Cranberry Harvesting by Sikhs in Canada

"Cranberry harvesting by Sikhs in Canada" can be regarded as a kind of tale. The narrative from the third person (from behind the shoulder of a fictional heroine) oscillates between biographical narrative and outright fiction. Here, the spirit of anachronism... reigns, as recognizable faces and situations intertwine with the invented. The book is composed of miniatures: childhood in Leningrad in the fifties, marked by (foreign) nostalgia, various Moscow educational institutions and avant-garde anticipations of the sixties, the realities of emigration, interspersed with documentary materials like foreign oral memoirs or newspaper advertisements, and even reflections, and sometimes parodies on literary or academic topics. The author's interest is focused on elusive cultural details that give an unforgettable flavor to any era. Elena Tolstoy's prose reminds one of modernist ornamentality, and her paradoxical wit helps maintain a certain distance from what seems to be autobiographical experience, allowing for a critical perspective. However, the linguistic play does not become an end in itself: a sincere tone is preserved even in the most stylistically complex parts of the book.