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Lena Gorelik
"In Love in Saint Petersburg. My Russian Trip"
SchirmerGraf Publishing € 17.80
It's not with Peter, her boyfriend, but instead with Jost, her best friend, with whom Lena Gorelik travels to Saint Petersburg. She was born there and came to Germany with her Russian-Jewish family in 1992 as a "quota refugee". And because she is travelling with Jost, the first family problems occur. She wants to show him her city, she tells her relatives. But they react hysterically and ask who this man is and if she has broken up with Peter. Typically Russian, typically Jewish, constantly worried - a combination that turns everything upside down here.
The novel is an impressive homage to the author's city of birth. In it she conjures up the beautiful city on the Neva beyond the Hermitage and White Nights, with a mischievous look behind the scenes and into everyday life.
Before the trip can start, a visa must be obtained for Jost, who imagines it will be easy, which is not the case. And Lena is the bearer of two passports, which she also wants to change. Unfortunately they are dealing with Russian civil servants - and you can bet there will be catastrophes. Once they arrive in Saint Petersburg, Jost is introduced to life with the family, but also to unbelievable stories about superstitions, for example that he should wear slippers in the apartment and not walk around in his socks, as they don't know whether the household spirit "Domowoi" likes socks at all. If someone predicts something such as it will be a nice time in Petersburg, then it's immediately considered "spooky". Jost embarrasses himself a great deal before he gets it right. And one more action is important: When you start off on a trip, everyone has to sit down again before leaving the house. By the time a foreigner finally gets it .....
As a traveller who comes to Russia, you find that no one toasts with "Na Sdorowje", because that is not Russian, that's Polish. It's better if you hold a speech, and it has to be so emotional that everyone is both laughing and crying at the end.
And then the White Nights in June, the absolute myth in Saint Petersburg. Paris is out as the city of love. Saint Petersburg in June, that is love. But the reality looks quite different. Everyone talks about the White Nights, but no one mentions the mosquitoes in June - that is also a part of a trip to Saint Petersburg.
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