Lara Vapnyar, Memoirs of a Muse

Memoirs of a Muse

Lara Vapnyar

Pantheon, April 2006, $22.95

ISBN: 037542296X

Growing up in Russia before the collapse, Tanya discovered Dostoevsky, and more significant, the great writer's muse. Moving with her mom the professor to Brighton beach Brooklyn, Tanya concluded that Dostoevsky's muse was his mistress Polina, who became part of The Brothers Karamazov and The Idiot; the second wife Anna was a secretary stenographer, but obviously no inspiration. Tanya decides her goal in life is to be the motivation to a great novelist.

She meets writer Mark Schneider at a book gala and decides he is the one. They have an affair, but as she notes in her "Memoirs of a Muse" he seems more preoccupied with physically working out, sex, and partying than in writing. Tanya's begins to reconsider whether she selected the wrong author or perhaps her role, as she studies further the influence of Dostoevsky's muse.

This is a terrific character study told mostly by Tanya with an intermingling look at Dostoevsky's life. Tanya is a delight, from her deep understanding about cosmetics in tsarist Russia, to her belief that she is somebodies muse. Part amusing satire and part a serious look at roles in interrelationships, fans who enjoy a well written refreshingly unique tale, will want to read MEMOIRS OF A MUSE.