(Fiction, 324 pp. 2007)
Chubby, biracial teenager Sasha Goldberg continually disappoints her overbearing mother until she manages to escape the confines of her bleakly named Siberian town, Asbestos 2. She first lands as a mail-order bride in Phoenix, then ditches her husband and makes her way to suburban Chicago where a wealthy family adopts her as their pet. Her search for her father takes her to the mean streets of Brooklyn and back to Russia in this smart, darkly humorous, satire about coming of age in the 20th century.
- Discussion questions and author interview
- Review: Kirkus
- Review by Reyhan Harmanci, San Francisco Chronicle: March 1, 2007
- Review by Donna Seaman, Chicago Tribune, February 25, 2007
- Review by J. Otto Pohl, Otto’s Random Thoughts, April 21, 2007
- Review by Antoine Wilson, Los Angeles Times, February 18, 2007
- Essay by Anya Ulinich: “Dreaming of a Life of Privilege, but First…”, New York Times, March 11, 2007
- David Stromberg interviews Anya Ulinich
- Interview
- Video: Anya Ulinich’s Introduction from the 2008 National Book Award Finalist Reading (5 min.)
