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Newest Literary Fiction Reviews (view source)
Revision as of 13:05, 7 July 2013
, 13:05, 7 July 2013no edit summary
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{{newreview
|title=Russian Stories
|author=Francesc Seres
|rating=5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=This brilliant and varied collection of short stories is the product of a current academic interest in cross-cultural translation. Francisco Guillen Serés is a Catalan professor of Art History from Aragon. A Russophile, he has travelled widely to collect stories from those writing during the past hundred years of Russian history. These have been translated into Catalan and then into English. These unusual and delightful stories, some twenty one of them written by five writers read fluently and engagingly. They form an informative tapestry of Soviet and post-Soviet life, moving back in time with the older, earlier writers like Bergchenko, who died in the siege of Stalingrad, at the end. Ranging over mythic and symbolic tales to realistic portrayals of personal relationships; love trysts in St Petersburg, ferocious bears in the deep heart of the Taiga to the perils of becoming lost in continuous orbit in space. All aspects are impressively recounted.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>085705158X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|title=The Parrots
|summary=Much has been made in the media about the similarity in approach of Sheila Heti's fictionalised autobiographical ''How Should A Person Be?'' and Lena Dunham's HBO television series ''Girls''. They certainly share a similarly bleak and introspective view of life, both are apparently based on the writer's own experience, both have a somewhat knowingly shock factor particularly when it comes to sex and both leave me somewhat depressed and sad. And both have been critical successes in the US. Indeed, ''How Should A Person Be?'' also features on the 2013 long list for the [[Women's Prize for Fiction 2013|Women's Prize for Fiction]], although it's not easy to assess where the fiction starts and the reality stops. In fact, the conceit is also somewhat similar to the scripted reality shows that dominate certain television channels. The effect is something that is interesting as a concept and exercise but less than enjoyable to read.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846557542</amazonuk>
}}