RaveThe Wall Street JournalReading Mr. Fishman’s story reminds us that all immigrant and refugee stories, regardless of their starting and ending points, are improbably heroic ... Mr. Fishman’s story—as a refugee, a seeker and an insatiable eater—is inherently compelling. But the book’s brilliance lies in the author’s self-awareness and honest appraisal of his, and his family’s, shortcomings. He writes from the perspective of someone who learned to be comfortable being uncomfortable in his own skin—someone with no secrets left to keep ... Mr. Fishman also writes wonderfully about food. Many of the Russian dishes he describes—braised veal tongue, fried buckwheat patties, liver pie—may be unfamiliar and seem unappetizing to a mainstream American palate. But Mr. Fishman convinces readers to salivate along with him ... The two dozen recipes interspersed throughout the text simultaneously enhance the book’s narrative and beckon readers to the stove ... By the last third of the book it is nearly impossible not to be rooting for the author. Mr. Fishman’s struggles and triumphs are uniquely his own, but his most primal desires are universal: to be seen and understood by loved ones, and to eat like a czar.
