Rating: 
Summary: An animated immigrant experience
Review: David Bezmozgis astutely describes the immigrant experience in this book of short stories linked through the same characters.
The author's personal experiences, which parallel those of his characters, enable him to descriptively write scenes which come alive and appear real. As a Toronto secondary school teacher who has worked with Russian immigrant students, I recognize realistic scenarios in his stories and feel he has accurately portrayed the lives of these immigrants.
A thoroughly enjoyable read!
Rating:
Summary: A true depiction of the immigrant experience
Review: David Bezmozgis astutely describes the immigrant experience in this book of short stories linked through the same characters. The author's personal experiences, which parallel those of his characters, enable him to descriptively write scenes which come alive and appear real. As a Toronto secondary school teacher who has worked with Russian immigrant students, I recognize realistic scenarios in his stories and feel he has accurately portrayed the lives of these immigrants. A thoroughly enjoyable read!
Rating:
Summary: Awonderful collection of stories and people
Review: I always approach a book of short stories, particulary by an author I'm not familiar with , with a threshold of expectations --I will like some stories very much, I will read others that are reasonably good and still others I will bypass after reading only a brief portion of the story because I may find them less than relevant or whatever
This definitely is not the case with this wonderfully written, totally engrossing, highly amusing, touching , albeit short, group of stories about Russian emigres in Toronto. Many of these stories reminded me of some of Issac Singer's NY works. I was circling LaGuardia Airport last night due to weather problems in the NYC area and had the good fortune to have this slim collection to keep me company and take my mind off the three extra hours of travel time I had to deal with. I, of course, finished the book during this time frame and wished there were more stories to delve into, but alas, they were finished so quickly . So,I await the author's next excursion into the richness of his memories of growing up in Toronto and his family's experiences and memories of surviving the devastation that befell them in their homeland and the difficulties they incurred when they arrived in Canada. I heartly and unequivically recommend this book to all who have some connectiion with the immigrant experience.
Rating: 
Summary: So-so
Review: I found this book disappointing. After reading a rapturous review in the "Forward," I expected something more. Parts of the stories here and there were interesting or well-done, but overall, they weren't terribly compelling.
Rating: 
Summary: Unique and Real Glimpse of a Different Culture
Review: I have spent a great deal of time in Canada's cities and I have seen the strong immigrant Jewish culture there (especially in Montreal) from the outside.
This book let's us see a bit of this culture from the inside, providing a lot of insight into family dynamics, language problems, the waning Soviet empire, pride and more.
Of the 6 or so stories in the book, I found all except one to be excellent. My favorite was "Natasha," the one for which the book was named.
Rating: 
Summary: Two stars.
Review: I was not impressed with the book. Characters are rather represented by two-dimensional shadows. Although I support and even extend the idea of one of the readers. The Encyclopedia of Emigration, where people would describe their experiences, both sad and funny is overdue. My rating of this book is sadly based on the ruined high expectations because I am from Riga, Latvia too. I don't feel that the author has something to say in the future either. Hope that I will be proven wrong.
Rating:
Summary: Read this book if you are a 79er
Review: If you are a 79er, you will profoundly relate to the stories here, and Bezmozgis accurately portrays what it's like to emigrate from the Former Soviet Union as young child in the '79 wave. He makes you feel like you are in the mind of the child. His stories have inspired some of the San Francisco 79ers (a community of young adults who came over as young children - ala Bezmozgis and Gary Shteyngart) to share their own immigration stories.
Rating:
Summary: Quietly brilliant
Review: Natasha certainly deserves all of the hype that it has recieved. Bezmozgis's stories are all small wonders. He never resorts to gimmickry, cliches, or any of the other traits seen used by many of today's younger writers. The stories are vividly real as the narrator looks to find his place in new surroundings, a theme that applies not just to the immigrant experience but can be seen in everyone's life. His stories are original, funny, tragic, you name it. His confidence (not to be confused with arrogance)is what stands out the most in his writing, and it is easy to see why these stories have been compared to those by Roth and Updike when they were younger. The best book I've read this year.
Rating:
Summary: A nice pack of stories.
Review: One of the best parts of this book is that I got to feel the "new-point-of-view" excitement. Y'know the fun that comes from a person seeing your world but with their own cultural set of eyeglasses on? I can see where he became the toast of the town with this collection - I do think it started stronger than it ended though. But overall, I'll be picking up his next one...
Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful, if Brief, Collection
Review: Short stories are hard, for me at least. There has got to be something about a collection that keeps me reading on after finishing one story. Natasha is one of those collections that has several "things" that keep me reading. First, the writing is excellent. Bezmozgis has one description right in the first story of spring ariving. The description is brief but at the same time incredibly evocative. With that, he had me hooked. The stories are interesting, particularly in light of the fact that they concern one family and have the same narrator--a young boy who emigrated with his family from Latvia to Canada in the late 70s. Their early struggles and later successes are captured quite beautifully in these stories. Natasha is not a imposing collection; it is a brief, enjoyable read--about 145 pages of well-written, compelling stories.
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