Petropolis (edition 2008)

by Anya Ulinich

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
367	21	69,870	(3.73)	6
Sasha Goldberg is the ultimate outsider: she's a chubby, biracial Jewish girl from the Siberian town of Asbestos 2. Her father takes off for the United States, and leaves Sasha to navigate adolescence in a bleak apartment bloc with her overbearing mother. Sasha falls in love with an art school drop-out who lives inside a concrete pipe in the town dump. Following her heart gets her into trouble at home, so she flees Russia as a mail-order bride and lands in suburban Arizona. Sasha manages to escape her Red Lobster-loving fiance? and embarks on a misadventure-filled journey across America in search of her father.… (more)

▾Book information

Member:	Greensa
Title:	Petropolis
Authors:	Anya Ulinich
Info:	Penguin (Non-Classics) (2008), Paperback, 336 pages
Collections:	Your library
Rating:
Tags:	Box 3

Work Information

Petropolis by Anya Ulinich

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English (20) Dutch (1) All languages (21)

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Showing 1-5 of 20 (next | show all)

So I tried to read this book, I really did. I really wanted to like it, but I could not get past page 100. It was too bizarre, too depressing and just too hard to follow. I hope someone else can love this little book, because I just couldn't. (

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Emily_Harris | Dec 22, 2020 |

I read this book, but I wasn't very fond of it.
To me it wasn't as interesting as the blurp on the back side cover promised. Too bad, but matbe it was not the right book at the right time. (

)

BoekenTrol71 | Oct 12, 2019 |

This novel is lots of fun: it's a beautifully written debut that combines humor with a picture of the depressing landscape of glasnost'-era Russia.

I particularly enjoyed the first and last fourths of the book, though the middle also presented memorable characters and settings. (

)

LizoksBooks | Dec 15, 2018 |

I liked this a lot. Ulinich manages to weave so many individual characters, settings, and situations into this very cool and atmospheric mosaic—I was pleased at the end how complete the whole she built out of all these parts felt. I'm also partial to her style, warm and droll. This was a sweet book, and a lot of fun. (

)

lisapeet | Apr 29, 2018 |

A beautiful study of character, and the most robust collection of metaphor I think I've ever read. (

)

redrabbit | Nov 25, 2014 |

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thingScore 75

..Up to this point in the book, Petropolis has the funny, pathetic sweetness of David Sedaris's accounts of childhood. But with the ignorance of a people living in a pile of asbestos, pregnancy was inevitable, and the book darkens...

added by WeeklyAlibi | editWeekly Alibi, Stephen Perry (Aug 24, 2010)

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Canonical title

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Petropolis

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2007-02 (Amerikaanse ed.)

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To Sofia and Rebecca

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A corrugated fence ran the entire length of a street with no name, until it crossed another street with no name.

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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

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▾Book descriptions

Sasha Goldberg is the ultimate outsider: she's a chubby, biracial Jewish girl from the Siberian town of Asbestos 2. Her father takes off for the United States, and leaves Sasha to navigate adolescence in a bleak apartment bloc with her overbearing mother. Sasha falls in love with an art school drop-out who lives inside a concrete pipe in the town dump. Following her heart gets her into trouble at home, so she flees Russia as a mail-order bride and lands in suburban Arizona. Sasha manages to escape her Red Lobster-loving fiance? and embarks on a misadventure-filled journey across America in search of her father.

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