Nina Berberova

Novels originally published in the 1930s and 1940s reveal the lives and uncertain futures of Russian housekeepers, waiters, intellectuals, and aristocrats exiled in Paris on the eve of World War II.

The Tattered Cloak and Other Stories

Giovanni Garcia-Fenech 

I was ready to give this five stars but the tone of the book started changing towards the end; the stories lost their hard edge and became dreamy (the change starts somewhere in the middle of "The Dark Spot"). They were still well written, but to my taste not nearly as affecting. "The Waiter and the Slut" is as cutting as a George Grosz drawing, but "In Memory of Schliemann" is perhaps more akin to the sentimental art of Ben Shahn--not bad, but far from great.

The Tattered Cloak and Other Stories

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