Synopses & Reviews
A dazzling debut, and a publishing phenomenon: the tender, savagely funny collection from a young immigrant who has taken the critics by storm. Few readers had heard of David Bezmozgis before May 2003, when
Harpers, Zoetrope, and
The New Yorker all printed stories from his forthcoming collection. In the space of a few weeks, America thus met 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 Marks eyes, the stories in Natasha possess a serious wit and uniquely Jewish perspective that recall the first published stories of Bernard Malamud and Philip Roth, not to mention the recent work of Jhumpa Lahiri, Nathan Englander, and Adam Haslett.
David Bezmozgis 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. A New York Times Notable Book
A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book
A Chicago Tribune Best Book
Winner of the Commonwealth Prize
A Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year
Finalist for the Art Seidenbaum Award
Winner of the Writers' Guild of Canadas Danuta Gleed Literary Award for Short Fiction
Winner of the Canadian Jewish Book Award
Shortlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award
Shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award
Shortlisted for the Governor-Generals Award
Title Story Included in the 2005 Best American Short Stories
The New Yorker, Harper's, and Zoetrope introduced America to the BermansBella and Roman and their son, MarkRussian Jews who have fled the Riga of Brezhnev for Toronto, the city of their dreams.
A debut collection of rare skill and verve, Natasha chronicles the family saga of the Bermans in stories full of heart and 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 dinner with a North American family. 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 an Odessan cabdriver sets off a religious controversy among the residents of a Jewish old-people's home.
The stories in Natasha capture the immigrant experience with wit and deep sympathy. Their evocation of boyhood and youth, and the battle for selfhood in a passionately loving Jewish family, recalls the early work of Bernard Malamud, Leonard Michaels, and Philip Roth. A New York Times Notable Book
Winner of the Commonwealth Prize "An authority one usually finds only in more seasoned writers."Meghan ORouke, The New York Times Book Review "An authority one usually finds only in more seasoned writers."Meghan ORouke, The New York Times Book Review
"A slim, well-observed collection."D. T. Max, The Nation
"An effervescent debut . . . A familiar tale of dislocation and assimilation with enough humor, honesty, and courage to make it new again . . . If the last page of 'Tapeka' doesnt stop your heart, maybe it was never beating."O magazine
"Deft . . . Humane but unblinkingly unsentimental . . . Fine stories [that are] thick with memorable characters."John Biguenet, Chicago Tribune
"Exquisitely crafted stories. A first collection that reads like the work of a past master."T. Coraghessan Boyle
"While the immigrant experience in the United States has been much explored, Bezmozgis's less familiar shores are refreshing . . . The voice in Natasha is assured, inviting, and warm."The Economist
"A 30-year-old Canadian writer makes a commanding debut with an openhearted book that combines melancholy and hope. Its seven stories offer a portrait of a family of Latvian Jews just after they emigrate to Toronto in 1979. Told from the perspective of the Bermans' only child, Mark, this is a piercingly honest account of what that family gains and loses through assimilation. The title story, in which 16-year-old Mark is obliged to supervise his troubled Russian step-cousin, is a knockout."The Baltimore Sun
"[The] dynamic between American Jews and their greenhorn Russian counterparts is portrayed in a creepy and painfully funny way by David Bezmozgis in 'Roman Berman, Massage Therapist,' one of the best pieces in Natasha and Other Stories . . . In a wonderfully dry, understated, well-paced manner that evokes the style of the late New York Russian-language fiction writer Sergei Dovlatov, Bezmozgis captures [in this story] what is, believe it or not, a type-scene of the Soviet Jewish immigrant experience. Simple detail and precise timing let such scenes resonate."Val Vinokur, Boston Review
"Here in Europe the talk this year has been all about the new writing coming out of Russia. David Bezmozgis shows that this energy extends to the Russian diaspora as well. In Natasha Bezmozgis renders something of the clear-sighted melancholy associated with Chekhov 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
"Dazzling, hilarious, and hugely compassionate narratives [written with] freshness and precision . . . Readers will find themselves laughing out loud, then gasping as Bezmozgis brings these fictions to the searing, startling, and perfectly pitched conclusions that remind us that, as Babel said, 'on iron can stab the heart so powerfully as a period put in exactly in the right place.'"Francine Prose, People
"Sad, funny, tender tales . . . [Bezmozgis] moves us along through the vagarities of assimilation and coming-of-age, often hilarious, occasionally humiliating . . . Throughout, the scenes are finely observed, rich in sensory detail . . . Shadows of Philip Roth, Isaac Babel, and Leonard Michaels may hover beneficently in the wings but it is Bezmozgis's pure, quirky humanity that shines in this deeply original debut collection."Judith Felsenfeld, Jewish Book World
"Passionately full of life . . . Often ebullient and warmly comic. . . [Bezmozgis has] considerable talents."James Wood, London Review of Books
"Bezmozgis's stunning debut collection centers on the Berman family, Latvian Jews who have immigrated to Toronto to escape stagnant Brezhnev-era Soviet life. Stoic father Roman, anxious mother Bella, and hapless but endearing son Mark each confront the sadness of exile and the strange promise of a 'better life.' In 'The Second Strongest Man,' friends visiting Roman commend him on his success and his decision to leave, even as he confides to one, 'I often think of going back.' In 'Tapka,' young Mark unwittingly causes the death of the neighbor's dog when an experiment in English goes awry. When Roman offers to help her find a n
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
"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
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
"Exquisitely crafted stories. A first collection that reads like the work of a past master." T. Coraghessan Boyle, author of Drop City
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
"[A] remarkable debut collection....These complex, evocative stories herald the arrival of a significant new voice." Publishers Weekly
Review
"An effervescent debut.... A familiar tale of dislocation and assimilation with enough humor, honesty, and courage to make it new again.... If the last page of 'Tapeka' doesn't stop your heart, maybe it was never beating." O magazine
Review
"Exquisitely crafted stories. A first collection that reads like the work of a past master." T. Coraghessan Boyle
Review
"While the immigrant experience in the United States has been much explored, Bezmozgis's less familiar shores are refreshing... The voice in Natasha is assured, inviting, and warm." Economist
Review
"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)
Synopsis
Now a Major Motion Picture
A dazzling debut--and a publishing phenomenon--the tender, savagely funny collection from a young immigrant who has taken the critics by storm
Winner of the Commonwealth Writers' First Book Prize for Canada and the Caribbean, the Toronto Book Award, Reform Judaism Prize for Jewish Fiction, Koffler Centre of the Arts' Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Award for Fiction, the City of Toronto Book Award, the Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize for Fiction, and the Moment Magazine Fiction Award
Shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, and the Governor General's Award for Literature, the Danuta Gleed Literary Award for Best First Collection of Short Fiction in the English Language
Named a New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year, a Los Angeles Times' 1 of the 25 Best Books of the Year, a New York Public Library's 25 Best Books to Remember, and a Chicago Tribune and San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year
Few readers had heard of David Bezmozgis before May 2003, when Harper's, Zoetrope, and The New Yorker all printed stories from his forthcoming collection. In the space of a few weeks, America thus met 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, the stories in Natasha possess a serious wit and uniquely Jewish perspective that recall the first published stories of Bernard Malamud and Philip Roth, not to mention the recent work of Jhumpa Lahiri, Nathan Englander, and Adam Haslett.
Synopsis
Now a Major Motion Picture
A dazzling debut--and a publishing phenomenon--Natasha: And Other Stories is the tender, savagely funny collection from a young immigrant who has taken the critics by storm.
Few readers had heard of David Bezmozgis before May 2003, when Harper's, Zoetrope, and The New Yorker all printed stories from his forthcoming collection. In the space of a few weeks, America thus met 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, the stories in Natasha possess a serious wit and uniquely Jewish perspective that recall the first published stories of Bernard Malamud and Philip Roth, not to mention the work of Jhumpa Lahiri, Nathan Englander, and Adam Haslett.
Winner of the Commonwealth Writers' First Book Prize for Canada and the Caribbean, the Toronto Book Award, Reform Judaism Prize for Jewish Fiction, Koffler Centre of the Arts' Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Award for Fiction, the City of Toronto Book Award, the Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize for Fiction, and the Moment Magazine Fiction Award
Shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, and the Governor General's Award for Literature, the Danuta Gleed Literary Award for Best First Collection of Short Fiction in the English Language
Named a New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year, a Los Angeles Times' 1 of the 25 Best Books of the Year, a New York Public Library's 25 Best Books to Remember, and a Chicago Tribune and San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year
Synopsis
A dazzling debut, and a publishing phenomenon: the tender, savagely funny collection from a young immigrant who has taken the critics by storm. Few readers had heard of David Bezmozgis before May 2003, when
Harper’s, Zoetrope, and the
New Yorker all printed stories from his forthcoming collection. In the space of a few weeks, America thus met 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, the stories in Natasha possess a serious wit and uniquely Jewish perspective that recall the first published stories of Bernard Malamud and Philip Roth, not to mention the recent work of Jhumpa Lahiri, Nathan Englander, and Adam Haslett.
Synopsis
A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book
A Chicago Tribune Best Book
Winner of the Commonwealth Prize
A Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year
Finalist for the Art Seidenbaum Award
Winner of the Writers' Guild of Canada's Danuta Gleed Literary Award for Short Fiction
Winner of the Canadian Jewish Book Award
Shortlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award
Shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award
Shortlisted for the Governor-General's Award
Title Story Included in the 2005 Best American Short Stories
A debut collection of rare skill and verve, Natasha chronicles the family saga of the Bermans in stories full of heart and 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 dinner with a North American family. 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 an Odessan cabdriver sets off a religious controversy among the residents of a Jewish old-people's home.
Synopsis
A dazzling debut, and a publishing phenomenon: the tender, savagely funny collection from a young immigrant who has taken the critics by storm.
Few readers had heard of David Bezmozgis before May 2003, when Harper's, Zoetrope, and The New Yorker all printed stories from his forthcoming collection. In the space of a few weeks, America thus met 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, the stories in Natasha possess a serious wit and uniquely Jewish perspective that recall the first published stories of Bernard Malamud and Philip Roth, not to mention the recent work of Jhumpa Lahiri, Nathan Englander, and Adam Haslett.
About the Author
David 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.