I guess like others here, my first thought was not as good as...that's the trouble with creating a perfect work of art, one is haunted by it forever.

May I say this is 'not as good' but still SO, SO very good, that we are talking about giving this nine stars out of five, where we might have given Sukhanov ten.

Maybe the very big difference, the thing that makes one intuitively side with Sukhanov is that this novel has no one great character, rather, a group share centre stage equally. If you ask me, this just goes to show Grushin can do both of these constructions equally well. I think I was greedy to sink myself into a big character, the way one is greedy in one's younger years to be immersed in the enormity of The Russian Novel. The longer the better. The bigger the better. But you grow up and the finesse with which Grushin manages the five or so main characters of this book is a treat to behold. She is such a skilled craftsman, both in use of language and structure without ever losing sight of the story and the characters: you CAN have all of this, the idea that technique is something we have now in modern literature instead of story and character is shown by this writer to be ludicrous.

Rest is here:

https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2015/07/03/the-concert-ticket-by-olg...

( )

I guess like others here, my first thought was not as good as...that's the trouble with creating a perfect work of art, one is haunted by it forever.

May I say this is 'not as good' but still SO, SO very good, that we are talking about giving this nine stars out of five, where we might have given Sukhanov ten.

Maybe the very big difference, the thing that makes one intuitively side with Sukhanov is that this novel has no one great character, rather, a group share centre stage equally. If you ask me, this just goes to show Grushin can do both of these constructions equally well. I think I was greedy to sink myself into a big character, the way one is greedy in one's younger years to be immersed in the enormity of The Russian Novel. The longer the better. The bigger the better. But you grow up and the finesse with which Grushin manages the five or so main characters of this book is a treat to behold. She is such a skilled craftsman, both in use of language and structure without ever losing sight of the story and the characters: you CAN have all of this, the idea that technique is something we have now in modern literature instead of story and character is shown by this writer to be ludicrous.

Rest is here:

https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2015/07/03/the-concert-ticket-by-olg...

( )

I guess like others here, my first thought was not as good as...that's the trouble with creating a perfect work of art, one is haunted by it forever.

May I say this is 'not as good' but still SO, SO very good, that we are talking about giving this nine stars out of five, where we might have given Sukhanov ten.

Maybe the very big difference, the thing that makes one intuitively side with Sukhanov is that this novel has no one great character, rather, a group share centre stage equally. If you ask me, this just goes to show Grushin can do both of these constructions equally well. I think I was greedy to sink myself into a big character, the way one is greedy in one's younger years to be immersed in the enormity of The Russian Novel. The longer the better. The bigger the better. But you grow up and the finesse with which Grushin manages the five or so main characters of this book is a treat to behold. She is such a skilled craftsman, both in use of language and structure without ever losing sight of the story and the characters: you CAN have all of this, the idea that technique is something we have now in modern literature instead of story and character is shown by this writer to be ludicrous.

Rest is here:

https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2015/07/03/the-concert-ticket-by-olg...

( )

Based on a true event in the former Soviet Union. A kiosk appears. No one is sure what will be sold from this kiosk, but a line forms nonetheless. Rumours abound, friendships begin, a family starts to fall apart, lives are changed, all while waiting in line. The author does an amazing job of spinning this tale, taking us in different directions, all of which intersect! ( )

What an absolute treat... Even though, I would say, it's one of the saddest things I have ever read. The sadness is palpable throughout the novel. The grayness of life. The quiet desperation, maddening, but helpless. The constant mental struggle, in the face of the regime that suffocates any true talent - even with the seemingly optimistic denouement for the protagonist family. Grayness to which I can relate, having lived in that world...

And yet - a treat it is! It reads like a lyrical poem, melancholic, but with such exquisite turns of phrase - I couldn't help but noting them down, some are pure gems... The historical event on which it's based is also important. It didn't take long to decipher Stravinsky in "Selinsky"; the historical fiction part of it is touching - the old lady (a ballet dancer in her youth, and all that it entailed for her, all the consequences, the choices one makes in life...) is a character that appealed to me the most. And last but not least - the title, The Line ("...the orderly commas of bent backs marking the sidewalk in a depressingly long sentence..." - one of those gems I was talking about...) - what a significant title, in actual AND metaphorical sense. You have to have lived there to fully understand. ( )