Panic in a Suitcase

May 12, 2014
The Ukrainian Jewish family featured in this hilarious debut leaves Odessa for Brooklyn in 1991. They include renowned doctor Robert Nasmertov; his daughter, Marina; who finds work cleaning houses for wealthy American Jews; and her nine-year-old daughter, Frida. However, Robert’s son, Pasha, a brilliant poet but a totally incapable human being, never emigrates, visiting his family only occasionally. In 2008, the adult Frida goes to see him and discovers that he has become “more alienated and excluded in his native city than his family in their new land.” Akhtiorskaya’s take on how family members manipulate and fail each other is spot-on, with Pasha and Frida both disappointing their family in different ways: he converts to Christianity; she begins medical school but drops out. The prose is finely crafted, but this is not a tale of relatable people. Instead, Akhtiorskaya excels at humorous, slightly overstated character sketches, making each person uniquely absurd. Agent: Jim Rutman, Sterling Lord Literistic.

Starred review from June 15, 2014
Given current events, Akhtiorskaya's debut-concerning an immigrant family's ambivalent ties to America and those who choose to stay behind in Ukraine-could not be more timely.As the novel opens in 1993, Esther and Robert Nasmertov, once highly respected doctors in Odessa, have been settled for two years in the Russian/Ukrainian Jewish enclave of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, where their medical practices have dwindled and they struggle with their own health problems. Living with them are their chunky, sullen 10-year-old granddaughter, Frida, her mother, Marina (the Nasmertovs' daughter), who cleans houses for wealthier Jews and eventually becomes a nurse, and her low-level computer-tech husband, Levik. Absent is Esther and Robert's son, Pasha, an up-and-coming poet. A convert to Eastern Orthodoxy, he remains in Odessa with his wife and adolescent son. When Esther is diagnosed with cancer, Marina arranges for Pasha to visit. Akhtiorskaya's set-piece descriptions of his monthlong stay-a family beach outing; a birthday weekend in a cramped lake cabin; a literary soiree-are drawn with sharp humor, telling character sketches and sensory flamboyance. Esther, Robert and Marina want Pasha, whom they all consider helpless and hapless, to stay in America where they can take care of him. Pasha is put off by what he sees as Brighton Beach's second-rate version of Odessa, but he enjoys Manhattan's expat literary social life. Cut to 2008. Word comes to Brooklyn that Pasha's son is engaged. Frida, thinner but still sullenly unhappy, decides to attend the wedding and receives a less-than-enthusiastic welcome to Odessa. Divorced and remarried to a woman he met in New York, Pasha has become a literary lion based on the work he published (and Frida never bothered to read) shortly after his visit to America 15 years ago. As Akhtiorskaya showed America through Pasha's eyes, she now offers Frida's vision of Crimea as chaotic, decrepit, yet enticingly surreal.Akhtiorskaya's sideways humor allows rays of genuine emotion to filter through the social and domestic satire.

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Starred review from May 15, 2014

In this marvelous debut novel, a Russian immigrant family from Odessa arrives in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, to begin a new life, but leaving the old world to pursue the American dream isn't quite what family members had imagined. The narrative recounts with humor and wisdom the experiences of the Nasmertov family over the course of two decades, through the fall of communism and the rise of globalization. Pasha and Marina, two of the book's many intriguing characters, struggle to put the past behind them while confronting the rules and eccentricities of American life. Russian-owned shops and other reminders of home are everywhere in Brighton Beach, but does the freedom to return to Odessa make success in their adopted country more difficult to achieve? With beautiful prose that often feels like poetry, Akhtiorskaya portrays America from an outsider's perspective while revealing the collective truths about families no matter where they live. VERDICT A touching and darkly funny first novel that is sure to be adored by readers everywhere. Very highly recommended.--Lisa Block, Atlanta

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2014
Meet the Nasmertovs, a dysfunctional family of Soviet 'migr's who have settled in the oceanside enclave of Brighton Beach, a Little Russia inside Brooklyn. In hysterical, frantic prose, the author unwinds the Nasmertovs' idiosyncratic unhappinessto steal a line from Tolstoybut she also unpacks the hot meals and beachfront frolics so familiar from life in Ukraine. The book opens with a visit to the U.S. by Uncle Pasha, a promising poet and the only member of the family to have remained in Odessa. Pasha's misadventures among New York's literary elite lead to outrageous parties and the promise of English-language translation, but he decides, ultimately, to return home. Ten years later, the youngest Nasmertov, struggling med student Frida, embarks on a trip to live with Pasha, only to discover the weird quirks and dysthymic condition of her uncle's way of life. Frida must confront her preconceptions about both an idealized homeland and the strange comfort of an adopted country. Told from the intimate perspective of an insider, this exhilarating, hilarious first novel captures the bustling commotion of the immigrant experience.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)