Natasha by David Bezmozgis

Natasha

David Bezmozgis

Seven remarkably human stories charting the 20 year progress in Canada of the child Mark and his immigrant family. The stories not only feel quintessentially Eastern European and Jewish, but also relate universal dilemmas of childhood and adolescence. They are sad and frightening, but also hopeful and funny. I want to read the author's next book.

Extract
My grandmother's yartzheit came and went and my grandfather was still no closer to getting an apartment. Thousands were on the waiting list and there was no way of knowing how much longer he would have to wait. My mother told me a year wasn't that long, she had heard of others who had waited three or five. The waiting list outlived more applicants than she cared to mention ....

The system was inscrutable. At least in Russia you knew who to bribe.

Parallels
  • The Bride from Odessa by Edgardo Cozarinsky
  • Nowhere Man by Aleksander Hemon
  • Death and the Dervish by Mesa Selimovic