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8th out of 25 books
—
18 voters
Petropolis
by
Anya Ulinich
Sasha Goldberg is the ultimate outsider: she's a chubby, biracial Jewish girl from the Siberian town of Asbestos 2. Her father takes off for the United States, and leaves Sasha to navigate adolescence in a bleak apartment bloc with her overbearing mother. Sasha falls in love with an art school drop-out who lives inside a concrete pipe in the town dump. Following her heart...more
Hardcover, 324 pages
Published
February 15th 2007
by Viking
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Well, I always think i have a weakness for books about Russian immigrants, Russian-Americans, or other Eastern Europeans in America. However, i've noticed a trend lately among contemporary novels written by Young Russian Immigrants or Young Americans of Russian Descent. The trend consists of books that try so hard to be satirical, lovingly mocking both Russian and American culture, while also trying to hard to be _current_ and capture minute details of contemporary pop culture so perfectly, that...more
(My full review of this book is much longer than GoodReads' word-count limitations. Find the entire essay at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)
It's no secret that I'm a fan of novels that use international travel as the core of their story; and one of the reasons I like such books, as is the case with a lot of other fans of the genre, is that it gives a smart author a great opportunity to examine the various cultures that exist around the world, the various set...more
It's no secret that I'm a fan of novels that use international travel as the core of their story; and one of the reasons I like such books, as is the case with a lot of other fans of the genre, is that it gives a smart author a great opportunity to examine the various cultures that exist around the world, the various set...more
4 likes · like · see review
Reading this was like visiting granny. She's a nice sweet old thing and all, but I could be out doing something. Sorry granny. Have another peppermint.
Oh, by the way, you have to forgive me tonight, I'm at work and I'm totally not working. I bet you noticed already!! I'm trying the break the most-would-be-amusing-reviews-in-one-evening record.
Oh, by the way, you have to forgive me tonight, I'm at work and I'm totally not working. I bet you noticed already!! I'm trying the break the most-would-be-amusing-reviews-in-one-evening record.
3 likes · like · see review
Dec 19, 2007
Melanie
marked it as to-read
"Anya Ulinich's Petropolis is a coming-of-age story, a novel about outsiderness, about being a Jew and an immigrant, a Lost Girl trying to find the father who left when she was a child. That Ulinich steers clear of sentimentality may seem like a minor miracle. It's the real trick of Petropolis, and she pulls it off by sending her heroine—an awkward, intelligent teenager from Siberia who becomes a mail-order bride—on a comic odyssey through a United States populated almost entirely by desperate c...more
Aug 08, 2011
Elizabeth
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
neurotic chics who go to shrinks
Shelves:
2011
This book kinda reiterates a general rule of thumb with me and Russians - tread lightly. They grow up in the land of broken if they're growing up in Siberia. Government, pipes, houses, spirits-you name it, broken and nothing to mend them. There's no whining though, there's acceptance and later craftiness and than above all, and intense resourcefulness. Guess that's where the crafty starts ro really take off. Lucky for us Sasha, born and raised in Asbestos2 in SIberia, also brings to the table th...more
Perhaps I really liked this book because it told me what has happened when you have lost everything. Sash Goldberg is an outcast - living in post-Lenin Russia, in poverty with her mother, growing up with a father who walked out on her, and to add to it - she is both black and Jewish, and overweight. This calls for some serious discrimination (such as she can't be a "snowflake" with her classmates in the school play). The book follows Sasha through her life - her first love, her schooling struggl...more
This touching tale of one girl's journey from innocence to mail-order bride tells the story of Sasha Goldberg's quest to find a place for herself in the world. As she travels from Siberia to the United States, Sasha carries a dream of reuniting with her father, a man she has idealized since his departure from Russia years before. Unfortunately, the more time she spends in America, the more Sasha learns about her father and his new life, and the less she is able to maintain that childish vision o...more
What the heck, FIVE STARS! Eh, maybe 4.5 stars. I could not put this book down despite the Siberian chill it put in my bones. The writing is exquisite. Although some who read this may see its category (Russian/American Jewish young emigre writers of the 21st century) more than the book itself, it bears looking at on its own merits. That said, it's hard not to draw parallels. This may be the most "Soviet" thing I've ever read, including Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart. The book is not so much an o...more
I am sucker for Russian writers, going back to Dostoevsky and Turgenev. That said, this is a marvelous new voice in literature that has captured the Russian soul between the pages of a novel that will stay with me in the same way as the aforementioned authors. Now, keep in mind that I am rating this novel due to my enjoyment of it and I am not saying that this is a new Dostoevsky, but I am saying that she has created a work that is at once powerful and sensitive, that speaks to the basics of the...more
Really enjoyed this story of a black Jew who grows up in Siberia and finds herself – literally and figuratively – while searching the U.S. for the father who abandoned her. Anya Ulinich can really write, which is crazy since English is her second language and she didn't move to the U.S. until she was 17. She wrote this book in her early 30s. This is the Soviet version of the social commentary J.K. Rowling tried to put across in The Casual Vacancy and failed. The difference is that in Petropolis,...more
What attracted me to this novel was its similarity to Super Sad True Love Story
by Gary Shteyngart, a dystopian novel that also happens to be quite hilarious. But it is important for any potential read to know upfront that they're not about to experience something quite as wacky as Super Sad True Love Story.
That said, Ulinich's novel makes for a highly compelling read. It is quirky and the momentum is continuous. The plot takes you from location to location (and bizarre situation after bizarre s...more
by Gary Shteyngart, a dystopian novel that also happens to be quite hilarious. But it is important for any potential read to know upfront that they're not about to experience something quite as wacky as Super Sad True Love Story.
That said, Ulinich's novel makes for a highly compelling read. It is quirky and the momentum is continuous. The plot takes you from location to location (and bizarre situation after bizarre s...more
Another solid read from the Jewish Russian American set (I really enjoyed Gary Stengyhart's (sp?) "Absurdistan.") Ulinich, in her first novel, can't quite match his prose or absurdity, but, nonetheless, writes a quality debut (and probably should be seen for herself, not only in the light of Stengyhart). The plot is compelling: you want to know what will happen to Sasha. Also, Ulinich's emotional conflict is believable and moving. The details and descriptions are great: she is a talented writer....more
Jul 31, 2011
Christopher F.
added it
I expected a tad more after all the hype surrounding this newly discovered young writer. The book is extremely competent and in places very entertaining, but I have problems with the fact that, despite the Russian-American author and some extremely dark subject matter (half the book is set in an economically and morally devastated Siberian industrial ghost town called Asbestos 2), the overall tone is American sentimentalism rather than Russian fatalism and gallows humor. It even has a happy endi...more
Petropolis tries very hard to be dark and satirical and paint a picture of America and Russia that is both brutal and touching. It partly succeeds, in that there were many moments in the book that I thought perfectly conveyed the grimness of living in impoverished post-Soviet Russia, and the grimness of living as an outsider in the "land of opportunity" when you have no status and are reliant on the strings-attached charity of those who always have more money and power than you. Russia and Ameri...more
Dark and funny. This book is about life; not all terrible, but not all rosy. The main character, Sasha Goldberg, was a black, Jewish Russian. She grew up in a small town Siberia called Abestos 2. Her decisions in life took her to different situations that I could completely relate to. Growing up with a mom who worked all the time to put food on the table and did her best to give you the best opportunities; seeking a father who you long to be close to but yet leave you with disappointments after...more
I have trouble deciding what I think of this book. I struggled with it all the way through. I did not like the main character, Sasha. I didn’t like her mother, Mrs. Goldberg. The only character I liked from the moment I met him was Viktor Goldberg, Sasha’s dad. Then Viktor leaves, leaving me alone with Sasha and Mrs. Goldberg. Then after a while, Jake enters, and I find another character I can relate to. By the end of the book my favorite character was Jake.
I like seeing American culture through...more
I like seeing American culture through...more
This is a strong debut from an author who shows herself to be, above all, an excellent storyteller. It is at its heart the story of a woman--Sasha Goldberg, a teenage, dark-skinned, Russian Jew raised in a forgotten and eroding Soviet town called Asbestos 2--trying to find a place for herself in the world. Some might call it a coming-of-age piece, taking place as it does in Sasha's late teens, but I think it is more aptly described as an immigrant's story, one of seeking a home.
What makes this s...more
What makes this s...more
A few days ago, a friend instant messaged me from Ukraine. I was terrified. I often email in the language—when I can take the time to check my grammar and spelling—but have never before engaged in a real-time written conversation.
Not only was I trying to remember vocabulary and declensions, but I was also dealing with typing in an entirely different alphabet. My deficiencies were mortifying, and I was sure my friend thought I was a complete moron.
At the same time, I was reading Anya Ulinich’s de...more
Not only was I trying to remember vocabulary and declensions, but I was also dealing with typing in an entirely different alphabet. My deficiencies were mortifying, and I was sure my friend thought I was a complete moron.
At the same time, I was reading Anya Ulinich’s de...more
I can't believe this book was written by a first time author, and one whose mother tongue is not English! Petropolis is very entertaining and heart-wrenching at times. It's the story of a young girl in Russia who comes to the US at a cost that most of us wouldn't even think about. She's a mail order bride, living in Arizona with a husband who likes her because in her profile she states that she likes to clean. He's secretive and creepy, so she eventually leaves him and moves across country. Beco...more
I've had such awful luck with random books picked up off the shelf based on whim, but this book surprised me with how much I enjoyed it. It's the story of a biracial Jewish girl who grows up in Siberia, attends a very surreal Socialist art school, escapes as a mail-order bride to America, and winds up traveling across the U.S. in search of her father, who abandoned her family when she was a pre-teen. This makes it sound like a road trip book, but it isn't.
Although at times minorly contrived, fo...more
Although at times minorly contrived, fo...more
This book was an easy read about a young girl finding her way through life. Growing up in an impoverished area in Siberia, she encounters many obstacles but continues to move on trying to make a better life for herself. She actually had many things going for her, but the usual rebellious teenage behavior steps in and takes over. I don't usually read books centered in Russia, so I found the geographical aspects interesting as well. I don't want to give anything away, but I was happy with the way...more
A really neat view on a Russian immigrant's experience; I really enjoyed it. The description of a post cold-war rural siberian town was really fascinating. I read from interviews that it is semi-autobiographical, plus, English is her second language. That she was able to write such a compelling novel is amazing. However, the writing style and lack of some details (perhaps because of the semi-autobiographical nature) made it a harder than normal read for me.
Wednesday, Feb 16 at 7 pm Denis O’hare (True Blood and Take Me Out) and others perform luminous classic tales and exciting new stories from the latest emerging Russian writers. The evening will be guest curated and introduced by novelist Anya Ulinich (Petropolis) and Keith Gessen, novelist, translator (There Once Lived A Woman Who Killed Her Neighbor's Baby by Ludmilla Petrushevskay), and editor of the literary magazine, n+1.
I picked this book up because the story’s plot follows a Siberian Mail-Order Bride to America and this theme sounded intriguing to me. The story was really so much more than I expected, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the protagonist, Sasha, was a artist and that so much of the story takes places in her hometown of Asbestos 2. I love to read about other cultures and societies, and when art is a central theme in a novel I’m usually hooked.
Sasha is a bit of a clumsy heroine, but it...more
Sasha is a bit of a clumsy heroine, but it...more
the first 20 pages were a little hard to get through because the author's style is a little odd. but it's getting better and better!
...
so i finished this book and i really liked it! i was right, it just gets better and better! i could really relate to the immigrant experience that this girl had even though what she went through was, on the surface, totally different than what i'm going through. but the author (who is obviously an immigrant, too) really hit some key feelings on the head. plus the...more
...
so i finished this book and i really liked it! i was right, it just gets better and better! i could really relate to the immigrant experience that this girl had even though what she went through was, on the surface, totally different than what i'm going through. but the author (who is obviously an immigrant, too) really hit some key feelings on the head. plus the...more
This book follows Sasha from her life in a Russian mining town called Asbestos 2 to art school in Moscow to her time as a mail-order bride in Arizona to her unpaid maid position with religious zealots to her freedom in Brooklyn. I’m not not a fan of tough-life autobiographies, but there’s something vainglorious about authors of fictional tough-life biographies, you know? I didn’t like this book for the same reason I didn’t like Lawrence Hill’s Book of Negroes. At least Ulinich is a Russian woman...more
Ulinich has a masterful way of handling emotion for the reader. This book has that kind of straight to the bone impact that seems to only be available through making readers feel things using deadened characters. It is a strange sort of compassion absent sentimentality, the kind of feeling that can only come through those who have felt too much. A truly well told story.
Fiercely determined, pickled in cynicism, straight from the fallen empire of post-communist industrial wastelands, Sasha Goldberg of the town of Asbestos 2 will survive. Her anti-heroic view of immigration and unsentimental portrait of the artist as a young woman grabs you by the lapels and shakes you silly. The main character, a sort of Russian Lemony Snicket, navigates the frozenology of Asbestos 2 with the same grim exuberance that marks her voyage through the calidorium of Arizona. In both c...more
Reading a couple of contemplative, rooted novels like The Wilderness and The Spectator Bird prior to and while reading Petropolis did not make it any easier to enjoy Petropolis. The ongoing problem of the book is its constant absurdist movement. I never felt settled reading it. I'll live with it, though, as the Summer '09 beach read for the book club.
Energetic and touching coming of age story about a Russian-Jewish girl of African ancestry struggling to find her place in the world. Funny and charming with a sure touch of atmosphere and character. Reveals a lot about the craziness of post-soviet Russian and the contrast of America (crazy in a different way). Written in English by a Russian native.
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Anya Ulinich was born in 1973 in Moscow. She began studying art as a child. When Anya was seventeen, her family left Moscow and immigrated to the United States. Anya attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and received an MFA from the University of California at Davis. In 2000, she moved to Brooklyn, abandoned painting and began to write. Petropolis is her first novel.
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“In this town of towheaded drunks, [his daughter] would bear the weight of her difference, doled out in murmurs, taunts, and shoves. But now it occurred to Victor that she would suffer more than he ever had because, unlike him, she had been loved, and her punishment would come as a surprise.”
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May 02, 2012 09:58pm