A review by edulaia
Alamedas oscuras by Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin

dark emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A book of short stories about "love", or rather, sex. Bunin wrote them in exile in France just before and then during WW2, but set them in a pre-revolution Russian past that, while not perfect, he clearly feels nostalgic towards. Very few of them are actual lovestories between consenting adults. Most, if not all, deal with the skewed power dynamics that a patriarchical system embeds in the relationship between men and women (this is my reading, I dont think Bunin would put it this way). Some are violent. Some are very violent. Others are sweet. All of them are beautifully written. Sometimes I got lost in my thoughs while reading them (comparable to my experience of reading Proust) and I had to go back to actually get the content. 

Alejandro Ariel Gonzàlez ha hecho un gran trabajo de tradución. Es la primera traducion del ruso que leo en español y a veces me ha sorprendido el uso de vocabularios que parecian situar las historias en la sierra castellana en lugar de rusia. Quizàs porque alli estaba quando lo leia. Pero de alguna manera ha hecho que las historias parezcan todavia mas universales. 
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