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105 reviews for:
There Once Lived a Girl Who Seduced Her Sister's Husband, and He Hanged Himself: Love Stories
Anna Summers, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
3.22 AVERAGE
105 reviews for:
There Once Lived a Girl Who Seduced Her Sister's Husband, and He Hanged Himself: Love Stories
Anna Summers, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
3.22 AVERAGE
The title is a little misleading. Yes, this is a collection of short stories that (may very briefly) glimpse ideas or moments of romantic love. However, the stories are not all filled with the grim irony the title implies, and romantic love is not at the center of all these stories. What one can expect are short, terse narratives from the perspective of women on the brink, women facing institutions that exclude or ignore them.
These are not stories. They are pitches of stories with bare sketches of characters. Here, allow me to give you a taste of her style.
There Once Lived a Girl who Dated a Married Asshole
~~
So there's this girl, see?
She's super poor.
And she meets this guy.
He's married.
He's also an asshole, got it?
Girl gets knocked up.
Guy leaves girl.
She's sad and still super poor.
The end!
There was nothing in these tales that I even remotely related to and while I'm not surprised by that fact (seeing as I am not a poverty stricken Russian living in a slum)...I feel cheated. Good writing should have some universality to it. I should have felt something...anything for these people and their situations. I'm sure that a bit of the book's color has been washed out by the translation, but the writing just isn't good. Take a writer like Junot Diaz - there is an author who can really convey desperate people. He is a master at fleshing out characters condemned to appalling circumstances who are still compelled to sacrifice themselves for the promise of love. Petrushevskaya is out of her league is the realm of bad romance.
There Once Lived a Girl who Dated a Married Asshole
~~
So there's this girl, see?
She's super poor.
And she meets this guy.
He's married.
He's also an asshole, got it?
Girl gets knocked up.
Guy leaves girl.
She's sad and still super poor.
The end!
There was nothing in these tales that I even remotely related to and while I'm not surprised by that fact (seeing as I am not a poverty stricken Russian living in a slum)...I feel cheated. Good writing should have some universality to it. I should have felt something...anything for these people and their situations. I'm sure that a bit of the book's color has been washed out by the translation, but the writing just isn't good. Take a writer like Junot Diaz - there is an author who can really convey desperate people. He is a master at fleshing out characters condemned to appalling circumstances who are still compelled to sacrifice themselves for the promise of love. Petrushevskaya is out of her league is the realm of bad romance.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I liked the stories but they were often hard to follow because despite not being connected many characters across stories had the same names
dark
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
I have to admit that I enjoyed the previous collection far more than this one. There is less magic realism in these stories, and a sense of wonder or charm seems to be missing. There are some very good ones such as “Milogram,” “Like Penelope,” “The Goddess Parka,” and “Father and Mother”. The last is rather good. The theme is relationships, in particular a weird type of battle of the sexes that also involves the government that tries to go after everyone. Perhaps this is a Russian theme; however, with the above exceptions many of the stories seem to be too repetitive. Three stars on the strength of the good stories.