author: Meir Shalev
This book was a hard read for me because of the authors' writing style. Meir Shalev does a good job explaining the family tales that surround the mystery of his grandmother's vacuum cleaner as well as the fundamentals of what the village she lived in was like. He does a decent job at showing what his family life was, and how everyone came about in telling family stories from their own viewpoint but all around the central hub of his grandma Tonia.
I do not think I could have hung around with his grandma, much too structured in ways that I find unfamiliar. She was obviously the keystone of his and his families lives and a legend in the area.
Strewn throughout this memoir among glimpses of grandma Tonia, stories that are passed down either through physical practice (industrial cleaning of the family houses) or through tales passed down (including that of the title piece... Her American vacuum cleaner.).
The story of the cleaner however holds the whole thing together and continues through to the end of the book itself, in a rather surprising ending. (In fact, there is a point near the end that made me both laugh out loud and cringe dealing with the woman and her "sveip-per")
Overall it was an okay book. I think if I had been able to skip straight through and only have the tale of grandma Tonia's vacuum I would have liked it more, but I understand that in being a memoir it was not the only part of the tale to tell. I probably will not read any more of the authors works due to his writing style which is too jumpy for my brain to be able read properly (linear is WAY easier for me to retain). That should not dissuade you though, as like I said, the book itself a okay.
Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Russian-Grandmother-American-Vacuum-Cleaner/dp/0805242872
ISBN: 978-0-8052-4287-4
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