WOMEN IN TRANSLATION MONTH 2019

Author, Tatiana Tolstaya
Translator, Anya Migdal
Book 1

5.5

Tolstaya's characters--seekers all--are daydreaming children, lonely adults, dislocated foreigners in unfamiliar lands. Whether contemplating the strategic complexities of delivering telegrams in Leningrad or the meditative melancholy of holiday aspic, vibrant inner lives and the grim elements of existence are registered in equally sharp detail in a starkly bleak but sympathetic vision of life on earth. 

A unique collection from one of the first women in years to rank among Russia's most important writers.

My view

Tatyana Tolstaya who counts among her heritage Tolstoy, is a rambunctious, acerbic and erudite author.

I encourage readers to become acquainted with this author.

Her stories will have you laugh and think. She delivers an interesting look into the new Russia of today in prose which would have certainly send her to the gulag under the USSR.

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Author Alina Bronsky

Translator Tim Mohr

Book 2

5.5

My view

Alina Bronsky one of my favorite Russian author, among a few others.

we all have heard of Chernobyl's catastrophe.

A dozen individuals with diverse afflictions decide to return to their homes, regardless of radiation present in their home town, after all who wants to end the last days of their lives in some strange place? Life resumes rapidly as in any small town, to the delight of the reader.

Reade

Author Linda Stift

Transator Jamie Bulloch

Book 3

Madness lurks behind the pretty façade of everyday life.


An elderly lady offers a young woman a piece of cake. She accepts. The lady resembles the Austrian Empress Elisabeth and lives with her servant in an apartment full of bizarre souvenirs. More invitations follow. A seemingly harmless visit to the museum turns into a meticulously planned raid to steal a royal cocaine syringe. Without realizing, the young woman has become the lady’s accomplice. Does she realize she is losing control?


My view

Oh, I loved this tale so exquisitely executed (  pun intended ) without a single drop of blood being spilled...
I absolutely loved this mystery novel.
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AKIN by Emma Donoghue

Little, Brown and Company
Publishing date September 10, 2019

Description

Noah Selvaggio is a retired chemistry professor and widower living on the Upper West Side, but born in the South of France. He is days away from his first visit back to Nice since he was a child, bringing with him a handful of puzzling photos he's discovered from his mother's wartime years. But he receives a call from social services: Noah is the closest available relative of an eleven-year-old great-nephew he's never met, who urgently needs someone to look after him. Out of a feeling of obligation, Noah agrees to take Michael along on his trip. 
Much has changed in this famously charming seaside mecca, still haunted by memories of the Nazi occupation. The unlikely duo, suffering from jet lag and culture shock, bicker about everything from steak frites to screen time. But Noah gradually comes to appreciate the boy's truculent wit, and Michael's ease with tech and sharp eye help Noah unearth troubling details about their family's past. Both come to grasp the risks people in all eras have run for their loved ones, and find they are more akin than they knew.

Review coming