The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine

Alina Bronsky has created one of the most unforgettable fictional mothers of all times in this book. Rosalinda is a Tartar in every sense of the word. We meet her and her family in Russia, where she and her husband have made every effort to cleanse themselves of ethic characteristics and become pure vanilla Soviets.But there's no taking the Tartar out of Rosie. She has a will of iron, nerves of steel, and courage enough for any battle. She knows what's best for everyone and takes charge of the lives of others with astonishing confidence and terrifying competence. Her daughter fears her. Her granddaughter adores her and hates her. Men find Rose sexy, because she's beautiful and eternally young, or thinks she is, which is just as good. Even God finds Rosie hard to withstand, and answers her prayers promptly (mostly).I loved Rosie. So what if she's manipulative, critical and belligerent. She has genius, and passion.The plot follows Rosie's machinations as she looks after her family in a disintegrating Russia, and finally contrives to relocate them to the capitalist paradise of Germany. To be honest, Rosie does some despicable things along the way, but always for a good cause. Can't we identify with that a little?The Hottest Dishes is roll-your-eyes hilarious and chock full of shocks and crises. But it's not a romp. There's plenty of heartbreak for Rosie and the reader to work their way through.Utterly original and profoundly unconventional, this novel can't be summed up any more easily than Rose can. I suspect Rosie even managed to overpower her author, becoming a heroine despite Bronsky's best efforts to control her!I enjoyed Bronsky's first novel, Broken Glass Park, but The Hottest Dishes is even more wonderful. Like all Europa Editions, the book is beautifully produced.

Ah, the old "unreliable narrator" trick! Bronsky uses it unashamedly -- and often inexpertly -- in this, her second novel. Narrator Rosa is a narcissistic, deluded, thoroughly self-centered, dishonest, manipulative hag. She is an over-the-top mother from hell (she's a few other things as well, but no spoilers here). How another Amazon reviewer saw her as "almost endearing" is beyond me. And how the writer of the Amazon book description got "rollicking family saga" from this is a puzzle. That writer cannot have read the book.I read an interview with Bronsky in which she stated that Rosalinda is written as an archetypal "Soviet woman," and that emigre readers have told her she reminds them of their Russian grandmothers. All I can say to that is "yikes."Despite the author's sly humor, so clever in her first novel, there is no comedy or joy in The Hottest Dishes of the Tarter Cuisine. Beyond the many subtle, funny stabs at Soviet communism, the novel is like a train wreck unfolding in slow motion: the reader is enraptured, pinned in place, knowing what will and must happen, not wanting to see but unable to turn away. Rosa's skewed perspective is funny for perhaps twenty pages, but soon rankles. I hated her, didn't want to read her thoughts, and yet felt compelled to stick with the book until the finish. I can't say it was an enjoyable read, even if it is in many ways a remarkable novel.The strange and improbable ending seems tacked on. It's obvious what the author was aiming for structurally, but the book ends with a thud.(It's a risky thing to criticize in detail the writing of a translated book, if you cannot read it in the original language, but I was surprised by spurts of clumsy writing. Paragraphs of staccato, short sentences pop up regularly. Is that less of an issue in German? In English, it comes across as sloppy, or unskilled. It breaks the flow of the narrator's voice.)

Alina Bronsky's book is a dark, sneering monologue by one of the world's great survivors... Tatar babushka from hell, Rosalinda. After growing up in an Orphanage post-The Great Patriotic War, not really ready or wanting to be a mother or grandmother, she's one of the great "unreliable narrators" except that once you understand her, her attitudes are completely understandable. Live your life, don't expose yourself to germs, filth and disgusting people (like her husband), avoid stupid and naive persons who waste your time (like her daughter Sulfia) and recognize brilliance and beauty when you see it (like her grandaughter Aminat... a Rosalinda clone in training). It mostly takes place in the falling apart USSR of the 1980s in some nameless city (I'm thinking Kazan or Ufa) with no running water, empty shelves in the stores and a population getting shabbier and shabbier. Into this walks a male German cookbook author trying to find authentic folk recipes and Rosalinda feels exploiting him is her family's last chance to get out of their hellhole. I can see this as a book many American's will find unpleasant... the main character isn't lovable and it's loaded with tough Soviet cynicism which many in this country will strain to understand. Growing up with a family from Central/Eastern Europe, Rosalinda and her brood seemed extremely familiar to me. I found it hilarious (but your mileage may vary) and wanting to read Ms. Bronsky's first book. It's a great keyhole view into SAVAK (Soviet culture) living. My only minor qualm was the spelling of the Russian/Tatar names in the translation... they were all spelled to read like Polish names... but otherwise, the translator seems to have done a wonderful job capturing the flair, sarcasm and humor of the original.

Delivered on time - Took this to Prague on holiday - An intriguing read - Very sad when i had finished it - what a woman!

This is a very well written book, whose main character is so well described that one comes to hate her and her lack of sensitivity towards others. But it's also a great encounter between cultures, motivation to think about no-nonsense actions and a good laugh quite often.