Natasha And Other Stories

A dazzling debut, and a publishing phenomenon: the tender, savagely funny collection from a young immigrant who has taken the critics by storm. Few readers had heard of David Bezmozgis before May 2003, whenHarper's, Zoetrope,andThe New Yorkerall printed stories from his forthcoming collection. In the space of a few weeks, America thus met the Bermans--Bella and Roman and their son, Mark--Russian Jews who have fled the Riga of Brezhnev for Toronto, the city of their dreams. Told through Mark's eyes, the stories in Natasha possess a serious wit and uniquely Jewish perspective that recall the first published stories of Bernard Malamud and Philip Roth, not to mention the recent work of Jhumpa Lahiri, Nathan Englander, and Adam Haslett. David Bezmozgiswas born in Riga, Latvia, in 1973. In 1980 he immigrated with his parents to Toronto, where he lives today. This is his first book. ANew York TimesNotable Book ASan Francisco ChronicleBest Book AChicago TribuneBest Book Winner of the Commonwealth Prize ALos Angeles TimesBest Book of the Year Finalist for the Art Seidenbaum Award Winner of the Writers' Guild of Canada's Danuta Gleed Literary Award for Short Fiction Winner of the Canadian Jewish Book Award Shortlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award Shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award Shortlisted for the Governor-General's Award Title Story Included in the 2005Best American Short Stories The New Yorker,Harper's, andZoetropeintroduced America to the BermansBella and Roman and their son, MarkRussian Jews who have fled the Riga of Brezhnev for Toronto, the city of their dreams. A debut collection of rare skill and verve,Natashachronicles the family saga of the Bermans in stories full of heart and consequence. In "Tapka," six-year-old Mark's first experiments in English bring ruin and near tragedy to the neighbors upstairs. In "Roman Berman, Massage Therapist," Roman and Bella stake all their hopes for Roman's business on their first dinner with a North American family. In the title story, a stark, funny anatomy of first love, we witness Mark's sexual awakening at the hands of his fourteen-year-old cousin, a new immigrant from the New Russia. In "Minyan," Mark and his grandfather watch as the death of an Odessan cabdriver sets off a religious controversy among the residents of a Jewish old-people's home. The stories inNatashacapture the immigrant experience with wit and deep sympathy. Their evocation of boyhood and youth, and the battle for selfhood in a passionately loving Jewish family, recalls the early work of Bernard Malamud, Leonard Michaels, and Philip Roth. ANew York TimesNotable Book Winner of the Commonwealth Prize "An authority one usually finds only in more seasoned writers."Meghan O'Rouke,The New York Times Book Review "An authority one usually finds only in more seasoned writers."Meghan O'Rouke,The New York Times Book Review "A slim, well-observed collection."D. T. Max,The Nation "An effervescent debut . . . A familiar tale of dislocation and assimilation with enough humor, honesty, and courage to make it new again . . . If the last page of 'Tapeka' doesn't stop your heart, maybe it was never beating."Omagazine "Deft . . . Humane but unblinkingly unsentimental . . . Fine stories [that are] thick with memorable characters."John Biguenet,Chicago Tribune