"Kapitelman's sense of humor has often been praised. In this book, a sense of tragedy is added. Kapitelman writes with a tender gaze about those whom he must oppose politically. A book about the impossibility of communication that enables understanding." - Der Spiegel
"It is funny, brilliantly funny. Although Kapitelman writes good dialogues and notices everything that is crazy or uncanny, Russian Specialties impresses above all with something else. Contradictions can coexist here side by side." - Frankfurter Rundschau
"In Russian Specialties, Dmitrij Kapitelman explores his relationship with his parents, especially his mother, while always keeping political forces, including those in Germany, in view. He does this desperately and attentively; lovingly and incomprehendingly. Despite sounding heavy, Kapitelman’s writing reads effortlessly. Because he is an empathetic observer and storyteller. Because he crafts words, sentences, and scenes filled with endearing sarcasm and poetic lightness." - NDR Kultur
"Kapitelman narrates the mother-son conflict in a profound and tender way, always with a remarkable sense of situational comedy, even though the situation is deadly serious. Russian Specialties is truly great literature." - Der Freitag
"It is a gentle book, very humorous, very endearing, even though it deals with a dark subject. Yet Kapitelman conjures from this dark topic a light. A very beautiful, and at the same time deeply moving book.” - Ö1 Ex Libris
"Kapitelman is a brilliant storyteller — funny, selfdeprecating and clear-sighted." - Tobias Rapp, Spiegel online
And a war that divides all …
A family from Kyiv sells Russian specialities in Leipzig – vodka, pelmeni, SIM cards, sailor shirts – and also a sense of Eastern European belonging.
However, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the last item is in short supply. The family’s mother supports Putin. And her son, who loves the Russian language above all, his mother more than anyone, and Kyiv more than any city in the world, is at his wit’s end.
For him to return to Ukraine in the middle of the war is unwise. But how else can he save his mother from fascism and the absurd lies told on Russian television?
A book that only Dmitrij Kapitelman could write – tragic and tender, yet filled with humour.