Garbage Chute takes readers through the moving, thought-provoking experiences of a family living both in the past and the present, their lives permanently altered by the fall of the Soviet Union. The readers follow the lives of the once heroic and introspective Genna and his wife, Milla, a barber who navigates her complex identity as a loving mother and woman. Their two young adult children, Zemma-a policewoman-and Lazare-a delivery driver, navigate similarly complex identity questions. But, being from a different generation than their parents, Zemma and Lazare interrogate and confront politics, social structures, and systems of power. Garbage Chute leaves readers with a deeper understanding of the entanglements between politics and identity. Along the way, this book provokes insightful thoughts about what it means to be human and to seek a better future while being followed by the past.