Stalina
Stalina is a determined Russian immigrant who arrives in the United States after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Immediately her instincts to survive are apparent, as she creates a song to remember her itinerary: “Moscow, Kennedy, Port-Authori-tay.” She has also packed in her suitcase, along with her minimal essentials, a bundle of sexy bras, hoping her plan to sell intimate lingerie will subsidize her income.
In Leningrad she worked as a chemist, providing aromatic scents to hide chemical compounds for the KGB. Now in the U.S. she finds a job at a popular short-stay motel in the dying town of Berlin, Connecticut. She quickly becomes an asset to the owner, Mr. Suri, when she presents her ideas for redesign. With a quirky off-the-wall vision, she plans and creates thematic rooms, naming them The Roller Coaster Room, The Highway to Heaven Room and The Gazebo Room, among others. Soon the premium rooms become favored requests by returning clientele.
Stalina’s story is humorous, sometimes sad and reflective as the author alternates between her present and past. Stalina has survival instincts, and her life in America provides the reader with funny, often silly moments. At the same time she faces the reawakened harsh reality of her childhood, leading to difficult choices with a drive for revenge.
The story is especially plausible if you are familiar with the secondary highways that crisscross the once- thriving urban suburbs throughout America. Taking a quick journey, you will find shabby abandoned parking lots of potholes and grass-filled crevices, alongside burned dilapidated motels struggling to stay afloat. Rubin’s work is symbolic in many ways, and Stalina’s struggle to become a citizen in her adopted land is a delightful story of survival.
