It’s a short but dense novel about a Ukraine family trying to find their place in Brighton Beach, New York. The novel takes place in the beginning of the 90s and sneakily spans nearly 20 years, starting from the moment uncle Pasha arrives in Brighton Beach (aka Little Odessa) from Odessa (Ukraine) to visit his family during a kind of experimental visit in the USA. Pasha is a poet, sickly and superior. His family, consisting of his imperious mother, meek doctor father, sister, brother-in-law and awkwardly observant niece, has just settled in America and is hoping Pasha will overcome his habitual passivity and move his son and wife to the US with him. There is illness, uncomfortable aging, additional visits for Pasha, still uncertain about what he ought to do and a shifting perspective on what it means to be in the USA, forever new and unsettled, attached indivisibly to a homeland and habits.

Here’s Jim’s lovely remarks on the writing: “It's all eyes and ears, the kind of wised up lyricism that I can't help but compare, uneasily, to Aleksandar Hemon. The narrative arc is admittedly slight and curiously shaped, but Yelena managed to infuse each utterance with such consequence and wisdom, that you can't help but get pulled along, entranced by the next thought.”

An excerpt has been published in n+1 where Yelena has been published before.

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agata@literatura.com.pl