gimley reviewed Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine by Alina Bronksy
Review of 'Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I flew to the Soviet Union. On the plane (Aeroflot) the seat belt didn't work. I told the stewardess. She shrugged. There was a fly buzzing around in the plane. The airport we landed at looked like an army base but it's just that, as a Westerner, I expected airports to look fancy. The Soviet Union was no frills.
Rosalinda is a no frills soviet mother. If she seems harsh at times, it's because life is harsh if no attempt is made to dress it up. If she's cruel, it's because life is cruel. Why else would her daughter be born ugly and stupid?
Some readers would be quick to judge Rose, but she is our narrator and we can't continue without her. You may think she's incapable of self-reflection but when the granddaughter she worships suggests she's evil, she doesn't dismiss the thought out of hand. She asks her …
I flew to the Soviet Union. On the plane (Aeroflot) the seat belt didn't work. I told the stewardess. She shrugged. There was a fly buzzing around in the plane. The airport we landed at looked like an army base but it's just that, as a Westerner, I expected airports to look fancy. The Soviet Union was no frills.
Rosalinda is a no frills soviet mother. If she seems harsh at times, it's because life is harsh if no attempt is made to dress it up. If she's cruel, it's because life is cruel. Why else would her daughter be born ugly and stupid?
Some readers would be quick to judge Rose, but she is our narrator and we can't continue without her. You may think she's incapable of self-reflection but when the granddaughter she worships suggests she's evil, she doesn't dismiss the thought out of hand. She asks her husband if it might be true. When he can no longer avoid answering he says "Of course not!". The next day he leaves her.
This isn't a story about good and evil. Rose believes in God, but the God she believes in is like an uncaring soviet bureaucrat. At one point she abandons Him as requiring too much of her.
We read this novel because we like seeing the world through Rose's eyes. It's new and unfamiliar. Plain old greed or cruelty or desperation would be boring. This book has taken me somewhere I've never been before. And how many of you have been to the Soviet Union?
