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A review by thisistanya
Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love by Lara Vapnyar
2.0
I feel bad giving a mostly negative review to creative work produced by a fellow Soviet expat, but that is also the very reason why I *must* give an honest, not so glowing review.
Initially, I was compelled to pick up this collection of stories because I like reading fiction about the immigrant experience, especially if it's written by someone who shares a lot of the same memories and experiences that I do, having come to the States from Russia in 1993.
I was more than a little disappointed by the stories in this book, however. To me, all the nuances fell flat and the prose felt as wilted as the broccoli stuck in the refrigerator of Nina, the woman in the first story. The entire thing feels like a series of clichéd pastiches distilled from genuine experience, mixed with a heavy dose of American expectation of what it must have been like to be Russian and an immigrant. One of the women in Vapnyar's stories feels taken aback whenever she's asked to recall "the horrors of communism," but instead chooses to share some simpering anecdote expected of her by her American lover. Just as this girl gives in to the expectation, so it seems does Vapnyar pander to some sort of readership that needs to hear about matchmaking mothers, about borscht, about standing in line for food for several hours. True, these are not particularly interesting anecdotes to me, but that's not my the main point of contention for me. When it comes to being an immigrant, a complex experience so rich with emotion and great fodder for writing really soul searching fiction, this book of stories reads flatly and doesn't inspire me to recommend it to any of my American friends who might be curious to read about the experiences many of my fellow expatriates went through.
I will give Vapnyar credit for truly, genuinely caring about each and every one of her characters. There is a great deal of affection and compassion for the men and women in her stories, possibly inspired in some way by people she may have encountered in real life. Vapnyar's writing does carry across the sadness and the hopes, but it's still not quite there to garner a 3-star from me, personally.
Initially, I was compelled to pick up this collection of stories because I like reading fiction about the immigrant experience, especially if it's written by someone who shares a lot of the same memories and experiences that I do, having come to the States from Russia in 1993.
I was more than a little disappointed by the stories in this book, however. To me, all the nuances fell flat and the prose felt as wilted as the broccoli stuck in the refrigerator of Nina, the woman in the first story. The entire thing feels like a series of clichéd pastiches distilled from genuine experience, mixed with a heavy dose of American expectation of what it must have been like to be Russian and an immigrant. One of the women in Vapnyar's stories feels taken aback whenever she's asked to recall "the horrors of communism," but instead chooses to share some simpering anecdote expected of her by her American lover. Just as this girl gives in to the expectation, so it seems does Vapnyar pander to some sort of readership that needs to hear about matchmaking mothers, about borscht, about standing in line for food for several hours. True, these are not particularly interesting anecdotes to me, but that's not my the main point of contention for me. When it comes to being an immigrant, a complex experience so rich with emotion and great fodder for writing really soul searching fiction, this book of stories reads flatly and doesn't inspire me to recommend it to any of my American friends who might be curious to read about the experiences many of my fellow expatriates went through.
I will give Vapnyar credit for truly, genuinely caring about each and every one of her characters. There is a great deal of affection and compassion for the men and women in her stories, possibly inspired in some way by people she may have encountered in real life. Vapnyar's writing does carry across the sadness and the hopes, but it's still not quite there to garner a 3-star from me, personally.