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A review by jasonfurman
Notes on the Cuff and Other Stories by Alison Rice, Mikhail Bulgakov
2.0
(Note, I read the title novella and the first set of stories, but skipped most of the "Feuilletons").
I was excited to find a Bulgakov book that I hadn't yet read appear in translation. But the excitement did not extend to the actual reading, which explained why these are not very common. The title novella Notes on the Cuff is about a doctor/writer (much like Bulgakov), focusing on a series of incidents during the civil war, and not nearly as good as A Dead Man's Memoir (aka Black Snow), which itself was not so great. A number of other stories are in a similar vein. The second part of the book is "Feuilletons" which describe Moscow, other cities, in somewhat satirical terms. I only dipped into these and found them less interesting than the first half.
I would have been better of reading Master & Margarita a third time.
I was excited to find a Bulgakov book that I hadn't yet read appear in translation. But the excitement did not extend to the actual reading, which explained why these are not very common. The title novella Notes on the Cuff is about a doctor/writer (much like Bulgakov), focusing on a series of incidents during the civil war, and not nearly as good as A Dead Man's Memoir (aka Black Snow), which itself was not so great. A number of other stories are in a similar vein. The second part of the book is "Feuilletons" which describe Moscow, other cities, in somewhat satirical terms. I only dipped into these and found them less interesting than the first half.
I would have been better of reading Master & Margarita a third time.