There Are Jews in My House: Stories

by Lara Vapnyar

Innocence rounds the bend to experience in these beautifully shaped stories of Moscow and Brooklyn, which take up the worldview of the young and overlooked. The stunning Second World War story that opens the book is a masterpiece of ambivalence—about the simultaneous generosity and hypocrisy of Galina, a gentile Russian woman who offers safe harbor to a Jewish friend and her daughter during the German occupation. In “Love Lessons—Mondays, 9 A.M.,” a young math teacher is assigned to teach a girls’ sex education class, even though she herself is still awaiting her first kiss. And in “Mistress,” a boy newly arrived in this country bears witness to the intimate details of his grandparents’ new and diverging lives: his grandmother’s doctors’ appointments, where he is charged with translating her myriad complaints into English, and his grandfather’s clandestine courtship of another woman.

Adept at both snapshots and long exposures, Lara Vapnyar, herself a recent immigrant, writes of life’s adventures and possibilities, its disappointments and unexpected turns, with delicate humor, brilliant timing, and striking emotional honesty. She is a writer to relish and to watch.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Russia, Jewish, Holocaust, Russian Literature, Historical Fiction

149 pages, Hardcover

First published December 2, 2003

About the author

Lara Vapnyar emigrated from Russia to New York in 1994 and began publishing short stories in English in 2002. She lives on Staten Island and is pursuing a Ph.D. in comparative literature at CUNY Graduate Center.

Reviews

[Fr. Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, highly readable collection of stories by a truly talented writer who is gifted at characterization and quiet narrative. These are the inner journeys, tragic and funny, often confused, from adults and children in Russia, or who have immigrated to the U.S. from Russia. Russia itself is implicit in each story, but is not seeped in it. The characters are real. I have to love them, because in reading, it comes naturally to me. Only one story fell flat for me, left me cold, and it was somewhere near the middle, and brings this otherwise stellar collection to four stars instead of five.

[Rachelle Urist · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of six short stories is written in a style that is deceptively simple. Writer Gary Shteyngart, who, like Vapnyar, is a native Russian, calls it: "Eerie in its simplicity, stunning in its scope." Louis Menand calls Lara Vapnyar "Jane Austen with a Russian soul" who "blends coolness and pathos." Most of the stories take place in the former Soviet Union, with drab, cement buildings stretching for blocks, marked only by regular, regulation windows punctuating adjoining apartments.

Vapnyar puts me in mind of the wonderful Anouk Markovitz, whose novel, "I am Forbidden" kept me in its thrall long after I finished reading it. Both writers are Jewish emigrees. Each earned advanced degrees in Comparative Literature. The stories in this Vapnyar collection are about loss and longing, strength and resilience. They are told with an immigrant's sensibilities. They are stories from the mind gifted with great imagination and literary talent.

I read the first story last, having found myself incapable of plowing through it at first try. It's the longest story in the collection. After reading the shorter ones that came later, I returned to this, the collection's title story, and marveled. It is written with great skill, insight, depth, and passion. The title story, "There are Jews in My House," looks at the inner turmoil of a good woman whose sound moral compass, in tandem with decency and friendship, moves her to hide two Jewish friends from Nazis.

The second story, "Ovrashki's Trains," tells of the love of a daughter for her father. She waits for him daily. He never arrives.

The story "Lydia's Grove" is about a family that overcomes loss only to encounter shock. The narrator of the story, a teen-age girl, takes regular train trips, with her mother, to visit Lydia, the mother's writing partner. The two women collaborate on children's books. Lydia is warm but ugly. One day, they discover that she is a lesbian. The mother is jolted, the daughter confused. Lydia's lover moves in. She is cold and imperious. Lydia, who long longed for love, is miserable. Love, it turns out, has turned her into a slave. She serves her lover hand and foot. In the end, love aborts her beloved career. The visits end.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of short stories, mostly taking place in Russia/USSR, with one taking place in Brooklyn, spanned a great deal of life experiences. Though all stories dealt primarily with Russian families (or immigrant families in Brooklyn) Vapnyar kept her protagonists different ages, different genders, and it showed through the calibur of each story.

Two stories dealt specifically with Jews- the title story, which was narrated by a middle aged gentile woman who was hiding Jewish friends in her house after the Nazis started infiltrating Russia. This long piece touched upon her relationship with her friend, Raya, and how it had strained when they started living under the same roof. The other story, set around the same time, was much shorter, narrated by a pre-schooler who's "abnormal" looks are scrutinized as being "Jewish," which is basically akin to knowing the boogey-man.

My favorite two were narrated by young children and were basically stories about growing up. In "Ovrashaki's Trains," the unnamed protagonist spends a summer in a remote town, waiting for her father to come home, before she is told the truth that he died of a heart attack a year ago. In "Lydia's Grove," the young girl, Lara, accompanies her mother to a female colleague's home, where the two women write books (amongst other things,) but that relationship slowly falls a part when colleague Lydia gets a domineering girlfriend. Both stories end on a wonderful note of loss, where the two protagonists look upon old places with new eyes.

All in all, Vapnyar did a great job touching upon aspects of the human spirit, and I give her kudos.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lara Vapnyar has one of the purest voices in modern fiction. In these stories, written with almost Chokhovian acuity and crispness, she summons all the idiosyncrasies and pathos of the Soviet Jewry, from the onset of Hitler's invasion all the way to Brooklyn, NY. There is something formulaic about how the stories are structured. But it's hard to mind that amid the ghostly presence of Nazis in the title piece, or the prefabricated cement grayness of "Lydia's Grove," or a young girl's hopeless longing for "Ovrashaki's Trains," all painstakingly chiseled and slick with awkward, forbidden sexuality. For all these reasons and more, I would highly recommend "There Are Jews in My House." And I expect Vapnyar's new novel, "The Scent of Pine," is a terrific read as well.

[Alia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finally picked this up after my aunt's enthusiastic recommendation, and I just loved this, particularly the title story. Vapnyar's prose has an almost Austenian coolness without being at all austere. Her Russia is so different than the trendy magical realist one of so much recent fiction: at once uncannily modern and touchingly old world, the lost Russia Vapnyar creates here is always believable and compelling.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

And so ends my readings for the Jewish high holidays. I think I’ll look for more books that would be appropriate and save them for next year. A new tradition begins late in my life.

I love short stories and these were no exception. Each one was well written and concise, but a complete story was told.

This is a Bookcrossing labeled book, so I’ll be passing it along. I think I know the perfect person to give it to.

[Derek Emerson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a writer to keep watching. The book is a collection of short stories, with some being stronger than others. A few simply "end," without offering or pointing to a resolution. A contemporary writing technique, but it often comes out as weak writing. I ordered this book based on a short story I read by her in The New Yorker, which is better than all the stories here (and there are good ones here, but the New Yorker one -- published around Oct or Nov. 2007 was excellent). In this book the title story is the strongest as she explores friendship, oppression, freedom, and loyalty all in one story. The final story, about teaching sex education, shows some humor the other stories in this book lack (but which the New Yorker story had). It is definitely worth reading; an good debut set of stories. I'll be interested in her future work, especially if she works out more of her stories in a novel format. (Okay, I just saw she had a novel published in 2006 -- I'll put that on my to read list!).

[Hester · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I could assign stars for each story rather than for the whole collection. The eponymous short story is a masterpiece, studying the ugly side of the saintly. Galina hides her Jewish best friend, Raya, when the Germans invade. Raya does not have Galina's beauty or know how, but she is wealthy and knows how to enjoy life in ways Galina cannot begin to comprehend. As the escalating tension erodes at Raya's mental well-being, their friendship suffers and Galina finds herself feeling ugly emotions and confronting dark thoughts. The story features two wonderful people who find themselves at odds.

Lydia's Grove and Mistresses are charming stories, but Ovranski's Trains, a Question for Vera, and Love Lessons left me cold. Vapnyar seems to enjoying writing about adults' emotional problems from children's perspectives, a technique that worked in the first two stories, but not in Ovranski's Trains.

With the exception of the end of a Question for Vera, Vapnyar is an excellent stylist.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vapnyar seems to have a thing for absent husbands and fathers; almost every story in "There are Jews in My House" involves either a woman or child who has lost the man in her/his life. Vapynyar portrays these losses with sympathy and objectivity and no criticism or condemnation of men that would otherwise undermine the appeal or accessibility of her very feminine work. The absence of lovers and fathers underlies some (not all) of the pathos and contributes to the overwhelming melancholy that pervades the collection. The stories are small in scope and focus, without the larger universal examinations that would leave the reader with a sense of awe or epiphany. As such, I gave this book three stars, even though they have really resonated and stuck with me over time and I think three-and-a-half stars is more appropriate.

[Kathleen Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vapnyar beautifully tells stories about Russia: the throat-clutching fear of hiding Jews in WW2; a nursery school child's perspective on being labeled a Jew (without knowing what being a Jew meant); post-break up of the USSR; displacing people of an age to have lived through WW2, Communist Russia, the breakup of the Soviet Union, moving them to the United States where they do not speak the language or understand customs.

[Yulia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having finished Ann Patchett's Run just before this, you'd think it was impossible to create real characters with conflicted motives and desires, but Lara Vapynar makes it seem so effortless, as does her ability to write a clean sentence. She portrays elderly people with such charm and pathos as well. Bravo. If anything, the collection left me wanting more from her.

[AC · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection, easily one of my favorite books of the year. Vapnyar's story telling is excellent, her characters are easy to connect with, and her subject matter is well chosen. The title story is by far the best, but there are no weak stories in this book. I highly recommend this collection.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title story was really excellent. The rest were disappointing in one way or another: staid workmanlike writing, weak ending, or just a bit underdeveloped.

Also--so short! Only six stories, most of which were only a few pages long. Vapnyar is or could be a good writer, but this collection isn't quite there.

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and slightly odd collection of short stories! I really enjoyed the stories that were about adults but from the perspective of children. The title story was so interesting and I think important to understand the ways in which people who do heroic things are often just as prejudiced and hateful as everyone else. Overall I liked this book!

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book of short stories. Interesting look into Russian culture. Only one story is about Jews, so far as I can remember.

[Louise Chambers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories that take the reader from World War II and onward. Excellent writing.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so terribly Russian in flavor that it is astonishing that it was written in English rather than translated. A collection of stories spanning multiple eras and locations and examining the human condition with a keen awareness of human failings and, largely, a sense of fatalism. The first story, set in WWII Russia is a sad look at the limitations of friendship and the bases for many of the interactions we call friendship. Vera's Grove is lovely and heartbreakingly sad and, again, examines the limits and bases of relationships. I think my favorite in the entire book is the final story, about a young and naive teacher tasked with teaching sex ed to high school girls without a formal curriculum. The ending of the story is so hopeful that it made my impression of the entire book more positive.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lara Vapnyar has been called "Jane Austen with a Russian soul." And it fits. Vapnyar's writing is clinical on its face, with the stories' emotional dimensions appearing between Vapnyar's well-crafted, lyrical lines. This gives rise to characters and situations whose full impact on the reader occurs as one reflects on the tales afterward.

Vapnyar's slim volume of stories range the gamut in person and place, from children to old age, from wartime Russia to post-glasnost Moscow to an immigrant-community in New York City. Her themes include the curdling of a friendship into envy and betrayal (the title story), the scarring impact of prejudice ("A Question for Vera"), isolation leading to amorous temptation ("Mistress"), waiting for a father who never comes ("Ovrashki's Trains"), the way a new relationship can derail other relationships' equilibrium ("Lydia's Grove"), and Vapnyar's debut story in the "New Yorker" magazine from 2003, in which a young, never-been-kissed teacher comically confronts the challenge of teaching sex-education to tenth graders ("Love Lessons--Mondays, 9 A.M.").

Readers who relish Vapnyar's writing as much as I did will be pleased to learn that her other contributions to the New Yorker can easily be found at this link: http://www.newyorker.com/contributors...

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book of loosely connect stories that take place in Moscow and Brooklyn, told through the eyes of the innocent and rejected. The stunning Second World War story that opens the book is a masterpiece of ambivalence—about the simultaneous generosity and hypocrisy of Galina, a gentile Russian woman who offers safe harbor to a Jewish friend and her daughter during the German occupation. In “Love Lessons—Mondays, 9 A.M.,” a young math teacher is assigned to teach a girls’ sex education class, even though she herself is still awaiting her first kiss. And in “Mistress,” a boy newly arrived in this country bears witness to the intimate details of his grandparents’ new and diverging lives: his grandmother’s doctors’ appointments, where he is charged with translating her myriad complaints into English, and his grandfather’s clandestine courtship of another woman.

Adept at both snapshots and long exposures, Lara Vapnyar, herself a recent immigrant, writes of life’s adventures and possibilities, its disappointments and unexpected turns, with delicate humor, brilliant timing, and striking emotional honesty. Lara Vapnyar is an incredibly adept story teller. I highly recommend this book.

[Mirrani · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found each of the stories in this collection to be deeply emotional, but not in the typical "the Germans are after the Jews" kind of way. In fact, the title is somewhat misleading, as not all of the stories follow that particular moment in history. There are stories of being an immigrant, learning a new language and new life, of dealing with loss, of coping with prejudice when you're just a small child, among others. Each chapter is a look into the lives of new characters with new experiences, each in their own time and in their own situations.

These stories don't just convey what it was like to be a random person in the past, they miraculously convey all of the emotion behind those experiences. When you read about the bully, you will feel bullied, when you read about the stresses of hiding your best friend from the Germans, you will feel and understand the anxiety in a way you never could have before.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book a few months after visiting the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. Touring that house/museum was fascinating, but it wasn't until I saw the wall where Anne's father would mark her and her sister's height that the emotion of the place got to me. That is the moment that the horror and sadness of their story became real for me. This book of short stories brought me back to the rawness of being in that room, staring at a wall that could be in any other home around the world. The idea that we're all so different is real BS.

[Jennie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't read a lot of short fiction because it doesn't afford the reader the kind of immersion in a character that I prefer, but that inherent issue aside, I thought this was really a very good little collection. The title story--the longest of the bunch--was the most memorable to me, with a haunting, incredibly well depicted main character and her confusing friendship with a Jewish woman. They were all worth reading, though. I will be seeking out Vapnyar's longer fiction as well and look forward to trying it out.

[Justine Dymond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recently I read a Vapnyar short story in _The New Yorker_ and was perplexed by its plot: all beginning and ending but no middle. However, in this collection, the stories have traditional structures, clear perspectives, and, yet, wonderfully intriguing and uncertain moral situations. The characters are all beautifully drawn from (mostly) children's perspectives, which creates sympathy and distance at the same time. It's quite amazing that Vapnyar is not a native English speaker.

[Victoria Drob · Rating 4 out of 5]

After hearing Laura Vapnyar read an excerpt of her own work, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and discuss her creative process, I rushed to read her stories. While I enjoyed the short stories here, I was surprised that I didn't love them. I was also surprised that, even as a Russian Jewish immigrant, I didn't feel connected to the characters. Some stories are undoubtedly better than others. Overall, this is absolutely a good read and I will definitely be reading more of her work.

[Elsie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. Is is made up of several stories by the Russian immigrant author, Lara Vapnyar. Most of the stories have a child either at the center of the story or nearby. All stories are about sad situations and difficult decision making, either during the Second World War in Russia or in the United States. The last story is the most amazing - I hope you like the ending as much as I did. I look forward to reading more stories by this author. She has several books out.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

three short stories set in either Moscow or Brooklyn; very descriptive writing, so much so, I felt I was there in Moscow during the german occupation. Her stories reveal both the dark, and hopeful sides of one's conscience.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories about Russians, mostly Jews, living in NY, except the last story takes place in Russia. I am not a big short story reader, but I really enjoyed this book. The writing is good and the plots are tightly written.

[Deborah Kaple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vapnyar is a good writer and has a great topic: the Russians. Some of these stories are fantastic, and some are somewhat less than fantastic, but always she shows a great love for her subject. I look forward to more of her stories. A very promising writer.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories. Super fast read. Some are better than others. Each of these stories have similaries : they take place in Russia ( or have a Russain family) , each has a child in it, there is always something sad...I could go on, but take an afternoon and enjoy Lara Vapnyar's debut book (2003) .

[Mindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another outstanding debut collection of short stories, this one by a Russian emigre writer, including stories set in Russia and in America.

My particular favorites: "A Question for Vera" and "Mistress". Elegant, eloquent, touching, all.