Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published in USA
Apr 2007
416 pages
Genre: Short Stories/Essays
Publication Information
The wonderful verve, unflagging verbal invention, and wicked charm that Tatyana Tolstaya brings to the short story have earned her a devoted audience all over the world. Edna O’Brien has called her “an enchantress.” Anita Desai has spoken of her work’s “richness and ardent life.” Stemming from a Russian tradition of heartbreak and humor, mixing harsh realism and disconcerting fantasy with lyrical abandon, Tolstaya is the natural successor to the Bulgakov of The Master and Margarita and the Nabokov of Pnin. In these pages we meet Denisov, who dreams of composing a treatise that will prove the metaphysical impossibility of Australia; Natasha, who searches not only Leningrad but her memory for a great love she knows she once had. Tolstaya’s gift for characterization is unequaled, and again and again she shows how the extraordinary will suddenly erupt in the midst of ordinary life.
Click to the right or left of the sample to turn the page.
(If no book jacket appears in a few seconds, then we don't have an excerpt of this book or your browser is unable to display it)
"Starred Review. Beautiful, imaginative and disconcerting, Tolstaya's Russia is a labyrinth of treasures and horrors." - PW.
"Children, old folks and the struggling in-betweens-Tolstaya sees into all their hearts. Remarkable." - Kirkus.
The information about White Walls shown above was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's online-magazine that keeps our members abreast of notable and high-profile books publishing in the coming weeks. In most cases, the reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author of this book and feel that the reviews shown do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, please send us a message with the mainstream media reviews that you would like to see added.
A paperback original from Tolstoy's great-grandniece, a longtime New Yorker fiction contributor. The collection includes her two previous story collections, On the Golden Porch and Sleepwalker in a Fog, along with more recent work.
A timely novel that explores the human capacity for resiliency and compassion.
About the book
The Kinship of Secrets
by Eugenia Kim
Two sisters grow up bound by family but separated by war; inspired by a true story.
Reader Reviews
Paris Echo
by Sebastian Faulks
A story of resistance, complicity, and an unlikely, transformative friendship.
Reader Reviews
Severance by Ling Ma
An offbeat, wryly funny, apocalyptic satire that is featured on more than twenty 2018 "Must Read" lists!
Visitors can view some of BookBrowse for free. Full access is for members only.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends books that we believe to be best in class. Books that will whisk you to faraway places and times, that will expand your mind and challenge you -- the kinds of books you just can't wait to tell your friends about.
Subscribe to receive some of our best reviews, "beyond the book" articles, book club info & giveaways by email.
