Reviews
Praise for Lara Vapnyar''s Previous Works: The Scent of Pine : "[With] a buoyant wit, a sharp-edged Russian melancholy, a fascination with outsiders who long to be insiders and a blunt reckoning with the costs of that transition for those who achieve it. This slender but provocative novel advances those concerns, skillfully questioning the notion that age brings wisdom, at least in matters of the heart." -- New York Times Book Review "Ms. Vapnyar has shown herself to be exquisitely sensitive to the shifting vagaries of emotion, particularly happiness...Enchanting." -- New York Times "[Vapnyar''s] wistful and waggish account of disappointments in friendship, sex, and love is closer in spirit to Anton Chekhov, who, remaining in Russia, captured the universal melancholy of human mortality." -- Christian Science Monitor There Are Jews in My House : "A remarkable collection...Eerie in its simplicity, stunning in its scope. Through her tender, insightful writing, Vapnyar''s characters, battered by history and each other, emerge from the long Soviet night oddly radiant and whole." -- Gary Shteyngart "Lara Vapnyar is Jane Austen with a Russian soul. The blend of coolness and pathos in these perfect stories is uncanny." -- Louis Menand "These finely etched stories glow with the life-giving force of language newly acquired." -- Time Out New York "Shot through with coolly rendered details of exquisite beauty...Relish this small gem and hope for more." - -San Francisco Chronicle "Superbly written tales that continue the tradition of Russian realism.... One feels that a season is changing and the future has arrived." -- Washington Times "Vapnyar''s ambition, purity of prose, and gift for concentrated emotion make this collection a standout--and the first move in what promises to be a long and interesting career." -- Hartford Courant "A feat of linguistic achievement. Not only is [Vapnyar''s] prose stark and carved in its fresh foreignness, but her stories have the quality of memoir, which lends a naturalness to her subjects.... You must read these stories or have them read to you." -- Los Angeles Times "Beautifully wrought tales...Nuanced and deftly written...Superb." - -Baltimore Sun " There Are Jews in My House has an exciting flawlessness, like a perfectly cut stone.... This book should become one of those slender classics, beloved especially among those who thrill to find the old-fashioned short story made so richly and authentically new." -- O : The Oprah Magazine "Vapnyar draws an indelible portrait of the land she left behind. . . . [She] conjures a country that is both alluring and oppressive and induces longing and dismay in equal parts." -- The New York Times Book Review "Richly written...[Vapnyar''s] gift is capturing zigzag lives, alternate realities, the messy imperfection of people as they struggle to find a path." -- Miami Herald "Vapnyar''s sensitive descriptions of Russian life here and abroad make her a writer to watch." -- Dallas Morning News "Reading the stories in There Are Jews in My House is a bit like what it might have been like to look over Tolstoy''s shoulder while he examined a blade of grass, then another. In Vapnyar''s fiction, details jut, simple and bright, until they pose a world." -- Chicago Tribune Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love : "Poignant, piquant, and mischievously amusing." -- Wall Street Journal "Elegant...In these stories, food has the power to define characters, propel plots, cause riots, and even commit manslaughter." -- New York Times "The comedy of these amusing character studies would, perhaps, have delighted Chekhov.... With Vapnyar, we''re seeing the weird and wonderful development of a sophisticated artist." -- San Francisco Chronicle "Charming...The stories come alive, inviting the reader to explore the kitchen tables and anxious stomachs of the characters." -- New York Observer
