Katanya by Lara Vapnyar

Waikiwang: I had a family of doll people. They lived in a red shoe box painted to look like a house with a dark brown roof and yellow awnings. What my family lacked was a father, but a father doll was a true rarity. Fatherlessness was so common that even the Soviet authorities were aware of it. And now here's Waikiwang, reading Katanya by Lara Vapnyar.