An engaging novel about a family that emigrate to Vienna from Russia, told from the point of view of Mischka, seven at the time the family moves. She introduces the reader to her parents, her grandmother and later to her sister. Mischka finds the move to Austria difficult, the world that she has known up until seven has disappeared and she struggles to adapt to the new life. This is a dark and often sad novel about the family, with occasional patches of humour.
There is little sense of time in the novel, Julya Rabinowich gives us vignettes of family life, glimpses into 1970s and 1980s Austria. Russia is always present.
The novel is well written and easy to read and enjoy. The deeper meanings are more difficult to grasp hold of and I struggled to find the themes of this novel, beyond the theme of mental ill health, as the title suggests and adolescence and family life. ( )