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Klotsvog
Klotsvog | Margarita Khemlin
4 posts | 2 read | 3 to read
Klotsvog is a novel about being Jewish in the Soviet Union and the historical trauma of World War IIand its a novel about the petty dramas and demons of one strikingly vain woman. Maya Abramovna Klotsvog has had quite a life, and she wants you to know all about it. Selfish, garrulous, and thoroughly entertaining, she tells us where she came from, who she didnt get along with, and what became of all her husbands and lovers. In Klotsvog, Margarita Khemlin creates a first-person narrator who is both deeply self-absorbed and deeply compelling. From Mayas perspective, Khemlin unfurls a retelling of the Soviet Jewish experience that integrates the historical and the personal into her protagonists vividly drawn inner and outer lives. Mayas life story flows as a long monologue, told in unfussy language dense with Khemlins magnificently manipulated Soviet clichs and matter-of-fact descriptions of Soviet life. Born in a center of Jewish culture in Ukraine, she spent the war in evacuation in Kazakhstan. She has few friends but has had several husbands, and her relationships with her relatives are strained at best. The war looms over Klotsvog, and the trauma runs deep, as do the ambiguities and ambivalences of Jewish identity. Lisa Haydens masterful translation brings this gripping character study full of dark, sly humor and new perspectives on Jewish heritage and survival to an English-speaking audience.
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review
batsy
Klotsvog | Margarita Khemlin
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Mehso-so

Klotsvog is translated from Russian by Lisa Hayden & gives a glimpse of how it was to be Jewish in the Soviet Union. Maya is a unique anti-heroine; beautiful, self-obsessed, & difficult. Her struggles as a Jewish woman & mother are both poignant & hard to take: Maya invites drama & grief into her life because of her character. The end is particularly moving & while I found the book's ironic tone compelling, I didn't warm to it totally. #netgalley

batsy Background photo taken from here https://www.meganstarr.com/soviet-kiev/ 5y
TrishB Great review 👍🏻 5y
batsy @TrishB Thank you! 💜 5y
charl08 Sounds really interesting. Will have a look for it. 5y
batsy @charl08 Although it wasn't a total pick for me, it's definitely worth a read for anyone interested in Soviet literature. 5y
83 likes2 stack adds5 comments
blurb
batsy
Klotsvog | Margarita Khemlin
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#BookReport

Surprised myself & finished:
A Lost Lady for #catherbuddyread
In Cold Blood for #readcoldblood
Act 4 of King Lear for #ShakespeareReadAlong.

Litsy University is good for me 😆 Also started the #netgalley ARC of Klotsvog, a bleak yet funny portrait of a self-absorbed Jewish woman in the Soviet Union.

#WeeklyForecast

👑 To finish Act 5 & complete King Lear
💄 Continue with Klotsvog
🌸 Start Judith Hearne for #NYRBbookclub

JennyM You‘ve had a great week! Love seeing what everyone‘s read 😘 5y
batsy @JennyM Thank you ❤️ I enjoy seeing everyone's recaps too! 5y
See All 20 Comments
Cinfhen Me too @JennyM and of course my TBR is growing!!!!!! 5y
vivastory Litsy University 😂 5y
BarbaraBB Litsy University 🤣 5y
BarbaraBB It seems like someone on the other side of the world was thinking exactly the same thing at exactly the same time! 😀 @vivastory 5y
vivastory @BarbaraBB Great minds 🙂 5y
Cathythoughts Great week for you 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻Litsy University is exactly it. I‘m definitely on a learning curve sinse joining Litsy .... it‘s a blessing 👍🏻❤️ 5y
Cinfhen #LitsyUniversity is priceless and admission costs are beyond reasonable 🙌🏻🤓 5y
squirrelbrain Love #LitsyUniversity and entirely agree, I love being a student here! 5y
erzascarletbookgasm Well done for the week! I love #LitsyUniversity too! I may want to be a student here for a long long time. 5y
batsy @Cathythoughts @Cinfhen @squirrelbrain @erzascarletbookgasm I love Litsy U 😁 It's like being in a fun, extremely motivating and engaging class 💖 5y
fleeting Really interested in that Moore book! 5y
rockpools Isn‘t ‘Surprised myself & finished...‘ the best feeling?! 5y
batsy @fleeting I'm looking forward! 5y
batsy @RachelO Yes! 😁 5y
Daisey I appreciate all the extra learning I get through Litsy University readalongs as well. Great way to put it! I never would have taken such a dive into further reading along with In Cold Blood otherwise. 5y
batsy @Daisey Yup! I've tackled a number of books that have been tbr for years via group reads here. Having others want to read a book is a great motivator, and the chats and posts are great :) 5y
88 likes20 comments
blurb
batsy
Klotsvog | Margarita Khemlin
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#BookReport

Finished Dracula & really enjoyed it! Dense & atmospheric.

Started A Lost Lady for the #catherbuddyread & continued on with King Lear for #ShakespeareReadAlong

#WeeklyForecast

To continue with both the Cather & Shakespeare, & to start In Cold Blood for the low-key buddy read with @merelybookish @readordierachel @Texreader (sorry if I missed anyone!)

Will try to start a Net Galley ARC, the tagged book, *if* I can 🤞🏽 @Cinfhen

BarbaraBB Such great reads! 5y
Cathythoughts Great books ! Look forward to your thoughts on In Cold Blood ... I‘m hoping to read too ( for the 3d time ) 5y
Cinfhen I‘m also hoping to add one ARC a week 🤞🏼glad you enjoyed Dracula 🧛‍♂️ that was a great idea @erzascarletbookgasm xx 5y
See All 13 Comments
batsy @BarbaraBB All thanks to Litsy group reads 😁 5y
batsy @Cathythoughts 3rd time! That speaks very highly of it. I'm excited to start. Join us! 🎉 5y
batsy @Cinfhen @erzascarletbookgasm Fabulous idea! So glad that I finally got around to it. 5y
erzascarletbookgasm @cinfhen @batsy Yes I‘m so glad to read it with two amazing Littens! 💕 5y
Freespirit Love Dracula ❤️ 5y
DGRachel That‘s an amazing cover for Dracula! 😂 5y
batsy @Freespirit A fun read for sure 👍🏽 5y
batsy @DGRachel Really eye-catching! 😆 5y
readordierachel Loving that edition of In Cold Blood! 5y
batsy @readordierachel I was so happy to find it at the discount bookstore! 5y
83 likes13 comments
review
KimM
Klotsvog | Margarita Khemlin
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Pickpick

A raw look at life from the point of view of a young Jewish woman in the Ukraine in the post WWII 1950s and 1960s. I think when people have been forced to do and see unspeakable things to survive they are deeply and eternally affected and develop a lack of faith in humankind for the rest of their lives.

#NetGalley
#Reviewathon