Reading experiment: The Slynx by Tatyana Tolstaya (Tатьяна Tолстая – kысь)

If you are a bit familiar with the Russian language, you know that it has an amazing vocabulary. For each sensation or event, there is another word. I am only half Russian and don’t reach even a quarter of understanding this language, so I am smart: I don’t read in Russian. I know from the start that I will not understand everything, even if I speak the language fluently. However, being a part of an International Reads club, and the book being of a Russian author – Tatyana Tolstaya, I said why not give it a go? I have the English version anyways. So i read both books.

Conclusion: I did not like the book. I gave it 3 or 4 starts on goodreads but I do not like it. It is a dystopian book and I do not like these types of books. I understood the book, got the message, just didn’t like the delivery of it. Thank God it was so unpredictable and I could read it until the end!

The basic story in a nut shell : City: Fiodor Cuzmici (city previous Moscow), 200 years after the Blast. The survivors of the Blast are the Oldeners – they still have the memories of how the world used to work. New generations – naive creatures with genetic mutation “consequences”. Benedict has very little mutations: just a tail and too many teeth.
Main character: Benedict is struggling to survive. He has no family left and is fearing a mythical creature – the slynx. He has some cravings of going far far away. But were? In every directions there are capital dangers. The order and lives of simple citizens -golubcichi – are strictly controled by the government. If you have dangerous tendencies – Freethinking – or signs of diseases, the government or the Saniturions, will eliminate you. Benedict works for the government, in the writing department, he copies booklets and orders of Bigest Murza – ruler of the city. Benedict’s life changes when he gets married to Olenka, a co-worker.  Olenka’s father is the Head of Saniturions. He discovers to Benedict the magic of reading old printed books, prohibided for the golubchiki. Benedict gets addicted and reads all the books during 1 year.  After that he wants more books, so his father in law convinces him that they must protect the book and all together the culture from the golubchiks, who are only destroying it. Under this pretext, they take over the city and kill Bigest Murza. But Benedict is in for a surprise: his father in law doesn’t care about the culture or books, he wants only power. The book ends with yet another Blast, caused by the misuse of the gasoline. Again, the Oldeners survive. and Benedict.

It was sad for me to see the signs of a generation under a regime (take all freedom, give them mice, and scare them ocazionaly) were life means survival, there is no progress and development.
It is true that those who don’t know the past are condemned to repeat it, and this is one of the main ideas of the book.
Translation wise, there were some details lost and at some point I felt that it is not a Russian novel anymore, the translator decided to include some additional lines for more clarity, but they lines are very English, same with some of the poems, same with names of songs, Christmas songs… The attitude towards women is much more respectuos in the English version and the language is cleaner.
The name of the book is a combination of words in Russian, such as  кысь (the sound you make to call a cat) – брысь (scat)- рысь (lynx) – Русь (the old name of Russian people), so in the end you get Slynx!
Some words were misspelled in Russian and the translation didn’t make sense to me, words as: ‘shopping-hower’ instead of schopenhauer, ‘pudential’ instead of potential, ‘feelosophy’ instead of Philosophy,  ‘runnysause’ instead of Renaissance, ‘more-allity’ instead of Morality, ‘Academishun’ instead of Academician , ‘guzzelean’ instead of Gasoline  and ‘worrums’ instead of Worms. These words got me confused and I could guess the meaning faster thanks to the Russian version.
I am not sorry for reading the book and it really took me out of my comfort zone. Even if the book was somewhat filled with events, I felt it didn’t go anywhere. After some research, I learned that this book was written during 1986-2000, so maybe the perspective and intentions of the author changed from what was initially planned. For me it was just “a book about people and mice”, how a critic called it.

Bout of Books 8.0 – updates

This is just a post for updates during this Bout-of-bouts 8.0

Monday

Book: Change of Hearth – Jodi Piccoult
Total Pages Read: 148
Total Number of pages read in total: 148
Notes: Like the story, cannot connect to any of the characters, too much religion and serious issues

Tuesday

Books Read Today:  Change of Hearth – Jodi Piccoult
Total Pages Read: 168
Total Number of pages read in total: 316
Notes: This was an unusual book for me, it had spiritual, moral and religious issues, learned some new things about Christianity and morality. Happy for the romantic ending 🙂

Wednesday

Books Read Today: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir A.C Doyle
Total Pages Read: 96
Total Number of pages read in total: 412
Notes: very entertaining so far!

Thursday

Books Read Today: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir A.C Doyle
Total Books Read: 100
Total Number of pages read in total: 512
Notes: like it more and more!

Friday

Books Read Today: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir A.C Doyle
Total Pages Read: 50
Total Number of pages read in total: 562
Notes:

Saturday

Books Read Today: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir A.C Doyle and The Fall by A. Camus
Total Pages Read: 100
Total Number of pages read in total: 662
Notes:

Sunday

Books Read Today: The Fall by A. Camus and March by G. Brooks
Total Pages Read: 75
Total Number of pages read in total: 737
Notes: very similar to Dostoievski’s Notes from underground

Hopefully a total of 1000 pages 🙂 – actual pages read – 737

Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult

What is with all these spiritual books lately? this is the second in a row 🙂 Anyways, i read this book as part of the Bout of Books 8.0 challenge.
The book touches the problem of religion, death penalty and redemption. The story follows June Nealon and her family: her second husband and daughter are killed by Shay Bourne – a young ex-convicted man. Shay is found guilty and sentenced to death. Michael is a young priest and part of the jury. It took 11 years to decide upon the execution date. At this time, June’s second daughter – Claire is sick and needs a new hearth in order to survive. Shay tries to offer his own hearth to Claire in order to make up for the murders. Almost to the end of the story, Shay tells the actual story to Michael, who is his spiritual adviser in jail. The religious aspect of the story is quite interesting since it does not promote religion as a practice and discloses some other gospels than the ones that are widely known. It also promotes the basic rights, free speech and freedom of practicing your religion. Maggie – Shay’s layer is a true fighter, she is the one that helps Shay. It also ends with a romantic story and I feel that this is purely american ending 🙂 (Maggie falls in love) but it was necessary. The true story of Shay is dramatic and thanks to the romantic ending I was able to enjoy the book until the end.
Speaking of the style of the book, each chapter is written at first person and you can only understand who’s story is, by the title, if it is June, it’s June’s side of the story. Also, the font is different for each character, I was really annoyed about Maggie’s fond because it was duller than the others, but in the rest it was ok. If you are looking for a good dramatic story, with the pursuit of spiritual and religious truths, than do not hesitate to read this!

Happy reading everyone!

Bout of Books 8.0 SIGN UP!

I am really exited to join other 300 participants in this challenge! My main objective is to read as many pages as possible this week and maybe, just maybe, get to 1000 pages, we will see how it goes!

🙂

Let’s hope it will not get to this and let’s do it!

🙂

I will try and post updates as the rules imply and also will publish the list of books tomorrow!

Get inspired and read with Malinka!

I have no excuse or explanation: I have started a booktube channel on youtube. Why? I have no other purpose in life. I work as a madwomen and I don’t do anything else, so a book channel is the logical next step, no? 🙂 🙂 🙂 Anyway, this is just for fun and entertainment, so enjoy!

The King’s Fool

There are not too many dates that I go too, but this one was accidently. I was taking  a trip to Viena and Bratislava when I noticed a group of Brazilian people. I have a ton of stereotipes in my head about them and decided to see if they are true. I was talking with one of them with the greatest smile I have ever seen and I asked him out for a coffee. Their next destination was Budapest, my residence city. It was my first direct contact with the Brazilian culture (besides the telenovelas) and I was so impressed by the atitude and by the energy! I felt like nothing can make this guy sad or angry and I am always curious about these kind of people. Of course like any Brazilian (maybe another pre-conception?) he was very romantic and playful. Our first date went very well and we both had fun, then met some of my friends and went home at 1 am. I was looking forward to see him the next day even if I was aware that this is a date between his traveling, I was ok with that. I was genuinely interested to learn more about him and his country and didn’t consider this a romantic date. The next day he said he is busy with his friends but that I can come along. I was a little bumped but again, I was interested in learning more about him and his culture. So I met the friends, we had a nice time, they were all turists so they made pictures, sang their songs, showed me their dances, told me their believes, and in between all these the Brazilian guy was giving me sweet kisses (by the way, did anyone noticed that they kiss diferently than the europeans? or it is just me) … it was a nice experience! I was prepared to call it done when he invited me over in his town to spend time together, or he can visit me, he can show me the city, let’s keep in touch, add me on your networks… I was more than happy to do that but still reluctant, after my experience with long distance romance. We said good bye in front of the hostel and I went home to dream about him :).  A couple of days later and weeks after that I wrote to him just to say hi and to ask how is life, but never got an answer. His friends posted tones of pictures from their trip and none of them were with me, they either selected the ones I made or cut me from the pictures. All these make me believe that I was just the king’s fool for their trip. I was the entertainer, I was aware of that and was fine with this role until he sugesteg we keep in touch further. That moment I left my imaginary hat and started to think and to hope for more, forgetting he lives in another country!
The worst part was that he ruined it for the next Brazilians I will be meeting in my life, I will believe that they are double faced just like this guy, and it is too bad because I really like their spirit. Oh well, I am funny and I am good for a laugh. If it was not for that moment of losing my hat, I would have been happier today.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Yeah, another strong book but if I ever hear again someone saying that this book is a love story, or meditation on love or a misunderstood romance, I am going to cry!!! Now I read the book, I have the right to contradict all those opinions! This is the story of a rape, pretty much, and not physical rape but also social. To argument my opinion I will tell you more about the story. The novel starts with the plead of the main character – Humbert Humbert, an English man that moved in the US. He is in court for murder and he tells the story, analyses and explains his actions in court. The time of the book is post-war America. Humbert meets Dolores Haze (latter called Lolita) and her mother and starts to have a strong attraction towards Dolores, even if she is only 10. And this is not the first time when he feels this way towards a girl, he has had this situation in the past and studied the girls that aroused him, even found them a special name (I can’t even open the book to look for the term, that much this book is creepy for me). He marries Dolores’s mother and while Lolita is on summer camp, she dies in an accident so Humbert has Dolores all for himself. Humbert doesn’t tell Lolita about the death of his mother but takes her on a road trip. In the hotel, they speak about the camp and she confesses that in the camp she became intimate with a boy and they end up having sex. That is the moment when she finds out that she is an orphan and she is stuck with her step-father/lover. Right after Humbert thought that she will the most loving girl since her mother died, she only has him as a relative and he was not even feeling guilty for the sex, she was not a virgin anymore. But in the contrary, Lolita was cranky, she didn’t behave as a lover since she was just a child!, she avoided the caresses and the intimate relations, so Humbert had to buy his way, he was buying anything she wanted in order for her to “to complete her duties”. The road trip took more than 2 years and then they decided to settle down and live in one place. It was very dificult for Humbert to hide their relation especially since Lolita was going to school and making new friends. The only way Humbert could stop her from running away or telling was psychological pressure, he was telling her that she is an orphan with no money and no place to go… In the end Lolita had a conflict at school and they decide to go on the road again. In the end she manages to run away. Humbert finds her because she wrote to him and asked for money. She is in a poor house, pregnant and engaged with some guy. Humbert decides to forgive her for leaving only if there is a chance for her to come back to him. Lolita is refuses and asks him not to tell her fiance about their past, in this moment Humbert kills her. It is such a sad story, Humbert has destroyed his and her life, he let himself be driven by lust. He didn’t even like her personality, described as clumsy  impolite, but once he looked at her lips her forgot everything. He didn’t allow her to develop as a human being, to have a house, a school, hobbies, she was always watched and kept close, treated like a peace of meat. Even Humbert recognizes that he destroyed her but at the same time, it was Lolita who seduced him, it was Lolita who had no morals. I have to mention that I was seduced by the writing and the style of the book, and also by curiosity, I have learned some lessons from this book. Reading this book is a necessary evil, you have to know about it and you have to be aware. Gosh, I hope I won’t panic around fathers with their daughters, but it might happen.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

I picked out this book because it is included in the BBC 100 books that everyone should read. The book was amazing and it filled my heart with happiness!!! The characters are well developed, there is mystery, good plot and a grand finale, what else can you ask for? The story line goes around Mary Lennox and her cousin Collin. They are both orphans and under-loved. Mary moves from India in the Misselthwaite Manor mansion. The mansion is half forbidden and the garden is locked because 10 years ago Collin’s mother died in a accident. One night Mary hears someone crying and discovers Collin. He is barely moving or lifting himself from his bed. He was told all his life that he is very sick and close to death and because of it he is depressed and hysterical most of the time. Mary is the one that discovers the key to the locked garden and starts to revive it, together with a local boy, Dickon. Dickon is one of the most important characters in the book and in the development of the other characters. Dickon and the robin-bird!!! Dickon is full of life, pure energy, curiosity and simple kindness that he inspires both Mary and Collin to become healthier and happier. The evolution of Collin is amazing and he starts to walk and run.  Another important character is Dickon’s mother, she is the one that advises Dickon’s actions and helps the children bond. Or course the place were all the activities take place is the secret garden but in my opinion it could be any other place were kids could communicate and play, develop skills and self – confidence, but the garden gave them a sense of magic which was necessary for both of them. Both Mary and Collin have been deprived of the warmth and love of a true family which is the magic place were everyone develops so they needed the magic of the garden. The ending was amazing and it made me smile. I just wished I would have read this book earlier to see an example of consequence when adults and parents are taken by fear. Collin’s father was afraid that he will be crippled, so he made him stay in bed all the time with all the luxuries, instead of providing him a normal life. Gosh, this is how parents mess up their kids and I realized how messed up I am because of parents’s fears… I guess it goes round and round. I will make all my friends read it so that they will be aware what could happen. Absolutely great book!

Exploring Polish literature – Nine by Andrzej Stasiuk

It was a challenge to finish this book. I can definitely give some credit to the author for attention to details and basically it is a descriptive novel, a description of all details around the characters, description of sensations, description the city… I would say that the plot line was confusing just because there were so many random characters that didn’t differentiate from each other very much. I can understand why this book received is so highly appreciate, the author tackled some good ideas but I just felt that the final result could have been better. This book had so much potential and the location was so well described but I felt there was no “glue” to bind together all these elements, they were just random. The cover states: here the author portraits elements of a new generation of Poles, freed from outdated ideologies but left disconnected from family, well, my reaction was, yes, now that you mentioned it, I guess it make sense… I understood the full story after reading the description on the cover: Pawel is a young business man in debt to loan shark. He turns for help to his 2 friends, Bolek and Jasek. And to this I would like to add that nothing clear happens in the end. Pawel still needs help.

Another detail was the translation. The book was initially written in Polish and then translated in English, but some sentences just didn’t make sense and maybe some of the book’s sense was lost. It was my first attempt to read polish literature and I have to say that I’m confused: this book had great reviews on goodreads and it was so difficult to read, I only imagine of those with low rates !

Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding

What a funny book! if you have not read this until now, make sure to pick it out from your library on bookstore!
It is the story of a British single woman Bridget Jones, and her struggles with weight, men and career. The book is written in form of a diary as suggested by the title and it starts with the new year’s resolutions made by Bridget. Her mother tries to fix her with a family friend – Marc Darcy (what a name!) Bridget however has a crush on her boss – Daniel and she ends up sleeping with him. Daniel is not interested in a committing relation and is having in affair with another colleague which is discovered by Bridget. In stead of deep apologies, Daniel is informing Bridget and the whole world that he is marrying that work colleague. Deeply humiliated Bridget takes her mother’s advice of changing careers and goes for an interview to a local television. She is hired and with the accidental help of Mark Darcy makes some good articles. Mark and Bridget seem to have a nice time for her birthday when she finds out that her mother is wanted by the police. Again with the help of Mark she gets her mother out of troubles. In the process Mark tells her that he likes her just the way she is and they get together after an accidentally missed date. They have a nice Christmas date followed by a hot night…. the book ends in full circle, after 1 year after the beginning.
My favorite thing about the book is the absolute real language and insights which are written just as one is thinking, no fine tuning was made. This allows you to emphasize with Bridget and listen (actually read) as if she is one of your friends: Good book!