Category Archives: Slavic Literature

Rakiya -: Stories of Bulgaria – Ellis Shuman

(Reviewed by Don Jung) Rakiya is a very interesting collection of eleven short stories that feature various characters in bizarre situations that cover some of the history of Bulgaria. Each story has a protagonist that struggles to find answers to … Continue reading

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The Club of True Creators – Milan Tripkovi

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “We aren’t criminals! We are authors whose works your children will study in Serbian language classes one day. We are the architects of some of the most refined literary achievements ever committed to the Serbian tongue. … Continue reading

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Forgottenness – Tanja Maljartschuk, translated by Zenia Tompkins 

(reviewed by JD Jung) “I was an inconsequential being who had suddenly become deathly afraid of life.” Our present-day narrator suffers from mental/psychological disorders: frequent panic attacks, obsessive compulsive disorder, substance abuse, and changing levels of agoraphobia. Eventually she breaks … Continue reading

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Who is bombing Kyiv?! – Marina Alova

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “It was disheartening and revolting to witness the country repeating the same mistakes and going around in circles. Slava believed that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it would be impossible to make the … Continue reading

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Stories of a Life-Nataliya Meshchaninova (Translated from the Russian by Fiona Bell)

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned You claim that your family is dysfunctional. You may blame them for your current emotional state or even hate them. However, you can’t help but empathize with this author after reading Stories of a Life … Continue reading

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My Neighbour Osama Bin Laden – Yslar Tatuky

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned What happens when one puts Osama bin Laden and Salman Rushdie at the same dinner table? Yslar Tatuky is such a person as he has grand, though idealistic, hopes for humanity in his novel, My … Continue reading

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A Short Border Handbook: A Journey Through the Immigrant’s Labyrinth – Gazmend Kapllani (Author), Anne-Marie Stanton-Ife (Translator)

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “…I may have arrived without an invitation but I work just like the rest of you do, I pay the same taxes as the rest of you do, and most importantly my boss, or rather, my … Continue reading

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The Hideout – Egon Hostovsky (Translated from the Czech by Fern Long)

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “I keep having the feeling that a good half of the human race got drunk in a kind of gigantic space where the air is all breathed out. The born fighters and brawlers started to … Continue reading

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Fardwor, Russia!: A Fantastical Tale of Life Under Putin – Oleg Kashin, (Translated from the Russian by Will Evans)

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Fardwor, Ruissa!” The girls at the mental hospital mean “Forward, Russia!”, but it doesn’t come out that way, and as everything else, is blown out of proportion. That is one aside but amusing part of the political satire, … Continue reading

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