Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Book: White Walls

by Tatyana Tolstaya (2007).

Brilliant, beautiful short stories. Tolstaya transforms normal situations and motivations into the bizarre, the fairytale, the sublime--she's very nearly the Russian Kelly Link. Favorites include: "Okkervil River," "Sleepwalker in a Fog," "Seraphim," "Limpopo," and the masterful "See the Other Side." (Actually I have even more favorites, but I don't have the table of contents in front of me.)

Unfortunately, in a volume with two translators, one is clearly the better at conveying both the feeling and the sense of a story.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Apparently the band Okkervil River the Jesse and I share a fondness for was named after her short story. I always assumed it was named after the river, but apparently it was specifically named after her short story. Neat.

Tom said...

The "Russian Readers Club" on Goodreads is considering reading Tolstaya. Maybe you'd like to join us?

Tom