Book Review: The Laws of Evening: Stories by Mary Yukari Waters


Posted in Books on 03/31/2011 06:33 pm by Valerie

The Laws of Evening: Stories by Mary Yukari Waters After reading The Favorites by Mary Yukari Waters, which was a really wonderful book, I wanted to read anything else Waters had written. Her only other published work is The Laws of Evening: Stories, a collection of short stories, which I found at the library. Unfortunately, I was rather disappointed when I read it.

Whereas The Favorites was deliciously slow and every little detail was there to be enjoyed, as can happen with a novel, the short stories in The Laws of Evening felt so rushed and too fast-paced. I think this comes mostly from the nature of the format, so I tried to be forgiving as I read on.

However, I felt a bit tired from the somewhat repetitive stories. Some of them were obviously developed into The Favorites, so I’d already seen some of these pieces, just with different characters. And the stories that didn’t fall into this category just didn’t keep my interest that much and felt a bit stale.

I won’t say that The Laws of Evening is a bad read, but I just didn’t enjoy it as much as The Favorites. It might have been better if I’d read them in the other order, but I am still glad to have read and enjoyed The Favorites as I did.

★★★★★


 

Book Review: The Favorites by Mary Yukari Waters


Posted in Books on 03/31/2011 05:57 pm by Valerie

The Favorites by Mary Yukari Waters I don’t remember how I found The Favorites by Mary Yukari Waters, but I’m so very glad I did. It was such a delightful read that it’s one of my favorites now.

Yes, the story meanders a bit, and it might feel like not much happens overall. But the journey there is what really makes this book, and it’s such a very Japanese book at that.

The details of the scenery and surroundings are simple, but they slow you down and make you want to savor the images created in your mind. I wanted to pause after a section or chapter, just to let it sit in my mind before moving to something new.

It is definitely a book about culture, but also about relationships, mainly about how things aren’t always so black and white. The characters felt very real to me, and I wanted to step into their shoes a bit more, even if just to see the places they inhabited.

Lovely.

★★★★★


 

Book Review: A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka


Posted in Books on 03/31/2011 05:50 pm by Valerie

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka I don’t remember how I’d first heard about A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka, but I hadn’t looked into it at the time. I found it at the library, after looking for books about people from Eastern Europe or Russia, I think, and it turned out to be a decent read.

The book focuses on two somewhat estranged sisters living in England, which is where their parents emigrated to from the Ukraine before the younger one was born. They end up working together to try and prevent their widowed father from marrying a Ukrainian woman much younger than him, for fear that she’s trying to take advantage of him to get a British passport.

Interspersed with the main story are segments from a book their father is writing, with the same title as the novel itself. The passages are sometimes connected to the story, though I got a little tired of them after a bit.

All in all, the story was interesting, especially as we see how the family conflict changes the sisters’ relationship and their view of other people. A little slow in parts, but, still, an interesting book.

★★★★★


 

Book Review: Little Man, What Now? by Hans Fallada


Posted in Books on 03/31/2011 04:33 pm by Valerie

Little Man, What Now? by Hans Fallada Last year, I read Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada, which was a tragic but well-written book, and after reading a bit about Fallada’s life, I wanted to read some of his other books. The first one I was able to find at the library was Little Man, What Now? by Hans Fallada, though I waited until I was in the right mood for it before checking it out.

The story follows a young couple starting a new life together in Germany after the economic collapse of the late 1920s and early 1930s. We see how they struggle to make ends meet, due to the combined problems from unstable employment, the high cost of everyday items, and their occasional mistakes in household budgeting.

This isn’t the most uplifting of books, but the writing is so light and moves along at a nice pace, and something about all the details of their everyday life pulled me in. You do really want the best for them, and you hope things will work out, and it’s hard when they run into various stumbling blocks.

I thought it was an interesting book, at least to see what problems everyday Germans were dealing with in this time period. Knowing what happened shortly after this period in time, you can get a sense of why that is.

I will add that I read an older translation, and I’ve heard that the newer one is much better. I’m curious how it differs, but I think I’ll wait a bit before I look into it.

★★★★★


 

Book Review: The Russian Dreambook of Color and Flight by Gina Ochsner


Posted in Books on 03/20/2011 01:55 pm by Valerie

The Russian Dreambook of Color and Flight by Gina Ochsner I came across The Russian Dreambook of Color and Flight by Gina Ochsner after more digging through my library’s online catalog, and it sounded interesting from the descriptions I found online. Sadly, it didn’t quite live up to my hopes for it.

The book follows a loosely associated group of people living in the same decaying apartment building in Perm, Russia, and it changes perspective between several of the characters. It was hard to tell what time period this took place, though it seemed to be the recent past, aside from the occasional flashback. It was definitely post-Soviet era, but some of the elements felt older.

It was also hard to get a grip on who was really the main character, since the perspective changes weren’t really balanced. A lot of focus was put on Olga, a translator for a propaganda newspaper, but then most of the plot eventually circled around Tanya, a girl in her 20s working in a museum while trying to figure out what she’d rather do with her life. It was frustrating when the perspective switched to some of the lesser characters, especially since those chapters didn’t feel like they added much to the story.

The story itself was rather loosely pieced together, and it just kind of fell away as I read on. I wanted something more out of the characters and the potential the early story seemed to have, but it never quite got there.

Overall, I’d say it was just an ok book. Some elements were interesting, but, ultimately, it just never felt real or compelling enough.

★★★★★


 
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