David Bezmozgis's remarkable stories have already been acclaimed in the US and Canada when three appeared almost simultaneously in the New Yorker, Harper's and Zoetrope. In the space of a few weeks, these magazines introduced readers 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. Natasha brings the Bermans - and the Russian Jewish enclaves of Toronto - to life in stories full of big, desperate, utterly believable consequence. In ...
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David Bezmozgis's remarkable stories have already been acclaimed in the US and Canada when three appeared almost simultaneously in the New Yorker, Harper's and Zoetrope. In the space of a few weeks, these magazines introduced readers 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. 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 neighbours upstairs. In 'Roman Berman, Massage Therapist', Roman and Bella stake all their hopes for Roman's business on their first, humiliating 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. Bezmozgis writes with clarity and compassion about the pains and joys of immigration. Sad but comic, his stories are the literature of an immigrant community whose story has yet to be told, and their chronicler possesses an extraordinary gift.
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Add this copy of Natasha and Other Stories to cart. $15.73, very good condition, Sold by Halcyon Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from LONDON, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2004 by Jonathan Cape.
Add this copy of Natasha and Other Stories to cart. $17.88, very good condition, Sold by Reuseabook rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Gloucester, GLOS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2004 by Jonathan Cape.
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Seller's Description:
Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. Though second-hand, the book is still in very good shape. Minimal signs of usage may include very minor creasing on the cover or on the spine.
Add this copy of Natasha and Other Stories to cart. $34.58, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2004 by CCV.
This is a collection of short stories that reads more like a novel. The stories are all told by the same first person narrator who is a young boy in "Tapka" the first story in the collection and a grown man in "Minyan" the final story in the collection. The stories describe the experiences of a family of Soviet Era Russian Jews and their experience living as immigrants in Toronto.
The stories are populated with real and interesting characters. The tone is stark and somewhat bleak. The realism at times makes us think that there must be a fair amount of biographical details, especially judging by the information about Bezmozgis provided on the jacket flap.
The collection is on the short side. There is nothing earth-shattering or ground-breaking here. These are simple, but haunting stories told in a readable style.