The Free World: A Novel(ISBN=) 英文原版

　　A major new talent … superb Independent Terrific … In
bringing the tribulations of the Krasnanskys in their Roman limbo
so vividly to life, Bezmozgis has written a novel that succeeds
admirably in combining comic brilliance with a poignant portrait of
a family trapped between two worlds Sunday Times Self-assured,
elegant and perceptive … [his] taut 2004 debut collection Natasha
and Other Stories suggested that he might well be of those authors’
[Philip Roth and Leonard Michaels] caliber; The Free World goes a
long way toward confirming this status The New York Times There is
a lust for life imbuing his prose – the jokes, the de*ions of
faces and kisses and streets and laughter, the sprinkles of
Italian, Yiddish and Latvian – making it wonderfully uplifting. It
is hard to escape the conclusion that Bezmozgis is one of the most
assured new Jewish writers of the century so far The Times David
Bezmozgis projects a sense of ease that is very rare in first
novels; he does everything well Telegraph A proper novel that
bulges and pulses and thrums with life … I ended up loving it …
The principal tone is wry – mainly comedic, sometimes melancholic,
occasionally tragic, ironical, playful, charming … a rich and
occasionally brilliant novel [that] is well worth reading Observer
Heavy with the consciousness of time, the inevitability of crises.
Bezmozgis has the knack of ending scenes, chapters, especially, at
the perfect reverberant moment, plangent or ironic Guardian
Colourful, sharply funny and deeply moving Financial Times
Delivered in an understated style which can accommodate serious
subtext as well as ironical humour … His portraits of the family
circle are neatly rendered and compassionate … There is no doubt
Bezmozgis remains a writer worth monitoring Independent on Sunday
Alternately comic, sharp and sombre … it’s impossible not to be
caught up in the tangled web of its unforgettable case Daily Mail A
wonderful affirmation of the most novelish kinds of virtues …
Bezmozgis choreographs his work beautifully; with a drip-feed of
revelations that humanises the characters and undercuts the
reader’s partial judgements on them … A Chekhovian tragicomedy;
part heartbreaking farce and part risible melancholy … Like Gary
Shteyngart, [Bezmozgis] is brilliantly able to use the former Cold
War enemies as foils to each other. Each side is as bad as the
other; and the humans are always caught in the middle of the muddle
Scotsman Quietly astonishing fables of unmistakeable brilliance …
Breathtaking Observer on Natasha and other Stories With a maturity
and control far beyond his years, Mr Bezmozgis has produced a
captivating and impressive debut. The title story itself is one I
will never forget — Jeffrey Eugenides Passionately full of life
… his literary skills [are] remarkable — James Wood London
Review of Books He is being described as the new Philip Roth, the
new Chekhov … the hype may not be entirely exaggerated Guardian
Scary good … Not a line or note in the book rings false Esquire A
stunning first collection, characterized by a painful honesty and
clarity of vision … Bezmozgis writes with compassion, quietly
reminding us of the hidden beauty within human imperfection —
Julie Orringer The Believer

　　Welcome to Rome. It is the summer of 1978, and the Krasnansky
family, bickering, tired and confused, are supposed to be passing
through. Alongside thousands of other Soviet Jewish refugees –
among them criminals, dissidents and refuseniks – they await
passage to their new homes in the West. But escaping Communism is
not so easy, especially when some of the Krasnanskys insist on
bringing it with them, and even more so when their sponsor in the
USA lets them down and they find that they’re no longer passing
through at all. On the contrary, they’re stuck. Welcome, then, to
the waiting room of your life, and to a tragic yet comic tale of
reckless brothers and long-suffering sisters, ailing parents and
innocent children, of love affairs and criminal liaisons, of a
wonderfully troubled family and a perpetually wandering people, and
their epic search for a home: somewhere, anywhere – or Canada, as
it turns out.

　　David Bezmozgis was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1973 and
emigrated with his parents to Toronto in 1980. His previous book,
Natasha and Other Stories, was shortlisted for the Guardian First
Book Award, was a New York Times Notable Book of the year, won the
Commonwealth Writer’s Regional Prize for First Book and has been
translated into over a dozen languages. In 2010, he was selected as
one of the New Yorker’s ’20 Under 40′, celebrating the twenty most
promising fiction writers under the age of forty.