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baelgia's review against another edition
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
sonia_reppe's review against another edition
2.0
The best story was Luda and Milena. The others were kind of good, except for the first one about broccoli which was boring and went nowhere.
_mallc_'s review against another edition
4.0
Not too bad. It's sort of weird that it has recipes from the stories at the back but also sort of neat. Food seems to be really popular in books right now. Food is all the rage.
riverdogbookco's review against another edition
4.0
It's great. I say that knowing full well I picked it up expecting it to be good, and being thrilled that I wasn't disappointed. Do you ever have those hunches? When you look at a book, totally judging it by its cover, and think, yeah, I bet I'm really going to enjoy reading you. This was one of those books for me. Let me also tell you that I'm a rather recent, but assuredly passionate, short story/essay lover. Who knew? Seriously, this is an adult-life discovery. I think we should start encouraging more children/teens/young adults to read short stories because (though I wasn't this way as a child), so many children get really overwhelmed by the size of a large book, tiny words, pages and pages of text. If they knew they only had to sit down and read one little story, and then maybe turn the page a day later and read another little, and then they may sit and read two in one sitting - perhaps soon they would be reading a whole book, just for that sense of accomplishment that comes when you've turned the final page, and as much as you've enjoyed the tale, boy are you glad you now have permission to be done and get up and go back to the rest of your life.
Clearly I digress. Lara Vapnyar writes about food as if it's there on the page in front of you for you to taste. She writes about love the same way. The fact that she is able to combine the mostly inner monologue of people's musings on life and love (she could be writing about a day in your own life, really), while simultaneously making your stomach growl for the hot borscht with sour cream someone in the story has just made, is an absolutely brilliant way of inviting other senses to partake in this primarily visual experience (that of reading the actual words on the actual page). Her stories reflect the food in them in the sense that if the food is unsatisfying in the tale, you may be left with a brief lingering and longing sensation for something just a little better or a little more of the tale to come along. If the food has been completely filling and satisfying, the story wraps up with a warm, contented closure. At the end, just as with a fabulous meal, I was sad it was over, and simultaneously relieved the self control was taken out of my hands or else I would have gorged myself a little too much.
Clearly I digress. Lara Vapnyar writes about food as if it's there on the page in front of you for you to taste. She writes about love the same way. The fact that she is able to combine the mostly inner monologue of people's musings on life and love (she could be writing about a day in your own life, really), while simultaneously making your stomach growl for the hot borscht with sour cream someone in the story has just made, is an absolutely brilliant way of inviting other senses to partake in this primarily visual experience (that of reading the actual words on the actual page). Her stories reflect the food in them in the sense that if the food is unsatisfying in the tale, you may be left with a brief lingering and longing sensation for something just a little better or a little more of the tale to come along. If the food has been completely filling and satisfying, the story wraps up with a warm, contented closure. At the end, just as with a fabulous meal, I was sad it was over, and simultaneously relieved the self control was taken out of my hands or else I would have gorged myself a little too much.
thisistanya's review against another edition
2.0
I feel bad giving a mostly negative review to creative work produced by a fellow Soviet expat, but that is also the very reason why I *must* give an honest, not so glowing review.
Initially, I was compelled to pick up this collection of stories because I like reading fiction about the immigrant experience, especially if it's written by someone who shares a lot of the same memories and experiences that I do, having come to the States from Russia in 1993.
I was more than a little disappointed by the stories in this book, however. To me, all the nuances fell flat and the prose felt as wilted as the broccoli stuck in the refrigerator of Nina, the woman in the first story. The entire thing feels like a series of clichéd pastiches distilled from genuine experience, mixed with a heavy dose of American expectation of what it must have been like to be Russian and an immigrant. One of the women in Vapnyar's stories feels taken aback whenever she's asked to recall "the horrors of communism," but instead chooses to share some simpering anecdote expected of her by her American lover. Just as this girl gives in to the expectation, so it seems does Vapnyar pander to some sort of readership that needs to hear about matchmaking mothers, about borscht, about standing in line for food for several hours. True, these are not particularly interesting anecdotes to me, but that's not my the main point of contention for me. When it comes to being an immigrant, a complex experience so rich with emotion and great fodder for writing really soul searching fiction, this book of stories reads flatly and doesn't inspire me to recommend it to any of my American friends who might be curious to read about the experiences many of my fellow expatriates went through.
I will give Vapnyar credit for truly, genuinely caring about each and every one of her characters. There is a great deal of affection and compassion for the men and women in her stories, possibly inspired in some way by people she may have encountered in real life. Vapnyar's writing does carry across the sadness and the hopes, but it's still not quite there to garner a 3-star from me, personally.
Initially, I was compelled to pick up this collection of stories because I like reading fiction about the immigrant experience, especially if it's written by someone who shares a lot of the same memories and experiences that I do, having come to the States from Russia in 1993.
I was more than a little disappointed by the stories in this book, however. To me, all the nuances fell flat and the prose felt as wilted as the broccoli stuck in the refrigerator of Nina, the woman in the first story. The entire thing feels like a series of clichéd pastiches distilled from genuine experience, mixed with a heavy dose of American expectation of what it must have been like to be Russian and an immigrant. One of the women in Vapnyar's stories feels taken aback whenever she's asked to recall "the horrors of communism," but instead chooses to share some simpering anecdote expected of her by her American lover. Just as this girl gives in to the expectation, so it seems does Vapnyar pander to some sort of readership that needs to hear about matchmaking mothers, about borscht, about standing in line for food for several hours. True, these are not particularly interesting anecdotes to me, but that's not my the main point of contention for me. When it comes to being an immigrant, a complex experience so rich with emotion and great fodder for writing really soul searching fiction, this book of stories reads flatly and doesn't inspire me to recommend it to any of my American friends who might be curious to read about the experiences many of my fellow expatriates went through.
I will give Vapnyar credit for truly, genuinely caring about each and every one of her characters. There is a great deal of affection and compassion for the men and women in her stories, possibly inspired in some way by people she may have encountered in real life. Vapnyar's writing does carry across the sadness and the hopes, but it's still not quite there to garner a 3-star from me, personally.
ninkadp's review
my bf and i met a guy at a bar recently, through a friend of a friend of a friend, and after talking for a while he decided we were going to be best friends. he invited us to see his (new, unfurnished) apartment and loaned us this book out of one of his boxes. we hung out with him a second time a few weeks ago, and it was fine--not exactly underwhelming, but not as great as it was in some parallel universe. reading this book was kind of like meeting this guy. it was exciting at first, because there was so much for me to like right off the bat; but then it settled into a normal "ok, this is a book" by the end of the first story.
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