Ivan and Misha: A Novel in Stories

by Michael Alenyikov

""Ivan and Misha is the Great American Russian Novel told as Chekhov would tell it, in stories of delicacy, humanity, and insight. From Kiev to Manhattan, Brighton Beach, and Bellevue, Michael Alenyikov lays out a series of compelling arguments for brotherhood between brothers, between lovers, between men from an old country. Alenyikov confronts big subjects---illness and madness, sex and love in the age of AIDS, Old and New World values, a fallen wall, the metaphysics of survival, the march of generations."---Carolyn Cooke, author of The Bostons and Daughters of the Revolution."

""For the Russian immigrant twins who are the main characters of lvan and Misha, everyday existence consists of heartbreak, love, and the unexpected. With exuberance and dark humor, Michael Alenyikov depicts their life in New York. These wonderful connected stories are full of warmth, psychological insight, and winning originality."---Alice Mattison, author of Nothing Is Quite Forgotten in Brooklyn."

""A haunting collection of love and duty. There is much to admire on every page."---Marie Myung-Ok Lee, author of Somebody's Daughter"

In lvan and Misha, Michael Alenyikov portrays the complexities of love, sexuality, and the bonds of family with boldness and lyric sensitivity. As the Soviet Union collapses, two young brothers are whisked away from Kiev by their father to start life anew in America. The intricately linked stories in this powerful debut, set in New York City at the turn of the millennium, swirl about the uneasy bond between fraternal twins, Ivan and Misha, devoted brothers who could not be more different: Bipolar Ivan, like their father, is a natural seducer, a gambler who always has a scheme afoot between fares in his cab and stints in Bellevue. Misha struggles to create a sense of family with his quixotic boyfriend, Smith, his wildly unpredictable brother, and their father, Lyov ("Call me Louie!"), marooned in Brighton Beach yet ever the ladies' man. Father and sons are each haunted by the death of Sonya, a wife to Lyov, a mother to his sons. An evocative and frank exploration of identity, loss, dislocation, and desire, Ivan and Misha marks the arrival of a uniquely gifted voice in American fiction.

Prologue. --
Ian and Misha. --
Barrel of laughs. --
It takes all kinds. --
Whirling dervish. --
Who did what to whom? --
Epilogue

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, LGBT, Gay, Russia, Queer

199 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2010

About the author

"Ivan and Misha" won the Northern CA Book Award for Fiction and was a Finalist for the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction. He received the Gina Berriault Award from San Francisco State University. Alenyikov's short stories have appeared in The Chicago Quarterly Review, The Georgia Review, The Catarmaran Literary Reader, and The James White Review, Foglifter, The Forge, and have been anthologized in Best Gay Stories 2008, 2011, 2014 and Tartts Four: Incisive Fiction from Emerging Writers. His essays have appeared in the Gay & Lesbian Review. His story, "Arithmetic," was performed on stage by the acclaimed Word for Word theater company. He was a MacDowell Fellow, and was nominated for Pushcart Prizes in 2007 and 2017. His most recent collection is "Sorrow's Drive: A Quartet." Raised in New York City, Alenyikov has worked as a bookstore clerk, a clinical psychologist, a cab driver, and an interactive media writer. He lives in San Francisco.

Reviews

[George Ilsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is unusual to read a collection of linked stories that is equally impressive as short stories, or as episodes from a novel. Because these sections work as short stories, the reader is not left with the feeling that something is missing.

Today I find myself thinking, what is a novel? —and is this book a novel?

I can only suggest that people read this for themselves and let me know.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ivan and Misha by Michael Alenyikov is an interrelated set of short stories about two fraternal twins, both gay and their father, Lyov. The first story is set where they were born in Kiev (the largest city in the Ukraine) in Russia. In the brief prologue (set in the 1980s at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union) we learn that the wife of Lyov and mother the boys died before they were six. The father is a doctor. We learn he only received one year of medical training and was sent out into the horrors of WWII in the Ukraine to remove limbs from soldiers, without anesthetics. They live in a large apartment complex in the style of the times. The father keeps promising his sons a better life, a new mother, a new apartment but nothing really happens until he moves the family to New York City and the stories start in the late 1990s. Alenyikov gives us a wonderful feel for the immigrant experience.


I do not want to say too much about the plots of the stories as I want people to be able to d iscover them on their own so I will just talk a bit about why I like this work so much.


I think the character of the father is brilliantly done. He is handsome, he likes women but he can it seems never really love any one but his lost wife, Sonya. Of course he cannot practice medicine in New York City so he makes do with a series of jobs, always supporting his boys. The father loves the great Russian writers, Tolstoy, Gogol, Turgenev and above all Chekhov. The father should have been a scholar and a poet and he knows this but he accepts the hand fate has dealt him. We know he has suffered deeply but he shrugs it off. In one very moving scene, he is looking through the drawers of one of his now grown sons and he finds a magazine with nude pictures of men. He is shocked and asks his son what this means even though he already knows. The son tells him either accept him as he is or never see him again. The father knows he must keep his son in his life and accepts it though not without regret. One of the best stories is told from the father's point of view. He never gives up who he is but he does not hide behind old ways either. In Lyov I see a man who has learned it is best sometimes to hide his intelligence and culture from those who will not understand it. He has chosen to appear less than he is. Lyov lives his life knowing he will never really have contact again with someone who can understand the depth of his thoughts and his culture. Then again maybe he also does not see what those around him maybe hiding.

It was very interesting to see his relationship to an American man his own age. The man has no where near the cultural depth of Lyov (his American name is Louie) but Lyov relates to him on terms of complete equality. This is a very subtly done relationship.

One of the brothers, Ivan, is a cab driver, he is a foot or so shorter than Misha. Ivan always has a crazy money making plan he is working on, none of which ever work and most of which cost Misha money. Ivan is a marvelous seducer. Any man that gets in his cab is fair game, even a woman or two!

Misha is the "sensible brother", the older brother by eighteen minutes. He tries to create a sense of family with his lovers.

Alenyikov does a great job of creating a sense of physical place, not something a lot of writers do well. This ranges from the small apartment of Ivan to New York City. We also get a very clear sense of how everyone lives. I confess when I read a story about a person I like to know what they eat and we do in Ivan and Misha.

Alenyikov treatment of the sexuality of the brothers is simply brilliant. I liked that there was no discussion at all about how the two brothers "got that way", no suggestion that there was something wrong with them. It is just who they are and everyone in their lives accepts it including them. There is one terrible shocking scene that took a lot of real daring to write.

There are some really wonderful minor characters in the novel. There is the handsome as all outdoors young Mormon missionary in the big city for the first time who does not know he is gay until Ivan seduces him and their are mad men right out of Howl. There is an elderly lady with a very mysterious past who goes from Ivan's cab customer to one of his closest friends. I liked her a lot and I think you will also as you try to figure her out.

There are tragic elements in the stories. There is death, serious mental illness and aids in these stories. There is also a sheer love of live that comes strongly through. Readers of Russian literature will love all of the references and will have fun deciding if they agree with that the characters say about the various writers.

The prose is beautiful. There are many exquisitely done images. I will restrain myself from comparing his work to the great Russian masters but this could be done without condescension or pandering.

[Joachim Stoop · Rating 4 out of 5]

"There’s my father, Louie (Lyov back home; “Call me Louie!” six months into America), but Louie had a stroke last year and in his mind he’s more often playing pinochle in a Kiev cafe arguing Gorbachev than in New York City, planet earth. He isn’t quite our father anymore. He’s more like a moving, talking memorial to the guy we loved: something holographic, so when you put your arms around him for a hug you’re stuck hugging yourself."

This is a very underestimated book: beautiful prose, important topics and very empathic and humane. I really encourage the author to write his follow-up.

"“But you’re really from Russia?” Taz asks. “Yeah, I’m really from Russia.” “That’s so cool, but where’s your accent? You should have an accent.” “I don’t know,” Ivan says. “I guess it got lost.” He imagines it melting away like an early snow in the heat of New York City, America. It’s an effort now to recall the taste, the smell of hot borscht on a cold Kiev night in their poorly heated apartment, or to feel the singeing revelation of a Russian summer. He’s saving to go back before it’s all forgotten. Not to stay; well, maybe not."

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story follows the lives of twin brothers Ivan and Misha over several decades, capturing things that happen in their respective lives. They have their own ghosts to fight while trying to survive. The book is written in the form of short stories with different narrators portraying their respective points of view of a particular situation.

Both parents of Ivan and Misha die tragically, with their mother passing away due to the complications that arose during child birth while their father unexpectedly passes away during a party. After the mother's passing, their father takes them from Kiev to New York to begin a new life. The boys are different in several ways, both physical and behavioural, but they love each other and are always there when needed.

The story has several heartbreaking scenes. My favourite trope, found family, plays an important role in it.
This is a tale a love and loss, family and friends and life as a whole. Recommended.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, I love short stories. When they are done right, they are short, brilliantly told glimpses into the character's life as they experience some sort of conflict or decision. When they are done wrong, they can be chaotic in pace and tell a story so full of holes, it seems you are reading a rather large piece of Swiss cheese. Thankfully this collection falls into that first category. It's a fascinating novel told within the bounds of unsequential short stories.

What I loved about his book is how it, despite the secondary characters, narrowed in on the rather symbiotic (borderline parasitic) relationship between the two brothers, who are fraternal twins. Relationships between siblings can often times be complicated, messy things with boundaries being crossed countless times. Things are no different between Ivan & Misha. They are constantly involved with the most personal things in each other's lives, sometimes making others a bit jealous. They had a rather traumatic childhood, involving the the death of their mother and a sudden move to a new country, all at a very young age. Those two events shaped the rest of their lives in ways both good and bad.

They never knew the truth of their mother's death because their father didn't want to burden them with the sickness that slowly took her life. Instead he told them that she died after giving birth to them. I think that's the first mistake he made. That death, and as a result their mother, took on an almost mythical role in their lives. The story of a mother who dies in able for her children to be born, becomes an example of love that nothing else can ever possibly reach. It's an a goal that can never be reached by anyone else. For me, it's that struggle for love that shapes both of their lives.

Because of that warped sense of what pure loves is, it sends both boys down roads and into relationships with those that can never truly be there for them. Ivan, at a young age, becomes involved with an older man who can never fully commit and gives him HIV. His next serious relationship, with Smith, is with a younger man who not only can't really commit to Ivan, despite really loving him, but can't commit to a name or an identity for himself. Misha craves love from his father and anyone else that will have him. He has an almost manic need to be wanted by someone, a need that he will turn back around on his brother. It's that last part that shapes their bond more than anything else.

I know quite a few of the reviews I've read take issue with the way the second story ends in the book. For some it was an action that came out of the blue or was added for the shock value. When it first happened, I will admit to feeling a little unsure of it myself. I wasn't able to understand why it was happening or the necessity for it. Once I finished the book, it made a little more sense to me. The action takes place in such a profound moment of grief and despair that they both need something to grasp onto as an anchor to keep them from slipping over the edge. After getting to know them, I not only don't think it was out of character for their relationship, but I think that it was almost inevitable. I could be off base and totally wrong, there may have been another reason for it to happen, but I don't think it was for the shock value.

Ivan & Misha was one of those rare books that keeps my attention long after I've finished it. Michael Alenyikov writes with one of the most lyrical voices I've had the pleasure to read in a very long time. He is able to create unique characters and put them into a world that I found both real and unsettling at the same time.

[Manjiri S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5- short stories are difficult for me to get into and it was a bit hard for me to get immersed in the story and the characters but overall a good read

[Robert Muller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found Ivan and Misha a challenging read, in a really good way. It makes you think very seriously about what it means to be a human being, and what it means to love other human beings, and what it means when you part ways with another human being, however flawed. I'm not a New Yorker, I'm not gay, and I'm not Russian; you don't need to be any of those things to feel the basic humanity streaming out of this book. I remember my friends who have died of AIDS and what that time was like, and Michael captures that time. A wonderful book.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fascinating story is told in a collection of closely related chapters that also serve as short stories. It tells of twin brothers, immigrants trying to make ends meet in New York City. They struggle with personal problems, family loss, and their various money-making schemes. The intimacy between the brothers, and the gay one's younger boyfriend, offer a serious yet often witty tale of love, loss and loyalty.

[Greta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Alenyikov writes an excellent collection of short stories in his book Ivan and Misha. The brothers emigrated to NYC from Kiev with their father, formerly a physician who works as a door man in his adopted country until his death. These three are a close small family, living the American dream, making self-sacrifice a priority as needed for one another.

[S.B. (Beauty in Ruins) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ivan and Misha is a novel about the intertwining lives of twin brothers, told as a series of interconnected short stories. Each chapter (or story) is told by a different narrator, sometimes Ivan or Misha themselves, and sometimes friends, family, or lovers. Reading the novel is like interviewing witnesses to the same event – it takes a little work to decipher fact from opinion, and you often have to work backwards to find the overlapping moments of significance, but you ultimately come away with a broader understanding.

On the surface, the brother couldn’t be more different – Misha is blond and slender, whereas Ivan is dark-haired and somewhat stocky; Ivan is a dreamer, often relying on others to keep his thoughts on track, whereas Misha is the thinker, often taking responsibility for his brother. Even when sharing the common ground of sexuality – both brothers are gay – they are as different as night and day in their choice of partners, means of expression, and dependence upon the affections of others.

There’s a lot of love in this book, and a lot of discussion about what love really means. Ivan and Misha’s love for their long-lost mother is an underpinning of their relationship, almost as deep as their love for one another – an intimacy that borders upon (and, depending on how literal you read it, crosses the line of) being inappropriate. It’s also a story about the risks involved with love, whether it’s challenging a father’s acceptance, transplanting twinned lives across the world, or continuing to love beneath the shadow of AIDS.

Of course, there is also a lot of other, darker, more dangerous emotions in their stories. There is an overwhelming amount of jealousy and feelings of betrayal between the brothers; instances of mental instability, both manic and depressive; the looming threat of AIDS; a debilitating stroke; and, at the both the beginning and the end of it all, the spectre of death – the first unnatural and selfish, the latter entirely too natural and selfless.

Not an easy read by any means (the narrative often descends into a dream-like state, the timeline tends to jump around a bit, and some passages are just outright strange), but an interesting one. I’ve been trying to avoid any Eastern European clichés, but this book really is like a Russian nesting doll, with stories inside stories, each of them revealing something grander, but demanding a greater share of attention to appreciate what you’ve found.

[Meg - A Bookish Affair · Rating 3 out of 5]

I devoured this book in two sittings. Ivan and Misha at it's core is a few interrelated short stories surrounding two brothers. Their relationship is complicated. Both of them rely heavily on one another, in a way that is almost more than brothers and this makes the other people in the brothers' life almost jealous in a way of their bond. Ivan and Misha are bonded in a way that almost no one else can come before each other, not other family, not lovers.

The stories are not in chronological order, which while a little confusing at first, really doesn't take away from the overall story. The first story takes place when Ivan, Misha and their father are still in the USSR in Kiev and deciding when and how they will go to America to begin their new lives. The rest of the stories take place pre-9/11 when the twins are around 23 years old. The stories have different narrators (the brothers, the father, an ex-boyfriend of Misha and Misha's live-in boyfriend, Smith).


There were a few scenes that were somewhat shocking and may be offensive to some readers, specifically there are sexual scenes that may be slightly disturbing because they had incestuous undertones. I wouldn't have had so much of a problem with that but it came out of nowhere and I didn't see what it added to the overall story. Was it to shock the reader? Was it to make a point of some kind that went over my head? I'm just not sure that it was really necessary.

What kept me reading is Alenyikov's writing. It's lovely and sort of dream like in a way that really makes you like the characters and want to keep reading to figure out what happens to them. It takes a lot to create good writing where you can make a reader really care about the characters.


Bottom line: The writing is the real star in this book.

[Margo Perin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Alenyikov is a terrific writer. As Ivan and MIsha cross the ocean and bridge two worlds, so, too, does the literary style in which their story is written. For anyone looking for an intelligent, beautifully written novel that hails from old Europe and has a modern American sensibility, this is it.

[Lucian Childs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ivan and Misha is a tightly-knit story collection by Michael Alenyikov that tracks the lives of two fraternal twin brothers, their family, friends and lovers over several decades. The result is not exactly a novel, but one that feels distinctly novelistic. Though each story has its own arc, they are at the service of the overall narrative. The organization challenges the reader to be a participant in the book’s construction, as each tale is told by a different narrator out of chronological order.

In the prologue we meet the brothers, young boys living in Kiev with their father, Lyov. Their mother, who, they are told, died in childbirth, strongly imprints on the two boys, especially the voluble, manic-depressive Ivan, whose dreams are filled with her motherly embrace.

We then fast forward in the titular story, one told from the point of view of Misha. The brothers are now both adults, gay men living in New York City. Rich in humor, it is a beautifully composed, poignant tale of family, both chosen and biological. And loss. At a Thanksgiving gathering, improbably organized by the sometimes delusional Ivan, the father unexpectedly dies. Complicating the love the characters have for each other are, of course, their individual limitations. Over the course of the book, these fuel the characters’ deepening bonds.

“It Takes All Kinds” takes place after the death of Louie from the point of view of Smith, Misha’s boyfriend. Smith is eighteen, thinking of leaving Misha to sow his wild oats. His mother, with whom he has a prickly relationship, and sister have come to NYC to visit. Complications ensue: the mother has just been diagnosed with cancer, the sister is marrying a man Smith considers a banal choice. His ambivalence over his relationship with Misha comes to a head in a scene rich in nuance and ambiguity.

Perhaps my favorite story in the collection is the beautiful, sad and wise “Whirling Dervish.” Told by the irrepressible Ivan, its style apes his pressured, manic way of thinking. Ivan does what he has been counseled, because of his condition, not to do. He falls in love. Eighteen, having recently quit college and now driving a cab for a living, he meets a fellow driver, the enigmatic Taz. The scenes alternate between the cab office, lovemaking and poetry in Taz’s apartment, conversations with the mysterious Gabriella, a woman pretending to be blind, among other things. Abandoned by Taz, Ivan fears a psychotic break, another stint in the psych ward, but thwarts this through the interactions with Gabriella and, finally, Misha, in a beautiful last scene of brotherly love.

The epilogue gives us a kind of summation. Most of the principal characters gather for a ferry ride to scatter Louie’s ashes. It is a simple tale that, though little happens, feels deeply satisfying. Their ritual of farewell facilitates our own parting with these characters we’ve come, through Alenyikov’s skill, to know so well and think of so fondly.

{ Cross-posted at my website. }

View all my reviews

[Revri · Rating 4 out of 5]

OVERALL RATING: 8.33/10 -> 4 stars on GR.

Characters: 6
The characters have some depth, but I still wish that the author would uncover more of their inner layers. Specifically, more details about complex but under-discussed relationships, such as the fallout between Kevin and Misha or Louie and Evan, would have made me understand and resonate with their stories more.

Another minor gripe is I’m not sure if the sexual tension between the twins is necessary in showing a strong connection between them.

Setting/Theme: 10
The author weaved the hard-hitting themes like loss, grief, dislocation, and the AIDS pandemic nicely but still deeply into the story’s flow.

Writing Style: 10
One thing he did really good is leading readers to correctly learn new important details without spelling it out too obviously.

Plot: 6
I’m aware that this is a short story collection, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling that everything feels too disjointed to coexist in the same body of work. Because of this, even though no chapter is a miss for me, none of them accumulate into anything impactful or satisfying.

Logic: 10
No notes.

Intrigue/Enjoyment: 8
I’m mostly hooked into the story, with the aforementioned cohesion problem being the elephant that takes away the lasting impact it could have had on me.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahhh, what do I say about this... Ivan and Misha in most ways is a gem. It's fantastically written, emotionally provoking. But I almost stopped reading it right into the first story after the prologue. I'm glad I continued, but there were definitely a couple moments that made me uncomfortable.

Ivan and Misha are twin brothers who emigrate from the USSR in the 1980's with their father to New York City. The prologue starts there and then picks back up in their lives in 2000. We read a story from Misha's point of view, one from their father's, one from Ivan, and a seemingly random one from one of Ivan's ex's. And there are a couple other voices interspersed among those stories. The stories jump back and forth in terms of chronology but do so to meet the purpose of being about that specific character and their experiences and emotions. Our characters are dealt with issues of love, culture, AIDS, death, and mental health issues. Overall I enjoyed this book because of the writing. I kept finding passages I loved. The author truly managed to create raw emotion in his writing. I specifically liked the story from the father's point of view. It reminded me of Olive Kitteridge in that he was reflecting on his life from his old age, on his children, etc. Alenyikov also excelled in his depiction of the mania Ivan experienced as part of his Bipolar Disorder.

I want to include some passages I liked, as the writing and the emotions evoked were my favorite thing about this book. The following is the father describing the confrontation when he learns his son, Misha, is gay.

He stood there and took all my words. His face grew red. His arms crossed his chest. The set of his jaw hadn't changed since he was two. When I ran out of words I threw those magazines in his face. Then we stood in silence. I was emptied of feeling. Numb. So bewildered I forgot the cause of my rage. Do you have any idea how terrifying that silence was to me then? It was the silence between a father and son that if not breached can last forever. I know. I did not speak to my father for his last twenty years.
"Papa," he said, calmly, steel in his voice. "If you do not accept me for what I am, I will see you next at your funeral."
We stared at each other. Neither of us gave ground. Time passed. I don't recall if I'd ever stared so long into another man's eyes--and, yes, I could see what I'd been missing for too long: that he was no longer a boy.
Then, I looked away.
And of course I had no choice: accept him or lose him, really quite an easy decision. (p.57)

And another quote from when Misha is talking to his boyfriend who has insecurities related to what his mother thinks of him.

"Yes, your mother is a psychotherapist, and yes, she may be, as you insist, larger than life and so very demanding. But why," Misha had asked, "is this such a problem it cannot be solved? They are people. All people are too much of this, too little of that. What is the big deal, Smitty, if they love you?" (p. 85)

And let me include one more quote that I thought was interesting. (I like the analogy).

Leaning against Ivan's cab, Taz lit a joint. They passed it back and forth, each time leaning in, hips grazing hips, fingers touching, Ivan on fire, looking up at a crescent moon and a scattering of stars in the city's night sky. Ivan doesn't do drugs. Another rule. (The second he's broken this week; it'll take three to know they fall like dominoes.) (p. 126)

Really, there were plenty of other quotes I could have included. For that, and because I felt for the characters, I really enjoyed this book. But let's talk about the taboo part-the part that almost made me put it down. So much of this book is about love in all its forms; sensuality; the psychological complexity of that. But maybe I'm just not psychologically complex enough in my thinking. In the very beginning of the book there were some incestuous undertones and then not too long later there was a moment of incest that disgusted me. And I really don't know what was worse, the act itself or the situation in which it occurred. I just don't get where that came from or why. I moved on anyway because I really liked all its literary merits and the characters otherwise, but something similar crept back in near the end, again really bothering me. And you know, I haven't read much LGBTQ literature specifically, but the problem I have is that for those prejudiced against this population, homosexuality is viewed almost as a sexual disorder. Isn't this what we are trying to teach people that it is certainly NOT?? So then why couple their sexuality with such a taboo (and truly sexually dysfunctional) concept? I truly don't get it, so maybe it's just beyond my reach. But those moments were uncomfortable for me. But then I think about the fact that maybe not all books about LGBTQ characters should have to be teachable moments, but just books about those specific characters and their respective lives regardless of the characters' sexual identity? So anyway, that was the main problem I had with the book and I'd love to hear your thoughts about that!

I also wanted to mention that I may have had my first conscious understanding of unreliable narrators. It's a concept I've seen other bloggers talk about but wasn't sure if I got it. But pretty much all the characters in Ivan and Misha are unreliable!

Taken from my blog at www.takemeawayreading.com

[Everett · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is much heart and wisdom in this book. I’d grown quite attached to the titular characters, both complicated and believable, and was left wanting more of their stories - a hallmark of a good read.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

The connection you share with another person, however brief or seemingly insignificant, can leave a lasting impression, if not with you then perhaps on those close to you. Michael Alenyikov’s interesting story collection, Ivan and Misha (TriQuarterly/Northwestern University Press), centers on twin Russian brothers living in New York City at the beginning of the new millennium, and a supporting cast of characters—each with his or her own story to tell—that has an especially profound effect on them.

The 22-year-old fraternal twins came to the United States with their father, Lyov, who now goes by Louie, after the death of their mother, Sonya. The bipolar Ivan drives a cab when he isn’t devising his next get-rich-quick scheme. Misha works as a gofer for a film producer and lives with his young boyfriend, Smith, who changes his name with the seasons. Louie recently suffered a stroke which has left him in the care of a group home, where he befriends Leo, a fellow Russian immigrant, and Estelle, a possible love interest.

Ivan and Misha are close, much like best friends, but their relationship is arguably strange. Ivan’s behavior towards the men in Misha’s life teeters between admirably protective—primarily because Misha is HIV positive—and eerily envious. Misha’s endless worry about his brother’s potentially destructive mood swings repeatedly takes its toll on his relationship with Smith. The melancholy Louie conveys fatherly concern for his boys, yet realizes there is little he can do in his weakened state and has to trust that they’ll take care of each other.

The family dynamic provides enough substance and detail for an entire novel. Instead, characters that may have been mentioned in passing become a focal point, and their stories are told either as an aside or flashback, with each chapter presenting a different voice or point of view.

Much like the Oscar-winning motion picture Crash, and Jennifer Egan’s recent Pulitzer Prize winner, A Visit from the Goon Squad, which both explore the premise that we are all connected in some way, this novel’s author creates a distinct universe inhabited by these two brothers and offers a glimpse into their surrounding world.

Although the fate of select characters is left unknown, the writing is always precise and each of the intertwining stories is compelling and purposeful. Alenyikov deserves praise for crafting an especially daring novel that explores issues of family, sexuality and loyalty.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alenyikov inhabits his characters fully, and this novel's strength is in its characters along with an ability to bring New York alive through their experiences. Yet, the author, like the twin brothers Ivan and Misha, seems to be as comfortable in Kiev as in New York, and the Old World comes through in their reflections when they are visited by the ghost of a mother with long blond hair, who ostensibly died giving them birth.
It is with great restraint and skill that Alenyikov keeps Papa, Lyov who becomes Louie in America, from dominating the novel. In many ways he is the chief protagonist because he has the greatest scope of life story, yet he is not, and this is one of many delights, along with well-honed humor and pathos, that just when you think one or the other brother, or one of their lovers, will take over or break away, something happens to bring them back within the circle of family.

[Laurel Deloria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of short stories revolves around a pair of fraternal twins, Ivan and Misha, brought to America as children, along with their father, Louie. Ivan inherited his father's dark good looks and his mother's bipolar disease . . . Misha has his mother's blond coloring and the burden of responsibility for his brother. Both brothers become involved in gay relationships, which strain their own bonds. Alenyikov's richly detailed yet straightforward prose pulls us into the world the father and brothers have made for themselves in contemporary New York City, capturing the jitteriness of Ivan's manic episodes, the tensions of urban gay life, and the coping with family acceptance and AIDS. In one story, set in the week before 9/11, the mere dates on the calendar puts readers on edge. The strongest story, told in Louie's voice, takes us inside the infirmities, sorrows, and the long perspective of advancing age.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story has a wonderful musical flow. Some of it has to do with the sing song quality of a Russian speaker's English and a fairy tale quality to the sentiments felt by uniquely Russian souls living in cold American New York. The titular Ivan and Misha, twin brothers one gay one pan sexual, live their young lives in the quintessential New Yorky-ness of the Village scene and the Russian parts of Brooklyn where their elderly father resides. This book is quite disturbing. The mundanity with which it presents death and disease is heartbreaking. The most shocking parts of the story happen so quickly, the reader hardly has time to notice or comprehend what transpired. Its shows us how frightening trusting people can be, and that even the most horrible things can be silently forgiven.

[Gianna Mosser · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really think this book would have worked better as a linear novel rather than the chapter stories. The relationship between the brothers and the father was so dynamic, I was quite disappointed when the later part of the book put more emphasis on Kevin's storyline. There was something striking here, but it wasn't properly teased out.

[Paige · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written, but took me a long time to get through.

[Elisa Rolle · Rating 5 out of 5]

2011 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention (5* from at least 1 judge)

[George Seaton · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://outinprintblog.wordpress.com/2...

[Wyatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was completely disturbed by the ending of the first vignette, but Alenyikov's prose is amazing. I couldn't stop thinking about what story he would tell next, and how he would tell it.

[Trent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interrelated short stories about a pair of Ukrainian-born fraternal twins living in NYC.

[ColleenPA · Rating 3 out of 5]

My complete review is at http://colreads.blogspot.com/2011/09/...

[JD Mitchell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the first forty pages but the rest of it was so problematic: too many open ends, too many irrelevant characters, too much careless writing.

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

powerful! i hated it at first, because i couldn't wrap my head around the author's style. and then i got used to it. and devoured the rest of the book. this is a book about two gay russian twin brothers and their lives in new york, plus a million other things.