I’ve watched for newly translated books by Alina Bronsky for years, ever since her novel The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine knocked my socks off. No one else writes with her acid humor about characters who obliviously march through life with firm convictions that they are absolutely doing things the right way. Barbara Isn’t Dying Yet is very much in the same vein and is one of the most appallingly funny things I’ve read in a long time. Readers whose humor swings towards the dry end of things will enjoy this one.
Walter Schmidt is a man who is very concerned with making sure that he and his family do things the normal, German way. There are hints in the novel that Walter’s mother set him firmly on the path when he was young, in the wake of World War II. Eastern accents—especially Russian ones—are scrubbed out. Comfort foods from the East are replaced with staunchly German cuisine. It’s very important to Walter that he and his family do nothing that anyone else might comment on. Walter’s wife, Barbara, who also comes from the East, is the one who did a lot of that work. And Walter isn’t shy about admitting that he was the one who made Barbara into the perfect German wife. These moments aren’t comfortable reading. Thankfully, Walter’s bullying is balanced with the comedy that follows the morning when Barbara falls and isn’t able to make Walter’s coffee for the first time in five decades.
The morning that Walter finds his wife on the floor, bleeding from a head wound, is the morning that changes everything. Grumbling and full of bewildered resentment, Walter becomes the one who is expected to cook, clean, and keep everything in order. He has relied on Barbara so much that he doesn’t know how to make coffee. He doesn’t know how to cook an egg or even boil a potato. He can barely thaw things from the freezer. Bronsky gets a lot of mileage with Walter’s frustration with everyone’s vague directions in basic recipes. How is he supposed to know when a potato is done? How is he supposed to know how much coffee to put in the machine? What on earth does a pinch or a handful or whatever measure is supposed to mean? Fair points and thankfully Walter discovers a cooking show and the chef’s Facebook community to learn how to cook for himself and Barbara.
Even though our narrator Walter is deluding himself about his wife’s condition and what being a good caretaker really is, we readers can easily read the lines. Barbara isn’t going to get better and Walter is being an idiot to not accept help. His children (who drive him insane) barge in to make sure that Barbara goes to the doctor and that Walter eventually finds someone to help keep up the house. Walter’s insistence on normalcy is his life preserver as everything changes around him.
Reading Barbara Isn’t Dying Yet made me wonder about the people who wake up one morning only to realize that they can’t go on like normal anymore. The lucky ones will have obnoxious people in their lives who refuse to let them drown. The luckier ones will have interfering friends and relatives and enough money to get professional help. And maybe the luckiest are like the fiercely normal Walter, who finds a bit of joy in cooking and the strength to finally adapt to their new circumstances.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.