From the Rohr Judges

Suf­fice it to say that this isn’t your nor­mal com­ing to Amer­i­ca sto­ry. Sasha Gold­berg, the hero­ine of Anya Ulinich’s first nov­el, makes her way through grade‑Z Russ­ian art schools in left-behind Stal­in­ist min­ing towns, to arrive in Phoenix as a mail order bride, to go to Chica­go as a live-in-slash-per­son­al-Sovi­et-Jew for a wealthy Jew­ish fam­i­ly. And that doesn’t give the faintest sense of Ulinich’s go-for-broke, over-the-top style, which mes­mer­izes on every page. Amaz­ing­ly, the abound­ing car­i­ca­tures and satir­ic por­traits man­age to leave a space for pro­found emo­tion­al truth; which reminds us that the best come­dies, as this one is, make us care, not sim­ply laugh.