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elvatikan's review
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
davidcottington's review
3.0
Just recently started getting into short stories. These are dark and creepy and I really loved some of them. Writing style is a little bit strange, not sure if it’s in the translation but it does add to the eeriness of the stories.
beillumined's review
3.0
These stories reminded me very much of the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books that I loved as a kid. Not exactly scary, but with a little twist at the end that might seem... spooky.
I enjoyed most of the stories, and I enjoyed the stories themselves, my only hang up was the writing. I think it was mostly that something may have gotten "lost in translation"... strange bits thrown in to weird places, things told out of order, random facts thrown in where unnecessary, kind of sloppily written in some cases. But since these were translated stories, I can only assume that is the reason for the muddiness of the writing. They also read more like stories that would be told out loud, like spoken word but written down word for word.
Other than the sometimes muddled writing, I enjoyed the book overall, but I'm not sure I would read it again.
I enjoyed most of the stories, and I enjoyed the stories themselves, my only hang up was the writing. I think it was mostly that something may have gotten "lost in translation"... strange bits thrown in to weird places, things told out of order, random facts thrown in where unnecessary, kind of sloppily written in some cases. But since these were translated stories, I can only assume that is the reason for the muddiness of the writing. They also read more like stories that would be told out loud, like spoken word but written down word for word.
Other than the sometimes muddled writing, I enjoyed the book overall, but I'm not sure I would read it again.
disastersnail's review
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
skypotion's review
The text was very plain & the stories just didn't hit me emotionally. The introduction makes me appreciate the work Petrusheveskaya has done for Russian lit, but I wasn't enjoying my time
mikelchartier's review
4.0
It's refreshing to read Russian literature that doesn't use banal conversation as the focal point of the story, or in this case, stories. The stories themselves are just okay on a superficial level, until you start thinking about them a bit more thoroughly. Each one has so much subtext that even the symbolically illiterate would have a hard time dismissing. Highly recommended reading, and a very quick read at that. Apparently Petrushevkaya is a huge hit in Russia, and I can only hope more of her work is shipped my way.