A review by marillenbaum
The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine by Alina Bronsky

challenging dark funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Blackly funny, this book is from the perspective of a staggeringly narcissistic woman—imagine Lady Catherine de Burgh, if she had been a Soviet Tartar in the 1970’s. For the entire book, she schemes, abuses, and manipulated everyone around her, even the precious granddaughter she loves more than anyone else. Our narrator is deluded, self-absorbed, truly evil, but somehow, I found the time we spent in her twisted head enjoyable. 
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