We are staying in an apartment on the top floor of an old, brick, apartment building on the edge of Riga’s old town. One of the first things I looked through after arriving was the collection of books displayed in the china cabinet. There are numerous art books, some pamphlets and maps to help visitors to Riga, a couple of framed icons, a bible, a whole bunch of Russian crime novels, and a couple of books by Latvian authors, including Soviet Milk, by Nora Ikstena. Since this was a copy of the translation into English, I pulled it from the shelf for my personal reading while here.
The novel is narrated, alternately, by an unnamed mother and daughter. It took me a few switches back and forth between them to get into the rhythm of it and remember who I was listening to. After that, it was easy going. For me, not so much for the narrators. The mother and daughter were both born during the Soviet occupation of Latvia, and the mother in particular is negatively affected by this both in her medical career and in her mental health.
It was interesting for me to read about the daughter’s education. What was expected were the restrictions placed upon what the children were allowed to learn about and the authors they were allowed to read. What was surprising was the physical labor that the children were expected to do during the school day – from field work during harvest season to cleaning and maintenance of the school building.
As the novel progresses, you start to see signs that the Soviet Union is weakening. The daughter participates in the Singing Revolution and witnesses her grandparents’ reaction when they watch footage on television of the Berlin Wall coming down. This was a short but satisfying read. It pairs well with rye garlic bread and a glass of kvass.
