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casparb's review against another edition
Tolstaya is one of The Big Deals in contemporary Russian Lit & this is collection of short stories is a lovely explanation of why. This could make me sound weird but I’m generally quite disturbed by short stories because when I try to remember them I’m unsure if they were something I read or dreamt. Anyway these should be studied all over Tolstaya’s command of multiple voices within even sentences is something so rare there’s not an english writer I can think of today that’s on similar lines.
Tales of all ages she’s excellent on working with Imagination for tales on children & she also treats old age rather well. Married life is chaos and murderous which I think is just realism
Tales of all ages she’s excellent on working with Imagination for tales on children & she also treats old age rather well. Married life is chaos and murderous which I think is just realism
lou1sb's review against another edition
4.0
I didn't get what was going on at all but it was all so pretty. Kind of like Russia.
meganthornberry's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
zinful's review against another edition
5.0
Tolstoya is the best least known Russian author today, and this first collection from her is perfect. I heard about her writing from the band Okkervil River, their name taken from a story in this volume. I trusted their judgement, finding them literary folk- to my great pleasure.
This is swirling, elegant, depair riddled reading..dreamlike and beautiful, haunting even. There is no real way to talk about this collection without simply spewing adjectives everywhere, but this is truly well thought out, evocative literature. The best review came from a friend I recommended this to: "Makes me love literacy, and fear its lack."
This is swirling, elegant, depair riddled reading..dreamlike and beautiful, haunting even. There is no real way to talk about this collection without simply spewing adjectives everywhere, but this is truly well thought out, evocative literature. The best review came from a friend I recommended this to: "Makes me love literacy, and fear its lack."
balancinghistorybooks's review
5.0
A few words to describe this wonderful, dark short story collection; original, compelling, evocative, rich, creepy, mysterious, startling, overwhelming, claustrophobic, and important.
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