Taken alone, these stories are charming and pitch-perfect; together, they add up to something like life itself: funny, heartbreaking, terrible, true." Library Journal Review:"Exquisitely crafted stories. A first collection that reads like the work of a past master." T. Coraghessan Boyle, author of Drop City Review:"Here in Europe the talk this year has been all about the new writing coming out of Russia. David Bezmogis shows that this energy extends to the Russian Diaspora as well. In Natasha and Other Stories Bezmozgis renders something of the clear-sighted melancholy associated with Chekov or Babel into English prose and a North American context. With a maturity and control far beyond his years, Mr. Bezmozgis has produced a captivating and impressive debut. The title story itself is one I will never forget." Jeffrey Eugenides, author of Middlesex Review:"These loosely linked stories are succinct, unsentimental and refreshingly free of what the late Leonard Michaels...called the 'cry of me-feeling' that characterizes so much contemporary fiction." Meghan O'Rourke, The New York Times Book Review Synopsis:The stories in this collection capture the immigrant experience with serious wit, while evoking boyhood and youth, and the battle for selfhood in a passionately loving Jewish family. About the AuthorDavid Bezmozgis (Bez-MOZE-ghis) was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1973. In 1980 he immigrated with his parents to Toronto, where he lives today. This is his first book. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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