Items related to Natasha and Other Stories
Synopsis
From Publishers Weekly Like the author of this remarkable debut collection of seven linked stories, the protagonist, Mark Berman, emigrated with his parents from Latvia to Toronto in 1980. Bezmozgis writes with subtlety and control, moving from Mark's boyhood arrival in Canada to his adult reckoning with his grandparents' decline, rendering the immigrant experience with powerful specificity of character, place and history. "This was 1983, and as Russian Jews, recent immigrants, and political refugees, we were still a cause. We had good PR," he writes in "Roman Berman, Massage Therapist," about the humiliations of turning to well-meaning but condescending Canadian Jews for financial help. Bezmozgis also considers North American Jewish identity, as in "An Animal to the Memory," which interrogates the centrality of the Holocaust-and victimhood-to the Jewish sense of self. His stories are as compassionate as they are critical. In "Minyan," Mark attends synagogue with his grandfather: "Most of the old Jews came because they were drawn by the nostalgia for ancient cadences, I came because I was drawn by the nostalgia for old Jews. In each case, the motivation was not tradition but history." The collection's strength lies in how Bezmozgis layers the specifics of Russian-Jewish experience with universal childhood and adolescent dilemmas. The title story, about Mark's sexual escapades with his 14-year-old cousin by marriage, evokes both his stoner, suburban "subterranean life" and the numbing exigencies of Natasha's adolescence in Russia. In "Tapka," about the fate of a cosseted dog, Bezmozgis captures the insecurity and loneliness of recent immigrants while suggesting a child's guilty psychology with utter believability. These complex, evocative stories herald the arrival of a significant new voice. Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherRB Large Print
- Publication date2004
- ISBN 10 1402595573
- ISBN 13 9781402595578
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages179
- Rating
Other Popular Editions of the Same Title
Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace
Stock Image
Natasha and Other Stories
Seller: The Yard Sale Store, Narrowsburg, NY, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hard Cover. Condition: Good. LARGE PRINT library withdrawal in the hardcover. Some shelf wear to the covers. Clean looking with the page or two having a corner f folded. Useful large print text. Enjoy this reliable edition. Seller Inventory # AZTextHC0608103
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
Natasha and Other Stories
Seller: Irish Booksellers, Portland, ME, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Good. SHIPS FROM USA. Used books have different signs of use and do not include supplemental materials such as CDs, Dvds, Access Codes, charts or any other extra material. All used books might have various degrees of writing, highliting and wear and tear and possibly be an ex-library with the usual stickers and stamps. Dust Jackets are not guaranteed and when still present, they will have various degrees of tear and damage. All images are Stock Photos, not of the actual item. book. Seller Inventory # 32-1402595573-G
Quantity: 1 available