The View from Stalin's Head

November 24, 2003
A starred or boxed review indicates a book of outstanding quality. A review with a blue-tinted title indicates a book of unusual commercial interest that hasn't received a starred or boxed review
.
THE VIEW FROM STALIN'S HEAD
Aaron Hamburger
. Random
, $12.95 paper (224p) ISBN 0-8129-7093-4

Callow young Americans grapple uneasily with Judaism and homosexuality as they navigate a cruddy, crumbling post-Communist Prague in this debut collection. The 10 hit-or-miss stories capture a narrow spectrum of expatriate life, populated by characters uncomfortable in their own skins; this awkwardness is the focus of Hamburger's best efforts. In "A Man of the Country," the protagonist endures a yearlong semiflirtation with massive, handsome Jirka, growing ever more frustrated ("I'm more than an asexual sidekick or polite, helpful English teacher"), but never quite willing to take the initiative. In "Exile," the artist-pornographer protagonist infiltrates a tiny Jewish community led by a fierce, closeted lesbian and makes friends with an eccentric Czech student of theology. The theology student also appears in "Jerusalem," seduced by insecure American expatriate Rachel after they meet at an Israeli folk-dancing class. Rachel, obsessed by her weight and her nagging Jewish mother, is little more than a caricature; this is also true of Debra, the activist protagonist of "You Say You Want a Revolution" ("She didn't want a family, not the traditional kind. She didn't want diapers and graham crackers and apple juice"), and Sarah, a strident tourist visiting Prague in "This Ground You Are Standing On." Hamburger overshoots the mark with these attempts at satire, but his sketches of oddball Prague natives are sharp and affectionate and his evocation of Prague in the 1990s (cheap Vietnamese markets, tough beef and sour cabbage, expatriate cafés) is vivid and unexpected. (Mar. 16)

Forecast:
Hamburger treads some of the same ground as Arthur Phillips (
Prague) and Jonathan Safran Foer (
Everything Is Illuminated),
but doesn't achieve the same momentum, though the collection will benefit from the current boom in post-Communist fiction.

October 15, 2003
Set in Prague, these stories explore the lives of the American expatriates, tourists, and drifters who found their way to that city in the post-Cold War era. Hamburger's characters are generally young, Jewish, and often gay and tend to be struggling with questions of identity and faith. In "A Man of the Country," an American falls for a straight Czech youth, with all of the misunderstandings and false starts of their relationship interpretable both symbolically and literally. "Garage Sale" concerns a gay Canadian English teacher who finds himself slowly, and surprisingly becoming involved with a Czech woman despite his misgivings and self-doubt. "Exile" involves an American artist drawn to an unusual synagogue that caters to non-Jews and to the mysterious Evzha, who may or may not be a prophet. "The Ground You Are Standing On" probes the reactions of two middle-aged Jewish tourists who board with an elderly woman in a house that had been Jewish-owned before the war. A provocative and often striking first collection, this is recommended for larger public libraries.-Lawrence Rungren, Merrimack Valley Lib. Consortium, Andover, MA

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2004
Recent novels, including Phillips' " Prague" (2002)" "and Beckman's " The Winter Zoo "(2002), have described the excesses and secret disappointments of American expatriates who flocked to Central and Eastern Europe after communism's fall. The stories in this debut collection, set in 1990s Prague, cover similar themes, but Hamburger's characters are Czech as well as North American, and he explores that tumultuous decade after the Velvet Revolution from both sides and in small, private scenes. In one story, a gay American is propositioned by his Czech friend, who says, "I want try it," making the man feel like "a new American breakfast cereal." In another, a young American activist feels pulled away from her idealistic, if failed, work toward her comfortable life in the States. Not all the stories are equally strong, but in language that's both understated and visceral, Hamburger skillfully distills those moments when his characters experience crucial identity shifts, not just in wild, foreign encounters but more often while eating, bathing, and tending to the animal needs of love and safety that link us all.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)