There Are Jews in My House | Lara Vapnyar | A great piece of creative realism!

There Are Jews in My House | Lara Vapnyar | great book

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There Are Jews in ...

	There Are Jews in My House Lara Vapnyar Pantheon, 2003 - 149 pages average customer review:based on 10 reviews
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highly recommended

stories.

A great piece of creative realism!

I went out and bought this book based on a review in one of the free newspapers handed out at major train stations in New York, and it was a terrific read! Having grown up in Russia around the same time as Ms. Vapnyar, I can confirm that her portrayal of life both in Russia proper and little Russia in Brooklyn is exceptionally accurate. Yet, though the book wasn't an eye-opener to me, it was entertaining and thoughtful. Each story had its own unexpected twist and ended a bit abruptly, leaving it to the reader to ponder its final meaning.

The opening story is the longest and most ambiotious of the book. It is also the scariest, though again not the way one would expect. My favorite, however, was the story called Mistress, portraying psychological struggles of recent Russian immigrants living in Brooklyn. From the nine-year-old boy Misha who is forced to assist his linguistically handicapped grandmother to his grandfather finding himself unable to work in America and earn his respect, Vapnyar's depth and precision in revealing their most intimate feelings are truly unbelievable. A Dostoyevsky influence is visible, but Vapnyar's writing is much lighter and less imposing.

Overall, this is an excellent book combining an intriguing literary style with good entertainment, warmth and food for one's thoughts and soul.

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great book

Ms.Vapnyar's stories are some of the best I have read. I only hope she will produce many more! Thank you, Lara!

Powerful, Charming, and Poignant Short Stories

This is a well crafted and very readable collection of short stories. The powerful title story is a frightening account of a Russian Jew and her daughter who are hidden by a gentile friend with second thoughts. Other stories touch on the Russian immigrant experience in Brooklyn. Her subjects are treated with empathy and compassion.

A Slice of Russian Life

This book of short stories presents interesting vignettes of Russian and Russian American life, a viewpoint we don't read a lot about in this country. With the exception of the title story they are all written from a child or young person's point of view. They are very well written and engaging and if they were published individually in a magazine I might even call them excellent. But standing alone in book form I found them not worth the expense of purchasing a book.

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Admirable if Mundane First Effort

There Are Jews at My House is a noble, unforced, and unpretentious first effort from an ESL author who shows promise of coming into her own. Contrary to the back panel blurb's assertion, Vapnyar is not the Russian Jane Austen. Still, the stories are vivid and subtle, showing the positive signs of restraint and absorbing narrative.

The inadequacy of Vapnyar's English can be overcome--she will almost surely produce a more elegant product the next time around. (Do not confuse, however, her limited stylistic bravura with an asserted style--Lara is clearly, and smartly, playing it safe with the language).

The biggest problem is that most of the stories in this fiction/creative nonfiction tome can't be classified as extraordinary or extremely compelling. The title story, ripe with the most subject matter, is thankfully, understated and adequate. The best pieces are probably "Lydia's Grove" and "Mistress," with "Love Lessons" a runner-up. Other childhood recollections are prosaic (I'm probably biased as an ex-Soviet) and probably wouldn't be printed if it weren't for the author's Russian backdrops.

While Vapnyar has some distance to cover stylistically, and could stand to inject more humor into her stories (believe me, "Mistress" is full of potential), as a valuable early entry in the hopefully soon-to-be Russian-American canon, this book should not be dismissed .

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reviews: page 1, 2

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