Despite my promises to read Susan Choi's novel last week, I received Vapnyar's latest collection for a review so, well, I'm working on the review. Plus, if truth be told, it is a quicker read than Choi and you can see below for this week's reading challenges. Plus (plus), I really liked Vapnyar's first collection of stories, "There are Jews in My House," so I had high hopes for this one. I was not disappointed.
Lara Vapnyar has a fascination with food, although not of the type usually written about and praised. Vapnyar's selection of food resembles her approach to fiction, which is simple, straightforward, and sustaining. Her first collection of short stories ("There are Jews in My House") showed the promise of a gifted story writer, and this second collection (a novel was published in between) confirm earlier expectations. The Russian born writer, now living in New York, came to the U.S. when she was 23 but writes in English. Perhaps writing in a second language has granted Vapnyar an economy with words other writers may want to imitate.
Many of the stories deal with the Russian immigrant experience, especially in New York, where all the Russians are henceforth working as "computer programmers" no matter what their previous work entailed. Nina, the main character in the opening "A Bunch of Broccoli on the Third Shelf," actually was a computer programmer. Now she is obsessed with vegetable shopping, although she never actually gets around to cooking with them. Food, as in many of these stories, shows a hope for the future, of what people like Nina will someday accomplish. In the meantime, the vegetables rot in the refrigerator, another set of hopes turning moldy. However, while Vapnyar may deal in realism, she is not above seeing hope as the story ends with Nina standing on a chair above the broccoli finally steaming on stove as "the warm aroma of broccoli rose up, caressing Nina's face, enveloping the whole of her."
The realism also takes hold in "Salad Olivier" where we see the heroine challenged to find a husband which, according to a psychologist, will allow her father to rise from the couch and reenter life. When she discovers such a man she realizes he may be more for his parents than for her, although she likes everything about him. Tempted to move on, she maintains the relationship in way that may be more familiar to most than they are comfortable with.
Sex and food, never far apart since the creation of the novel (see Fielding's "Tom Jones") are also part of the landscape here; although in "Borscht" it is the lack of sex and in "Slicing Sauteed Spinach" it is the focus on sex for which food is always the backdrop. "Borscht" is a sentimental favorite in the surprisingly quick creation of two sad, yet forward moving lives. In many ways this story highlights Vapnyar's skill with the short story as it creates a range of emotions in just a few pages,all with little action.
Sex and food, never far apart since the creation of the novel (see Fielding's "Tom Jones") are also part of the landscape here; although in "Borscht" it is the lack of sex and in "Slicing Sauteed Spinach" it is the focus on sex for which food is always the backdrop. "Borscht" is a sentimental favorite in the surprisingly quick creation of two sad, yet forward moving lives. In many ways this story highlights Vapnyar's skill with the short story as it creates a range of emotions in just a few pages,all with little action.
But "Luda and Milena" stands out in the collection as a story which is bound to be anthologized in future collegiate readers. Here we find two older single women (one a widow) using food as a way to entice the lone, elderly Russian man in their ESL class. The Friday potlucks become battlegrounds in the war for the heart, made only more hilarious by the complete dislike of cooking each women holds. The ending creates a satisfying resolution, but one completely unexpected.
Vapnyar's not afraid of ending a story, although like many short stories written today they can be seen as "slices of life." But the reader gets a complete picture in each story and Vapnyar is usually willing to point the story in a direction which goes beyond her pages.
At the end Vapnyar even throws in some recipe's with her own stories, although cold borscht may not be on everyone's menu. More importantly, as a whole we have a complete collection of stories offering a unique voice to American literature and a great new writer of the short story.
Reading Challenges
Oh, the ugly head of illness raises its head and takes me out for a couple of days. In addition, 17 4-page essays from my students to read and comment on and several of them required a bit of commentary. Of course, I also had a full day and half symposium I co-chaired and quite simply a busy week. Hey, even the Redwings reappeared on tv (they won) so I was torn. I started Choi's novel and was worried about getting everything all done when Vapnyar's book arrived for a review. Problem solved and I keep up with my reviews. Oh glorious week!
Next Up
Ask me tomorrow? I still want to read Choi's "A Person of Interest" but also just received another collection of short stories to review. All in all, life is pretty good when faced with such choices. However, 50 pages into Choi's book and I know I need to finish it -- a slow start which has quickly picked up and drawn me in.
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