Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Bayport Public Library | PB FICTION BRO | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
"In this acidly funny novel" of life in Soviet Russia, "a cruel comic romp ends as a surprisingly winning story of hardship and resilience" ( The New Yorker ).
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A German Book Award Finalist
A Huffington Post and Wall Street Journal Favorite Read of the Year
When Rosa Achmetowna discovers that her seventeen-year-old daughter, Sulfia, is pregnant, she tries every bizarre home remedy there is to thwart the pregnancy. But despite her best efforts, the baby girl Aminat is born--and immediately wins Rosa's heart. The dark-eyed Aminat is a Tartar through and through, just like Rosa, and the devious grandmother wastes no time in plotting to steal her away from the woefully inept Sulfia.
When Aminat, now a wild and willful teenager, catches the eye of a sleazy German cookbook writer researching Tartar cuisine, Rosa is quick to broker a deal that will guarantee all three women a passage out of the Soviet Union. But as soon as they are settled in the West, the dysfunctional ties that bind mother, daughter, and grandmother begin to fray.
Author Notes
Alina Bronsky 's first novel, Broken Glass Park, was a finalist for one of Europe's most celebrated literary awards, the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize. It was hailed by Publishers Weekly as a riveting debut," while the Boston Globe described it as "a vivid depiciton of contemporary adolescence under pressure." The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine, nominated for the prestigious German Book Prize, is her second novel. She lives in Germany. Tim Mohr is a former Berlin club DJ whose previous translations include Broken Glass Park , Charlotte Roche's Wetlands , and Dorothea Dieckmann's Guantanamo, for which he won the Three Percent award for best translation of 2007. He collaborated with Duff McKagan on It's So Easy (and other lies), McKagan's forthcoming memoir."
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Rosa Achmetowna, the frightening narrator of Bronsky's dark and wily latest (after Broken Glass Park), is a difficult person to like, much less love. She lives in a cramped Soviet apartment with her husband, teenage daughter Sulfia, and a nosy, disagreeable roommate. Brusque, brimming with bile, and ever judgmental, she is less than pleased when the "rather stupid" Sulfia winds up pregnant. Rosa immediately tries a variety of crude home remedies for aborting Sulfia's baby-but nine months later, Aminat, is born. Rosa is fundamentally nasty, yes, but she instantly falls in love with Aminat (who coincidentally bears a striking resemblance to Rosa), tries to wrestle Aminat away from Sulfia, and enjoys watching Aminat grow into a wild, willful thing as Rosa and Sulfia kidnap the little girl back and forth. Rosa's machinations grow increasingly devious until Aminat matures and comes to a crossroads of her own. Rosa is absolutely outrageous, a one-woman wrecking crew with no remorse, an acid tongue, and a conniving opportunist's sense of drive and desperation. Bronsky lands another hit with this hilarious, disturbing, and always irreverent blitz. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Library Journal Review
"Am I an evil woman?" Rosa Achmetowna asks her long-suffering husband, who immediately begins to choke on a piece of eggplant. Rosa, the matriarch of a Tartar family living in the former Soviet Union, is not exactly evil, but she is a relentlessly interfering and self-centered mother and grandmother and a wildly entertaining (if somewhat unreliable) narrator. Rosa is the star of this second novel by Bronsky (following Broken Glass Park), but it is really the story of three women and the roller-coaster relationship among them before, during, and after an ill-fated move to Germany. Sulfia, the daughter, is a struggling nursing assistant, as selfless as Rosa is selfish; Aminat, the granddaughter, is a temperamental and troubled future reality TV star. The title may scream "chick lit," but this is both a very funny and a very dark black comedy that takes unexpected and increasingly tragic turns. -VERDICT Bronsky instinctively understands that the way to a reader's heart is through great characters. Rosa and her family are creations that won't easily be forgotten, and the subtle and complex themes add plenty of flavor. This reviewer is looking forward to whatever she whips up next.-Forest Turner, Suffolk Cty. House of Correction Lib., Boston (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
