The Daily Beast calls Alina Bronsky "an exciting new voice in the literary world." Bronsky is the author of Broken Glass Park and The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine, which was named a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year. Born in Yekaterinburg, an industrial town at the foot of the Ural Mountains in central Russia, Bronsky now lives in Berlin.
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The Old Testament reads: “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” Sascha, a seventeen-year-old Russian immigrant in Germany has two dreams: to kill her stepfather Vadim, and to write a book...
Alina Bronsky's Broken Glass Park has been exciting booksellers and book clubs leaders during the days leading up to its release this week. We thought we'd share some of the comments we've been receiving...
Words Without Borders translates, publishes, and promotes the finest contemporary international literature. The PEN World Voices Festival launches its sixth annual celebration of global literature at...
The Boston Bibliophile recently published a review of Broken Glass Park. The literary blog is now releasing an interview with the author of the novel, Alina Bronsky.
Can you tell us a little about...
Latest reviews
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“This is a novel about a dysfunctional family and the weakness of the human spirit, written with biting humor, fabulous dialogue, and a good deal of heart. A slim novel that has the power to surprise us when we’re least expecting it.”— Heaven Ali, Mar 4 2021![]()
“This book is funny, maddening, and surprisingly sentimental and compassionate. It seems incredible to flip through the one hundred and fifty or so pages that comprise this novel and realize how much there is still to talk about.”— Asymptote, Jan 27 2021![]()
“[Alina Bronsky] is at her best when evoking family dysfunction and powerful, mean old women, and both aspects are promised here [ . . . ] Sounds like a riot, as ever.”— Lit Hub (Most Anticipated Books of 2021), Jan 12 2021![]()
“Bronsky has a Dickensian flair for writing about miserable children—or, rather, the miseries of childhood.”— Vulture, Jan 11 2021![]()
“Alina Bronsky brilliantly keeps the mood funny and uplifting throughout with quirky characters and irreverent humor. My Grandmother’s Braid celebrates the power of forgiveness and the strength of the human spirit.”— Apple Books (Book of the Month), Jan 8 2021![]()
“Bronsky has written an enthralling story of humor, tragedy, and triumph . . . ”— World Literature Today, Jan 1 2017![]()
“ . . . a short book that will leave a deep mark on your heart.”— The Boston Bibliophile, Sep 20 2016![]()
“This is a novella worth looking out for and a good introduction to Bronsky’s work if you’re yet to discover this brilliant writer.”— The Writes of Woman, Aug 26 2016![]()
“The characters are well observed and the basic concept of the book makes for an interesting read. It is well worth picking up.”— TripFiction, Jun 11 2016![]()
“Bronsky does a lot very nicely here; unlikely though it may seem, given the setting, Baba Dunja's Last Love is a surprisingly cheerful novel...”— The Complete Review, May 19 2016![]()
"With quiet understatement, Bronsky offers us a glimpse of life in the radioactive abyss."— Kirkus Reviews, Apr 13 2016![]()
“Alina Bronsky’s brilliance,” one critic writes of the Russian-born German novelist, “is the perfect distance at which she holds her characters, letting them twist in the wind, so that it becomes almost impossible to know how she wants her readers to feel about them.”...— Aug 25 2015![]()
If To Mervas is a novel of moving from inside to outside and back again, Alina Bronsky’s Just Call Me Superhero (translated from the German by Tim Mohr) is one of crossing into unfamiliar worlds. It begins with our narrator, Marek, arriving at what he thinks will be a tutorial...— Aug 18 2015![]()
The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine by Alina Bronsky, translated from the German by Tim Mohr is in the running to win the Women's World Cup of Literature!— Jun 1 2015![]()
“Germany is a good country... I’ve heard they wash the streets with shampoo there.” Rosa Achmetowna is determined to get her family (and herself—really, mostly herself) out of the Soviet Union, and a marriage between her daughter and a visiting German national...— May 15 2015![]()
Alina Bronsky’s deftly translated novel is a coming-of-age story as well as one of coming to terms with oneself and the world. Our “superhero” is seventeen-year-old Marek, who had been a handsome boy and the much-admired star of his high-school theater group—until he...— Apr 14 2015![]()
After being disfigured by a Rottweiler and withdrawing from society, Marek finds himself attending a meeting with other similarly-affected individuals. Enamored with the wheelchair-bound Janne, a girl he meets at the meeting, Marek is lured to additional meetings. When the group’s...— Mar 27 2015![]()
Just Call Me Superhero by Alina Bronsky, trans. by Tim Mohr (Europa Editions, $16 trade paper, 9781609452292, November 4, 2014) Teenager Marek's face was horribly disfigured in a much-publicized Rottweiler attack. He has joined a support group for young people with physical...— Oct 27 2014![]()
Russian-born Alina Bronsky made a splash with 2011’s The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine, with praise from sources as varied as The Daily Beast and the Financial Times. She’s back with a third novel, Just Call Me Superhero, serving up more biting wit and a no-frills...— Oct 4 2014![]()
Bronksy’s biting coming-of-age first novel, Broken Glass Park, was nominated for the Bachmann Prize; the follow-up, The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine, was named a PW Best Book of the Year. In this third novel, a 17-year-old boy badly mauled by a dog joins a support group...— Aug 11 2014
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