Murmur reviews short stories
Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 10:27 am
I'm making this thread to write some reviews of short stories, my favorite literary form. In particular, I like older short stories, such as those written prior to 1950. I suppose most of what I read is from the early 20th century to the mid 19th century.
Ambrose Bierce said, "Novel: a short story padded." He said a lot more about the novel, but that's the part that I like the most. I think novels are overrated. The full quote is here: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/555013- ... omposition
I'll start my reviews with this little thing. Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29672
I just now noticed that the HTML version of the book has more illustrations than the epub version, which is what I read on my phone. I'm looking at the HTML version while I type this and it has illustrations that I hadn't seen before. The illustrations for this book are, in general, gorgeous.
None of this particular review will be hidden by spoilers, because it's not necessary. Each story is similar to the next, and what I'm writing here won't spoil the enjoyment of anything.
The book is a motley collection of stories, all of which have similar themes and styles. Ridiculous magical rituals (which aren't described as magical) are omnipresent. Plenty of death is present. Religion and royalty are frequently used. Basic numerology is commonly used.
Probably the most common magical ritual is the planting of seeds. Seeds are planted and then magic trees grow overnight. That sort of thing. Again, the magical rituals are never called "magical", but it's pretty clear that that's what they are.
Weird plot twists are occasionally present. I remember one story that has a snake that came up to a guy in a forest, and told the guy, "I'm going to eat you!" The guy said, "No, you're not!" And then the snake said something like, "Ok, so take this seed, plant it at this spot over here, a tree will grow, I'm going to change into a woman, and you'll marry me." The guy said, "Ok."
Talking animals abound. Especially snakes. Snakes seem to be a popular villain within these stories. Snakes changing into women and marrying men are pretty common.
The number three is all over the place. Everything happens in threes. Here's an example. A mean step-mother told a girl to do some outrageous impossible task, while simultaneously taking the ox to a field so it can graze. Once in the field, the ox told the girl to take a nap and the task would be done. And the task was done. The girl went back home, and the next day, the step-mom told the girl to do another impossible task while having the ox graze in the field. And it again happened on the next day, and that was the end of the tasks. See? Three times. That's all over the place. Very rarely does something happen twice or four times.
The stories are translated from the original languages. I believe one of the original languages is the predecessor to Ukrainian, or actual Ukrainian. I recognized some of the words, especially "gryvnya", which is the name of the modern Ukrainian currency. Sometimes written as "hryvnya". "Tsar", "tsarina", and other royalty-specific names should be pretty easy for English speakers to understand.
I have a bad tendency to forget most of what I read, sadly. So, most of the stories aren't memorable for me, except for two. These two.
1. The Sparrow and the Bush
Truly a silly load of nonsense. Probably good for reading to children. Uses tons of repetition. Has homicidal birds, talking plants, talking fire, talking water, and so on. Let me try to summarize. A homicidal sparrow wants to swing on a bush's branch and the bush is defiant. So this murderous bird tries to get a goat to eat the bush. The goat is likewise defiant. And the homicidal sparrow asks a wolf to murder the goat and the wolf refuses. And so on. Eventually someone consents to the sparrow's evil requests and lastly, the bush, after being nibbled on by the goat, let's the sparrow swing on its branch, and it sings to the sparrow. This story is fun to read if you read it quickly, and out loud.
2. The Story of Little Tsar Novishny, the False Sister, and the Faithful Beasts
This is one of the longer stories. Kind of like an adventure.
The devil changes into a serpent and chases a prince and a princess. Always chasing. The prince and princess rode a super fast horse, and the serpent chased them by flying. The prince and princess eventually take refuge in a hut. After a while, the fact that the serpent is actually the devil is no longer mentioned, and it seems to be irrelevant.
It contains a nonsensical plot twist. The sister betrays the brother to the serpent, for no reason whatsoever. Absolutely no reason whatsoever. And later, she's eaten. I think that's what happened to her. She died in any case.
The brother somehow conjured some faithful animals to help him survive. A few talking dogs I think.
This story is an utter load of craziness from start to finish, and a lot of fun to read.
I give this book, Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales., a recommendation of:
Read it if you like extremely crazy stories. It's fun to read.
Ambrose Bierce said, "Novel: a short story padded." He said a lot more about the novel, but that's the part that I like the most. I think novels are overrated. The full quote is here: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/555013- ... omposition
I'll start my reviews with this little thing. Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29672
I just now noticed that the HTML version of the book has more illustrations than the epub version, which is what I read on my phone. I'm looking at the HTML version while I type this and it has illustrations that I hadn't seen before. The illustrations for this book are, in general, gorgeous.
None of this particular review will be hidden by spoilers, because it's not necessary. Each story is similar to the next, and what I'm writing here won't spoil the enjoyment of anything.
The book is a motley collection of stories, all of which have similar themes and styles. Ridiculous magical rituals (which aren't described as magical) are omnipresent. Plenty of death is present. Religion and royalty are frequently used. Basic numerology is commonly used.
Probably the most common magical ritual is the planting of seeds. Seeds are planted and then magic trees grow overnight. That sort of thing. Again, the magical rituals are never called "magical", but it's pretty clear that that's what they are.
Weird plot twists are occasionally present. I remember one story that has a snake that came up to a guy in a forest, and told the guy, "I'm going to eat you!" The guy said, "No, you're not!" And then the snake said something like, "Ok, so take this seed, plant it at this spot over here, a tree will grow, I'm going to change into a woman, and you'll marry me." The guy said, "Ok."
Talking animals abound. Especially snakes. Snakes seem to be a popular villain within these stories. Snakes changing into women and marrying men are pretty common.
The number three is all over the place. Everything happens in threes. Here's an example. A mean step-mother told a girl to do some outrageous impossible task, while simultaneously taking the ox to a field so it can graze. Once in the field, the ox told the girl to take a nap and the task would be done. And the task was done. The girl went back home, and the next day, the step-mom told the girl to do another impossible task while having the ox graze in the field. And it again happened on the next day, and that was the end of the tasks. See? Three times. That's all over the place. Very rarely does something happen twice or four times.
The stories are translated from the original languages. I believe one of the original languages is the predecessor to Ukrainian, or actual Ukrainian. I recognized some of the words, especially "gryvnya", which is the name of the modern Ukrainian currency. Sometimes written as "hryvnya". "Tsar", "tsarina", and other royalty-specific names should be pretty easy for English speakers to understand.
I have a bad tendency to forget most of what I read, sadly. So, most of the stories aren't memorable for me, except for two. These two.
1. The Sparrow and the Bush
Truly a silly load of nonsense. Probably good for reading to children. Uses tons of repetition. Has homicidal birds, talking plants, talking fire, talking water, and so on. Let me try to summarize. A homicidal sparrow wants to swing on a bush's branch and the bush is defiant. So this murderous bird tries to get a goat to eat the bush. The goat is likewise defiant. And the homicidal sparrow asks a wolf to murder the goat and the wolf refuses. And so on. Eventually someone consents to the sparrow's evil requests and lastly, the bush, after being nibbled on by the goat, let's the sparrow swing on its branch, and it sings to the sparrow. This story is fun to read if you read it quickly, and out loud.
2. The Story of Little Tsar Novishny, the False Sister, and the Faithful Beasts
This is one of the longer stories. Kind of like an adventure.
The devil changes into a serpent and chases a prince and a princess. Always chasing. The prince and princess rode a super fast horse, and the serpent chased them by flying. The prince and princess eventually take refuge in a hut. After a while, the fact that the serpent is actually the devil is no longer mentioned, and it seems to be irrelevant.
It contains a nonsensical plot twist. The sister betrays the brother to the serpent, for no reason whatsoever. Absolutely no reason whatsoever. And later, she's eaten. I think that's what happened to her. She died in any case.
The brother somehow conjured some faithful animals to help him survive. A few talking dogs I think.
This story is an utter load of craziness from start to finish, and a lot of fun to read.
I give this book, Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales., a recommendation of:
Read it if you like extremely crazy stories. It's fun to read.