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Location: United States

Member Since: Feb. 08, 2011

Marissa Culp

Cabbage, Strudel and Trams (Part I: Czechoslovakia) on March 11, 2011
(no rating)
This is a delight tale of a young girl coming of age in Czechoslovakia, before the fall of the Berlin Wall. As told by Franta, the little voice in her head, the story comprises Vendula, her communist-minded mother, her more slightly more free-thinking father, her quirky grandparents, and a group of stalwart friends. As the story develops, we are amused with a boy’s crush on Vendula, enchanted with her first kiss (though not with said boy), and heartsick when her crush on a fellow band-member turns out to be unreciprocated. We are proud of her for getting on stage and singing with the band despite her tremendous case of nerves and we laugh heartily at the story of how GUN, a famous department store in Moscow, sells shoes by tossing them into the crowd and then accepting payment from anyone who happens to catch a pair (correct size or not). And we even shed a tear or two at the bittersweet ending. This is a wonderful account of growing up in Czechoslovakia in the early 1980’s and I look forward to reading Parts 2 and 3.