The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine : A Novel

"In this acidly funny novel" of life in Soviet Russia, "a cruel comic romp ends as a surprisingly winning story of hardship and resilience" ( The New Yorker ). A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year A German Book Award Finalist A Huffington Post and Wall Street Journal Favorite Read of the Year When Rosa Achmetowna discovers that her seventeen-year-old daughter, Sulfia, is pregnant, she tries every bizarre home remedy there is to thwart the pregnancy. But despite her best efforts, the baby girl Aminat is born—and immediately wins Rosa's heart. The dark-eyed Aminat is a Tartar through and through, just like Rosa, and the devious grandmother wastes no time in plotting to steal her away from the woefully inept Sulfia. When Aminat, now a wild and willful teenager, catches the eye of a sleazy German cookbook writer researching Tartar cuisine, Rosa is quick to broker a deal that will guarantee all three women a passage out of the Soviet Union. But as soon as they are settled in the West, the dysfunctional ties that bind mother, daughter, and grandmother begin to fray. Roman familial. Roman historique Avec virtuosité et panache, Rosalinda nous fait partager sa ?façon d'affronter la misère matérielle et spirituelle de son pays ?l'URSS des années 1980, marqué par les pénuries et la ?corruption. Lorsque sa fille Sulfia tombe enceinte mais ignore ?de qui, Rosalinda remue ciel et terre pour empêcher l'arrivée ?d'une nouvelle bouche à nourrir. En vain. Une petite fille est ?née. Contre toute attente, Rosalinda se transforme en grand-?mère fervente et donne aussitôt à la petite le nom de son aïeule tatare, Aminat. Rien ne résiste à la jeune grand-mère désireuse d'améliorer le sort des siens. De ruse en subterfuge, elle fait subir d'insolites épreuves à sa petite famille, qu'à cela ne tienne, elle ne veut que leur bien ! Jusqu'au jour où Aminat grandit et cesse d'être dupe. Cuisine tatare et descendance est une chronique tumultueuse de plusieurs décennies en compagnie de trois femmes inoubliables. Alina Bronsky, elle-même d'origine russe, donne la parole à des héroïnes de l'ombre et nous invite, en passant, dans les coulisses des destins qui mènent à l'émigration. Avec virtuosité et panache, Rosalinda nous fait partager sa façon d'affronter la misère matérielle et spirituelle de son pays l'URSS des années 1980, marqué par les pénuries et la corruption. Lorsque sa fille Sulfia tombe enceinte mais ignore de qui, Rosalinda remue ciel et terre pour empêcher l'arrivée d'une nouvelle bouche à nourrir. En vain. Une petite fille est née. Contre toute attente, Rosalinda se transforme en grand-mère fervente et donne aussitôt à la petite le nom de son aïeule tatare, Aminat. Rien ne résiste à la jeune grand-mère désireuse d'améliorer le sort des siens. De ruse en subterfuge, elle fait subir d'insolites épreuves à sa petite famille, qu'à cela ne tienne, elle ne veut que leur bien ! Jusqu'au jour où Aminat grandit et cesse d'être dupe. Cuisine tatare et descendance est une chronique tumultueuse de plusieurs décennies en compagnie de trois femmes inoubliables. Alina Bronsky, elle- même d'origine russe, donne la parole à des héroïnes de l'ombre et nous invite, en passant, dans les coulisses des destins qui mènent à l'émigration. Publishers Weekly Best Book Of The Year Finalist For The German Book Award Favorite Read Of The Year In The Huffington Post And The Wall Street Journal In Her Second Novel, Russian-born Alina Bronsky Gives Readers A Moving Portrait Of The Devious Limits Of The Will To Survive. The Narrator Of This Rollicking Family Saga Is The Outrageously Mischevious Rosa Achmetowna, Whom The Millions Calls One Of The Most Fascinating Women In The World. When She Discovers That Her Seventeen-year-old Daughter, “stupid Sulfia,” Is Pregnant By An Unknown Man She Does Everything To Thwart The Pregnancy, Employing A Variety Of Folkloric Home Remedies. But Despite Her Best Efforts The Baby, Aminat, Is Born Nine Months Later At Soviet Birthing Center Number 134. Much To Rosa’s Surprise And Delight, Dark Eyed Aminat Is A Tartar Through And Through And Instantly Becomes The Apple Of Her Grandmother’s Eye. While Her Good For Nothing Husband Kalganow Spends His Days Feeding Pigeons And Contemplating Death At The City Park, Rosa Wages An Epic Struggle To Wrestle Aminat Away From Sulfia, Whom She Considers A Woefully Inept Mother. When Aminat, Now A Wild And Willful Teenager, Catches The Eye Of A Sleazy German Cookbook Writer Researching Tartar Cuisine, Rosa Is Quick To Broker A Deal That Will Guarantee All Three Women A Passage Out Of The Soviet Union. But As Soon As They Are Settled In The West, The Uproariously Dysfunctional Ties That Bind Mother, Daughter And Grandmother Begin To Fray. Told With Sly Humor And An Anthropologist’s Eye For Detail, The Hottest Dishes Of The Tartar Cuisine Is The Story Of Three Unforgettable Women Whose Destinies Are Tangled Up In A Family Dynamic That Is At Turns Hilarious And Tragic. The new novel from the million-copy bestselling author of The Mirror Visitor Quartet Welcome to the School of Here, an unsettling and peculiar place that is nonetheless familiar to us all. A place full of codes and unspoken rules that are passed down from year to year. At Here, society is highly stratified, the pairs, friend groups, and outcasts are all ruled by a godlike prince. This yearas all other yearsthings are not at all as they seem. A self-effacing first-year student vanishes into thin air. A persecuted outsider delivers himself into permanent exile. A tyrannical upperclassman meets his match. A newly-minted prophetess tests her powers. And, behind the scenes, a cabal of students conducts a top-secret investigation into the unexplained phenomenon at the heart of it all. Back to school season marks the start of a time-honored cycle of revolution and rebirth in which each must play their part. With Here, and Only Here , Christelle Dabos author of the international sensation The Mirror Visitor Quartet gives readers an intriguing and penetrating novel that explores the difficulties of fitting in and the private, individual choices that make up the sometimes abhorrent, always unpredictable Collective. Rosa's schemes to abort her daughter Sulfia's fetus after learning of the pregnancy, take her granddaughter Aminat after the baby's birth, and move the family out of the Soviet Union eventually lead to tragedy