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A review by thebobsphere
The Dolls by Ursula Scavenius
4.0
Ursula Scavenius’ The Dolls consists of four short stories. At first glance they may seem unconnected but they are all bound together by various themes, namely brother/sister relations. generally when I review a short story collection I only mention a handful of the short pieces but since there are only four here, I can focus on each one – in a spoiler free way of course.
The title story is about a family who have to glue and dye hair so that the put them on dolls. One day the daughter of the family decides to imprison herself in the cellar. The rest of the story consists of the narrator watching her develop in her enclosed quarters.
To Russia is a more political story, consisting of a government plan going wrong and one of the workers escaping the mess in order to visit his sister. Out of the four stories I found this one to be the most introspective as sibling relationships are described in great detail.
Notpla’s House is the more creepy of the four. A brother and sister are on the run and the sister develops amnesia and starts to bond with a stranger Notpla. The problem lies in the fact that as we readers are not sure if Notpla’s intentions are good or not as he seems to have a dual character what makes things creepier is the appearance of a mysterious old woman.
The story Compartment reminded me of Guy de Maupassant crossed with Kafka: Three siblings have to carry their dead mother with them on a train heading out of Russia and towards Hungary so that they find a decent burial area. This story is the more historical one as it is set against the backdrop of the Russian liberation, which displays the violent acts that were present. Also during this period Russia was experiencing flooding, which proves to be a challenge as well.
Aside from sibling relations these stories are bound together by diseases, historical events and acts of nature. Yet there is something unsettling, dark and foggy. If one takes a look at the book’s cover one can get a feel of the tone of stories. Saying that unlike horror fiction, there’s no twist here. These stories have a realistic edge, which makes the reader empathise with the characters. I will say that I wanted the three siblings to succeed in their mission and shared in their desperation. I was sharing the narrator’s curiosity when seeing his cellar bound sister’s nails. I felt the unease the narrator had about Notpla. Despite the darkness The Dolls’ is very human in scope.
As a person who is a bit wary of short stories due to inconsistent quality, I can recommend The Dolls fully. As an aside the publisher, Lolli has been releasing a lot of great books over the past few years so I know I can trust anything that has their mark on it and The Dolls is no exception.
The title story is about a family who have to glue and dye hair so that the put them on dolls. One day the daughter of the family decides to imprison herself in the cellar. The rest of the story consists of the narrator watching her develop in her enclosed quarters.
To Russia is a more political story, consisting of a government plan going wrong and one of the workers escaping the mess in order to visit his sister. Out of the four stories I found this one to be the most introspective as sibling relationships are described in great detail.
Notpla’s House is the more creepy of the four. A brother and sister are on the run and the sister develops amnesia and starts to bond with a stranger Notpla. The problem lies in the fact that as we readers are not sure if Notpla’s intentions are good or not as he seems to have a dual character what makes things creepier is the appearance of a mysterious old woman.
The story Compartment reminded me of Guy de Maupassant crossed with Kafka: Three siblings have to carry their dead mother with them on a train heading out of Russia and towards Hungary so that they find a decent burial area. This story is the more historical one as it is set against the backdrop of the Russian liberation, which displays the violent acts that were present. Also during this period Russia was experiencing flooding, which proves to be a challenge as well.
Aside from sibling relations these stories are bound together by diseases, historical events and acts of nature. Yet there is something unsettling, dark and foggy. If one takes a look at the book’s cover one can get a feel of the tone of stories. Saying that unlike horror fiction, there’s no twist here. These stories have a realistic edge, which makes the reader empathise with the characters. I will say that I wanted the three siblings to succeed in their mission and shared in their desperation. I was sharing the narrator’s curiosity when seeing his cellar bound sister’s nails. I felt the unease the narrator had about Notpla. Despite the darkness The Dolls’ is very human in scope.
As a person who is a bit wary of short stories due to inconsistent quality, I can recommend The Dolls fully. As an aside the publisher, Lolli has been releasing a lot of great books over the past few years so I know I can trust anything that has their mark on it and The Dolls is no exception.