March Reads An Author under 30's Debut Novel: Panic in a Suitcase

Saturday I worked on the novel Panic in a Suitcase and finally finished this morning laying in bed while L slept soundly.  

Worked or labored is the key descriptor for this read even if it is an interesting enough portrayal. It is the story of an immigrant Jewish family living in Brooklyn from Russia/the Ukraine. The first part surrounds the visit of Pasha from the old country and the underlying tension of learning if he will apply to emigrate. It is a collective sigh of relief when Pasha does not decide to move. The family needs to retain a connection with the old country for their identity to survive. Hope of further return is extinguished when Pasha returns once more to visit (this time less space in the novel is devoted to this return trip) and there is a hint that he meets Sveta who will replace his former wife. 

The second part skips several years and concerns the visit by the youngest, Frida the reluctant and petulant supposed prodigy, back to the old country. At first it is Fridas doing that prompts this visit to a wedding of her cousins (Pasha's son) and then it becomes Marina's release to send her rather than endure a summer with her. Here Pasha is seen through a different lense as one who was once a successful Russian poet and occassionally still draws that admiration but is otherwise passe. Frida is in essence looking for an escape from the expectations of her family. The wedding is never realized in the novel as the novel closes before the reader encounters Pasha's son.

I enjoyed the character of Marina although she features only briefly in the narrative at junctures. 

Many of the sentences were laboriously long or was it just that they were often written in figurative language. The lack of punctuated dialogue threw me off at times. This novel I could see being selected for a literature class where the characters were dissected, themes compared, and the language mulled over. A third of the way through I became interested in the words I did not understand. My favorite class in middle school was a literature class where we did vocabulary exercises on the novels we read. As I read the novel on my e-reader I was able to highlight sentences where a word that I had never encountered before appeared. 

And while I do not think these words will ever figure into my vocabulary at least I am prepared for the next game of Balderdash. I miss living near to my brother B who loved words as much as I do, or more so, and could skunk anyone at Balderdash, one of his favorite games to play. Family dynamics are funny really. There is always this awkward phase when one visits after having not seen family for a long time. Or as time passes it is even more awkward to pick up the phone and call family. I don't know why we allow this to be. The Panic. When my family is my favorite people of all. 

As a whole the novel was laborious to read. A sense of disappointment was thick in the novel or at other times unease. I think it would be much more interesting to re-read as the first read there was a sense of trying to understand the narrative. I think in the second read one could slow down and appreciate the figurative language ploys that author Yelena Akhtiorskaya likes to twist in. 

I read an interview of this author Yelena who loosely bases this novel off of the family collective stories and dynamics that she encountered as a young immigrant to the United States and based on her return to the old country. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to write a novel and wonder if I could. Yelena was just 25 when she wrote this novel. For my reading project this is the novel I selected for an author under 30. It is also her debut novel. Have you ever thought of writing a novel? Would you base your novel on your own life story? the collective stories of your family or your childhood experience? 

Shoebox Rentals, Lear Jets, Vicious Altercations, & Homestudy Renewals

L's dad, mom and uncle fly in tomorrow on a private jet. I am to meet them at the airport. I really hope I have the opportunity to take a picture but then I am also accutely aware that may not be appopriate as there will be a stretcher, ambulance, and hospital clothes involved. I am not sure of the timeline yet. L leaves tomorrow for work in SK. 

We were unsuccessful in our one day apartment search.  I cannot comprehend the rental market. I feel for all those who are tied in.  Luckily we crunched the numbers and for L to stay in a hotel for the days he is on shift it works out to $1400 a month. Still atrocious but better than some of the deplorable options we surveyed.

We looked at a shoebox downtown loft above a bridal store. It was a contender at $1360 plus power and plus $60 per vehicle for parking. However it all fell apart when the landlord starting talking lease agreements. He wanted to have a 6 month or 1 year lease. After looking at a few places we returned to this one. It was in a convenient location, quiet and had high end finishes even if it was a shoebox. We were fine to sign a 6 month lease, but then he shared he also wanted to have 6 months notice. What?!? Confusing. We asked if we signed a 6 month lease did this mean that it was no longer month to month following. He responded that he would begin listing. So we asked then he would rent it out while we were still in it even though we were paying rent. His response was that we would have 15 days to vacate the premise if he found someone but if he did not we were still responsible to pay the rent. Hmmm. Ok then he hung up on us saying someone was at the door. Ok maybe that was strategic. We thought ok lets consider the next place. Then he called back that the neighbor had had a waterbreak main and launched again into the negotiations. He would work with us on the 6 month lease but if he was unable to find someone following and we had moved out we would have to work with him to find someone and if he was unable we would be responsible to cover the rent until he did. Again what!?! Indefinitely? How long? We said we would sleep on it and get back to him in the morning which never happened. I surmise he is over his head with this new investment of renovating this old hotel into suites and must make the montly mortage payments and as such must have a certain income each month to stay afloat. 

Our second viewing was for short term rental options by a realtor. She showed us two locations. The first was in what felt like a senior citizen's apartment complex with shuffleboard notices and dusty pink fixtures for $1800 a month for a one bedroom furnished apartment. Furnished as in a bed, dresser, table with two chairs, and couch and coffee table that could have all come from the good will. The second was originally $2400 but in the course of our conversations that I had a budget I would like to keep under $2000 it dropped to $1900 and then $1800. It was a two bedroom and was also a contender as the finishes were much nicer. It is owned by Australian restauranteur who owns the Brown's Social Houses. The downsides were that it was located a long ways from convenience and the refridgerator was very loud. L was not impressed that there were paint gouges. I thought that could easily be fixed up even if the realtor was not certain that the steel blue grey color could be matched. 

Next we were to view a basement suite but L decided he did not want to live in a basement. As we were driving around I had a phone call from a past colleague, colleage A I will call her, that has bothered me ever since. I do not do well with confrontation. Apparently I told another colleague B that colleague A had had a conversation with me where she was attacking other colleague B. Why would I do that? she sqreeched. Well she was, but that is beyond the point. I do not really think I did. I think that colleague B was wise to what was happening and was sharing with me that colleague A was attacking her and I had agreed. (Note to self learn how to not be the kind of person that individuals vent to.) Colleague B had shared that she intended to have a conversation with colleague A. I think that colleague A thought I had ratted her out. It really took me off guard because I was not expecting this kind of call or from her. I hung up on her, which I never do unless it is a telemarketer. I did not like her accusatory questioning. Nevertheless it really bothered me so we decided to go for a beer so I could process that unwarranted conversation. I have since wrote her an email appologizing for hanging up on her and explaining some of the questions she had for me. I do not think this really will solve anything and may infact have further invested me. I am glad I am no longer in this work environment. It was very stressful and I felt the tenacles of stress wrapping themselves around my chest and draining the joy from my apartment search.

At seven we had an apointment to see a townhouse. I liked it but L was less than enthused. It would have been as much as the short term rental and carried a one year lease. Later the property manager amended that to a six month lease but we were already on the way out. 

Our next appointment was at eight a 45 minute drive to the next city. We just made it in time. We parked in a slushy puddle and surveyed the tiny house on a busy street. Did we even want to go in? We went in and I could tell this was not the place for us with the set of L's jaw. He never asked more than two questions. It was old and I was glad this would not be the place for us even if the price at $1000 a month was better than all the others we had seen. You could barely fit a double bed in the bedrooms. I did not venture into the basement that was hewn from dirt. 

No further ahead we returned home driving the long four hours in the dark thinking that the next day would involve transferring funds for my father in law in Mexico. As it turned out he was able to do so himself from his hospital bed and so were not required. Instead on Saturday I cleaned house, went grocery shopping, overbaked a batch of cinnamon buns, visited my in laws home with L to turn on the heat and water for their imminent arrival, and went to see a movie at the theatre with L.

I also had to return signed pages for our homestudy renewal for adoption via expresspost. Silly me! These pages should have been submitted as early as February 5th but I stalled and then waited to have L sign. After L finally signed I sent them in forgetting myself to sign them so they were returned. Now they are sent off and we wait. Wondering. Will there be an adoption to look forward to or was this just another set of forms to sign? Will we be parents? I was not offered a frozen egg transfer for IVF this past month as I had originally thought. I will call on Monday to enquire further as Dr. Foong had said as much in her office on February 13th. 

My Family Visits & A Book With Non-Human Characters: The Bees

It's been a busy few days here in the Batiuk hive with my parents visiting from out of town. It was fun to have them here and hear their laughter.

They are always giggling those two.

My mom can't sit still.

We went on numerous excursions from the house shopping, for coffee, for sight seeing, for walks, or for lunch.

To add to all the commotion my father in law fell off a ladder in Mexico without insurance which landed him in a hospital in Mexico for surgery. This is very expensive my friends. Buy your travel insurance. We were initially blissfully unaware of all of the flurry of activity, enjoying having my parents here, but now have been swept along into it as L and his brother research air ambulance options to transport him to Canada. I feel as if I have enterred into a different world considering arrangements for travel on a private Lear jet. 

My parents have continued on their journey now and I finished the last few pages of this novel The Bees this afternoon. It is a highly recommended read. It seems to me that when we were kids there were a gazillion books with non-human characters or animals as characters. I love books or movies with animal characters but most written for adults really are terrible. This one however is captivating.

Tomorrow we are off to SK. I am excited to view a downtown loft apartment which may be our temporary home until we sell this house and make a move. Such bad timing I have making these appointments when all around me the world is buzzing. 

Let's Read: A Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared

A friend of mine at work loaned me this book, A Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared, to read. A friend of hers had loaned it to her. I read it in February. As you saw my post yesterday my last day of work was February 28th and so I was on a timeline to complete this book. I had considered it earlier as a choice for a book with a number but wasn't really interested in purchasing. But as a reading project I thought I should try it out. There were parts of this far fetched book I enjoyed. I liked the idea that he would just get on a bus with no intended destination with a young punks suitcase in tow who had asked him to watch this suitcase while he used the washroom. That was clever. The suitcase's contents provided the plot for much of the drama that ensued. It was not as funny as I had anticipated for all the rave reviews but it was entertaining.