With humour and elegance, Dmitrij Kapitelman is sharing in Russische Spezialtäten - in my own translation, Russian delicacies - family stories, on the background of the ongoing war in Ukraine and the Covid crisis.
The store - Magazin (магазин) - managed by the storyteller´s (sharing the same name with the author´s) parents in Leipzig, delivering the classical menu of former Soviet delicacies - from kvas to pelmeni, Plombir ice and matrioshkas - is living its last days of glory. Once a unique meeting point of gourmet nostalgics united by the commonality of culinary experiences expressed into Russian, nowadays it experienced the other competitors and the lack of appeal among the newest generation growing up in a different, post-Soviet world.
With the story of the Magazin over, he is visiting Ukraine during the war. Although I laughed to tears reading the first part dedicated to interactions and culinary memories that are so relatable especially if you had the chance more than once to pay visits to Russian delicacies stores around Germany and observe just for few minutes the people, the second part upgrades the quality of the topic with a different, more dramatic accent.
The trip to Ukraine during the war disclosed the intersections of the many identities beyond the national idealization, the limitations and shaking grounds based on which identities developed or dissociated. It starts with his own family, but the experience is also personal, as it questions and assesses, particularly through language, the identity constructions.
I loved the direct style and the family-based approach and the life between many (linguistic and geographical) worlds. Although not sure it will make it to the short list of the Deutscher Buchpreis, it is nevertheless a good addition to the topic, from a Jewish-Russian-Ukrainian-German perspective.
Rating: 3 stars
Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
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