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1. Who is Baba Seva, and what is her situation in Part 1, Chapter 1?

Baba Seve is Andrei's grandmother who is about to turn 90. He has not seen her for over a decade, but he is going to move to Moscow to take care of her. Andrei and his brother, Dima, are her only family. Their mother, her only child, had died years earlier. Baba Seva lives alone in a Moscow apartment.

2. Why has Andrei become an American, and his brother is essentially Russian?

Andrei, his parents, and his brother all left the Soviet Union in 1981. Andrei was six and Dima was 16. Andrei became an American, and Dima remained essentially Russian. When the Soviet Union collapsed, he returned to Moscow.

3. Why is Andrei desperate to leave New York in Part 1, Chapter 1?

Andrei is desperate to leave New York. He has not been successful in finding a job. His girlfriend of six months had recently dumped him at a Starbucks. Reading, writing, and teaching Russian literature and history is no longer any fun. He is heading into a future of "half-heartedly grading the half-written papers of half-interested students" (5).

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