From Publishers Weekly
The late Russian-born novelist was a natural storyteller whose gift for mimicry and delicious sense of the absurd are showcased in this novella about Russian emigre life in Forest Hills, N.Y. Dovlatov ( The Suitcase ) deftly sketches in the community--former dissidents, bibliophiles, lawyers--who grapple with having to begin again, and at the bottom. The narrative centers around Marusya Tatarovich, spoiled daughter of party apparatchiks whose behavior has led to something of a cause celebre. Marusya, a free-spirited divorcee, has fallen in love with a posturing Latin American. Their drunken fights, the scurrilous parrot they keep as a pet, Marusya's benign neglect of her son--the product of her relationship with a Soviet porn star--are irreverently and, indeed, unsympathetically described by the author, who also figures as a character in the book. This mischievous look at one ethnic community is a delight, and makes Dovlatov's untimely death even more regrettable.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Marusya Tatarovich, a young Russian woman, falls unsuccessfully in love with a Jew, Tsekhnovitser. She gets bored with the dull medical student she does marry, is divorced, and has a common-law marriage and son by the pop singer Razudalov. She "marries" Tsekhnovitser so he can emigrate to Israel and she to America. But the Russian community in Queens is poor as well as free, and her Latin lover Rafael is a doubtful provider. In despair she tries to return to the USSR but is told by the Soviet Embassy she must "earn forgiveness." Razudalov shows up briefly on a music tour in New York but fears meeting his son. The disappearance of Marusya's pet parrot, Lolo, is the last straw. When the bird does turn up, Marusya recovers and marries Rafael. Entertaining as well as politically relevant, this novel shows that life is finally what we make it, USSR or USA. Recommended.
- Kenneth Mintz, Hoboken P.L., N.J.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Kenneth Mintz, Hoboken P.L., N.J.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
