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fictionfan's review against another edition
2.0
Described as two novellas, the first tale is in fact short story length. It’s a look at how a classroom of school pupils is affected by the visit of a man who has come to teach them about road safety. He is a bully, not of the physical kind, but one who seeks out the weaknesses and fears of the children and plays on them until they begin to behave irrationally. It’s well enough done and the characters are recognisably true types, but it’s slight, and some of the shifts in time make it hard to follow at points.
The second story is novella length, but I only got through about half of it. I spent most of the last couple of years reading about the Russian Revolution both in fact and fiction, and yet I still had little idea of what was going on in this recounting of a general in Mongolia fighting the Reds. Partly this is because the author assumes a level of knowledge I don’t have, and partly it’s because, for whatever reason, the translator has decided to leave many words untranslated and unexplained. Sometimes it’s possible to pick up the meaning from the context, but too often I was having to guess. Sometimes it’s annoying but relatively trivial, like when he mentions a piece of clothing called a deel. I have no idea what this is, so it conjures up no image in my mind. But other times it does seem important – the whole thing seems to take place near a suburgan, and this is mentioned so often it clearly is supposed to have some relevance. But at no time are we told what it actually is. I assume, from the context, that it’s some kind of roadside shrine and I’m guessing it’s Buddhist, but truthfully I don’t know. And gradually I got bored with having to invent my own meanings and never being quite sure of whether my guesses were good ones.
I may be a lazy reader, but I expect translated works to be fully translated. If I have to spend as much time googling as reading then there’s no flow, and without flow there’s no pleasure.
The second story is novella length, but I only got through about half of it. I spent most of the last couple of years reading about the Russian Revolution both in fact and fiction, and yet I still had little idea of what was going on in this recounting of a general in Mongolia fighting the Reds. Partly this is because the author assumes a level of knowledge I don’t have, and partly it’s because, for whatever reason, the translator has decided to leave many words untranslated and unexplained. Sometimes it’s possible to pick up the meaning from the context, but too often I was having to guess. Sometimes it’s annoying but relatively trivial, like when he mentions a piece of clothing called a deel. I have no idea what this is, so it conjures up no image in my mind. But other times it does seem important – the whole thing seems to take place near a suburgan, and this is mentioned so often it clearly is supposed to have some relevance. But at no time are we told what it actually is. I assume, from the context, that it’s some kind of roadside shrine and I’m guessing it’s Buddhist, but truthfully I don’t know. And gradually I got bored with having to invent my own meanings and never being quite sure of whether my guesses were good ones.
I may be a lazy reader, but I expect translated works to be fully translated. If I have to spend as much time googling as reading then there’s no flow, and without flow there’s no pleasure.
camillalice's review
3.0
I had never read Leonid Yuzefovich before, so I was really keen to try. As usual, I never hesitate whenever Archipelago publish something as they have quickly become one of my first publishers with their quality publications.
I wasn't overly interested in the title story, "Horsemen of the Sands". Nothing wrong with the writing, which I think Yuzefovich skillfully uses, but the story just wasn't for me.
I really liked the other novella, however. I thought the author was brilliant at giving the little details of everyday life to make it all more real. The narrative switches from one point of view to the next even within chapters, to bring it all back together like a tapestry, which was so very cleverly done. He managed to flesh out so many characters within the such short space of the novella.
I'd be interested to read other writings by Yuzefovich and see what they're like.
Disclaimer - I received a free digital copy of this book courtesy of Archipelago and NetGalley.
I wasn't overly interested in the title story, "Horsemen of the Sands". Nothing wrong with the writing, which I think Yuzefovich skillfully uses, but the story just wasn't for me.
I really liked the other novella, however. I thought the author was brilliant at giving the little details of everyday life to make it all more real. The narrative switches from one point of view to the next even within chapters, to bring it all back together like a tapestry, which was so very cleverly done. He managed to flesh out so many characters within the such short space of the novella.
I'd be interested to read other writings by Yuzefovich and see what they're like.
Disclaimer - I received a free digital copy of this book courtesy of Archipelago and NetGalley.
abookishtype's review
4.0
Horsemen of the Sands, written by Leonid Yuzefovich and translated by Marian Schwartz, contains two novellas. In The Storm, students are treated to a terrible (in content, form, and intent) lecture from a public safety officer while events conspire to bring about what looks like divine retribution for that officer. The longer Horsemen of the Sands is a framed story about a Russian soldier in Mongolia who is treated to possibly tall tales about the notoriously violent and unstable Baron Roman Fyodorovich Ungern-Sternberg. Schwartz’s translation is skillfully done and highly readable...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.
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