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Black Vodka: Ten Stories
Now in paperback, a "tantalizingly poetic" (NYTBR) collection in which Levy "conquer[s] the genre which demands she fashion perfect jewels" (The Independent).
The stories in Black Vodka, by acclaimed author Deborah Levy, are perfectly formed worlds unto themselves, written in elegant yet economical prose. She is a master of the short story, exploring loneliness and belonging; violence and tenderness; the ephemeral and the solid; the grotesque and the beautiful; love and infidelity; and fluid identities national, cultural, and personal.
In "Shining a Light," a woman's lost luggage is juxtaposed with far more serious losses. An icy woman seduces a broken man in "Vienna," and a man's empathy threatens to destroy him in "Stardust Nation." "Cave Girl" features a girl who wants to be a different kind of woman--she succeeds in a shocking way. A deformed man seeks beauty amid his angst in the title story.
These are twenty-first century lives dissected with razor-sharp humor and curiosity. Levy's stories will send you tumbling into a rabbit hole, and you won't be able to scramble out until long after you've turned the last page.
The stories in Black Vodka, by acclaimed author Deborah Levy, are perfectly formed worlds unto themselves, written in elegant yet economical prose. She is a master of the short story, exploring loneliness and belonging; violence and tenderness; the ephemeral and the solid; the grotesque and the beautiful; love and infidelity; and fluid identities national, cultural, and personal.
In "Shining a Light," a woman's lost luggage is juxtaposed with far more serious losses. An icy woman seduces a broken man in "Vienna," and a man's empathy threatens to destroy him in "Stardust Nation." "Cave Girl" features a girl who wants to be a different kind of woman--she succeeds in a shocking way. A deformed man seeks beauty amid his angst in the title story.
These are twenty-first century lives dissected with razor-sharp humor and curiosity. Levy's stories will send you tumbling into a rabbit hole, and you won't be able to scramble out until long after you've turned the last page.
144 pages, Paperback
First published February 26, 2013
100 people are currently reading
2962 people want to read
About the author
Deborah Levy
65 books3,708 followersDeborah Levy trained at Dartington College of Arts leaving in 1981 to write a number of plays, highly acclaimed for their "intellectual rigour, poetic fantasy and visual imagination", including PAX, HERESIES for the Royal Shakespeare Company, CLAM, CALL BLUE JANE, SHINY NYLON, HONEY BABY MIDDLE ENGLAND, PUSHING THE PRINCE INTO DENMARK and MACBETH-FALSE MEMORIES, some of which are published in LEVY: PLAYS 1 (Methuen)
Deborah wrote and published her first novel BEAUTIFUL MUTANTS (Vintage), when she was 27 years old. The experience of not having to give her words to a director, actors and designer to interpret, was so exhilarating, she wrote a few more. These include, SWALLOWING GEOGRAPHY, THE UNLOVED (Vintage) and BILLY and GIRL (Bloomsbury). She has always written across a number of art forms (see Bookworks and Collaborations with visual artists) and was Fellow in Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge from 1989-1991.
Deborah wrote and published her first novel BEAUTIFUL MUTANTS (Vintage), when she was 27 years old. The experience of not having to give her words to a director, actors and designer to interpret, was so exhilarating, she wrote a few more. These include, SWALLOWING GEOGRAPHY, THE UNLOVED (Vintage) and BILLY and GIRL (Bloomsbury). She has always written across a number of art forms (see Bookworks and Collaborations with visual artists) and was Fellow in Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge from 1989-1991.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 277 reviews
August 12, 2016
Swimming Home was one of my favourite books of last year, so when I saw she released a collection of ten shorts stories, I knew I had to read them. Stories of love and loneliness, Levy has a unique blend of experimentalism and wit which has really hooked me.
This collection of short stories has a real contemporary feel to them, as well as a European flavour to it. Every story was gripping and I stretched this book out as long as I could. One story a day and each one as good as the other. There is a real joy to find an author that you love and can’t wait to delve into everything they write.
Short stories of relationships, sadness, love, being alone and bitterness; Deborah Levy has a unique and minimalist voice that I adore. I would love to find other authors similar. While Swimming Home is far superior, the stories from Black Vodka was still a great dip into the works of Deborah Levy.
This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2013/...
This collection of short stories has a real contemporary feel to them, as well as a European flavour to it. Every story was gripping and I stretched this book out as long as I could. One story a day and each one as good as the other. There is a real joy to find an author that you love and can’t wait to delve into everything they write.
Short stories of relationships, sadness, love, being alone and bitterness; Deborah Levy has a unique and minimalist voice that I adore. I would love to find other authors similar. While Swimming Home is far superior, the stories from Black Vodka was still a great dip into the works of Deborah Levy.
This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2013/...
October 20, 2022
Levy is a superlative writer. She's written a number of plays, the aesthetic of which informs her work - making it more immediate, more precise, and laced with evocative internal themes. Her novel, Swimming Home, was a fine example of this. Short stories, though, don't do her ideas as much justice as they might.
These ten pieces are less stories than they are musings. And I don't mean meditations. I mean musings in the sense that each exists as an unraveled thought. The idea of an exchange, a collaboration, an interaction. Equally, they are just unsettling enough that I would advise you to avoid reading them at bedtime. It's the sort of content that tends to seed unpleasant dreams. (And, frankly, if it's unpleasant dreams you're after, I might lean toward the short materials of David Foster Wallace or Patricia Highsmith, whom I've found far more capable in terms of disturbance.)
She does leave me curious about those plays. These smaller works, though, simply weren't for me.
These ten pieces are less stories than they are musings. And I don't mean meditations. I mean musings in the sense that each exists as an unraveled thought. The idea of an exchange, a collaboration, an interaction. Equally, they are just unsettling enough that I would advise you to avoid reading them at bedtime. It's the sort of content that tends to seed unpleasant dreams. (And, frankly, if it's unpleasant dreams you're after, I might lean toward the short materials of David Foster Wallace or Patricia Highsmith, whom I've found far more capable in terms of disturbance.)
She does leave me curious about those plays. These smaller works, though, simply weren't for me.
August 17, 2024
‘Have you ever had that weird feeling in an airport when you panic and don’t know what to do? One screen says Departures and another screen says Arrivals and for a moment you don’t know which one you are. You think, am I an arrival or a departure?’
-Pillow talk
Nesta colecção publicada há cerca de 10 anos, Deborah Levy nem sempre atinge a fasquia a que me acostumou, mas as impressões digitais dela estão visíveis nestes 10 contos, embora algumas se destaquem mais claramente do que noutros.
Black Vodka-4*
Shining a Light-4*
Vienna-3*
Stardust Nation-4*
Pillow Talk-5*
Cave Girl-5*
Placing a Call-4*
Simon Tegala’s Heart in 12 Parts-3*
Roma-3*
A Better Way to Live-3*
Dos já clássicos mergulhos em lagos e piscinas, às habituais viagens rumo a sul, que desta vez incluem o Algarve…
It has been raining in Portugal for three days and nights. She walks down the sea with her husband. The drenched succulents and rotting fishing boats have the same atmosphere of betrayal she experienced in her dream. She stares into the shallows of the salt lagoon. A stork stands in the mud. And another.
- Roma
…abordando no seu típico estilo febril temas como a saúde mental, a traição, a perda e a solidão, sobressaem nestas histórias a estranheza das relações humanas e a aceitação ou rejeição da nossa própria forma de ser.
She said she wants a sex change.
‘What, into a man?’
‘No, into a woman.’
‘But you are a woman.’
‘I want to be another kind of woman.’
‘What does that mean, Cass?’
‘I want to be light-hearted,’ she begins, and already the worry lines on her forehead come into focus. ‘I want to be airy’. (…) She chews her nails for a while and then says, ‘I want to be a pretend woman.’
-Cave Girl
-Pillow talk
Nesta colecção publicada há cerca de 10 anos, Deborah Levy nem sempre atinge a fasquia a que me acostumou, mas as impressões digitais dela estão visíveis nestes 10 contos, embora algumas se destaquem mais claramente do que noutros.
Black Vodka-4*
Shining a Light-4*
Vienna-3*
Stardust Nation-4*
Pillow Talk-5*
Cave Girl-5*
Placing a Call-4*
Simon Tegala’s Heart in 12 Parts-3*
Roma-3*
A Better Way to Live-3*
Dos já clássicos mergulhos em lagos e piscinas, às habituais viagens rumo a sul, que desta vez incluem o Algarve…
It has been raining in Portugal for three days and nights. She walks down the sea with her husband. The drenched succulents and rotting fishing boats have the same atmosphere of betrayal she experienced in her dream. She stares into the shallows of the salt lagoon. A stork stands in the mud. And another.
- Roma
…abordando no seu típico estilo febril temas como a saúde mental, a traição, a perda e a solidão, sobressaem nestas histórias a estranheza das relações humanas e a aceitação ou rejeição da nossa própria forma de ser.
She said she wants a sex change.
‘What, into a man?’
‘No, into a woman.’
‘But you are a woman.’
‘I want to be another kind of woman.’
‘What does that mean, Cass?’
‘I want to be light-hearted,’ she begins, and already the worry lines on her forehead come into focus. ‘I want to be airy’. (…) She chews her nails for a while and then says, ‘I want to be a pretend woman.’
-Cave Girl
April 18, 2023
In looking over other reviews, I see I'm in a minority with this book. I found it a lot of fun. It took about 2 hours to read so probably not great literature but wonderful vignettes of a variety of people trying to figure out how to make a meaningful and somewhat happy life for themselves despite the apparent impossibilities of doing so.
I particularly enjoyed the title story in which an advertising executive with a hump is looking for ways to triumph over his growing up years in which he was bullied--and still, despite his career success--is still pitied. He's willing to settle for bites of happiness--enough to get by on.
Also striking is "Cave Girl": a woman has a sex change not to become a different gender but to become a different kind of woman.
Levy pleases me with her imagination and wit. In reading other reviews I found many valid criticisms but I found the book to be a great pleasure and sometimes that's what I'm wanting when I read.
I particularly enjoyed the title story in which an advertising executive with a hump is looking for ways to triumph over his growing up years in which he was bullied--and still, despite his career success--is still pitied. He's willing to settle for bites of happiness--enough to get by on.
Also striking is "Cave Girl": a woman has a sex change not to become a different gender but to become a different kind of woman.
Levy pleases me with her imagination and wit. In reading other reviews I found many valid criticisms but I found the book to be a great pleasure and sometimes that's what I'm wanting when I read.
June 21, 2018
I did not enjoy this short collection of short stories. I'll start off by saying maybe it's me, I may not be the intended audience for this type of collection. I very much got the same vibe from this as I feel when I see "art for the sake of art" that feels like there's not much deeper meaning.
This felt a bit pretentious to me, like it was attempting to be trendy and cultured but really fell short. Levy has excellent prose and her writing was great, but the stories left me wanting. I really feel like they weren't even short stories but little vignettes that didn't actually start or end anywhere discernible. I would get to the end of each story and while I was impressed linguistically the 'plots' and characters were sub-par at best.
I understand the subtlety of these stories, and I see the merit in Levy's writing. However, this was just not my cup of tea.
This felt a bit pretentious to me, like it was attempting to be trendy and cultured but really fell short. Levy has excellent prose and her writing was great, but the stories left me wanting. I really feel like they weren't even short stories but little vignettes that didn't actually start or end anywhere discernible. I would get to the end of each story and while I was impressed linguistically the 'plots' and characters were sub-par at best.
I understand the subtlety of these stories, and I see the merit in Levy's writing. However, this was just not my cup of tea.
January 3, 2019
3.5. As others have suggested, the story just isn't Levy's strong suit. Because she writes such fabulous sentences it's impossible not to appreciate the style but her characters - what the best of her stuff, even the non-fiction, is all about - feel a bit incongruous, out of place and provocatively under-served (which seems to be what the raves like).
December 18, 2018
I can't think of anything telling to say about this one - in retrospect I should have written the review before reading the first 100 pages of the Francis Plug, which is very different! I enjoyed reading these poetic and elliptical stories, but in retrospect it is difficult to say why...
November 11, 2025
When I need a bit of comfort, I can always reach for one of Levy’s books, like this one (a collection of ten short stories). It may not be her best work, but it’s still a thoroughly enjoyable read.
Read
February 2, 2016I am going to again shy away from the star system.
And let this book speak for itself.
BLACK VODKA (first story of the collection. An excerpt)
At that moment I drop the silver fork in my right hand. It falls noiselessly to the carpet and bounces before it falls again. I bend down to pick it up and because I am nervous and have downed too much vodka, I start to go on an archaeological dig of my own. In my mind I lift up the faded rose-pink carpet of the Polish Club in South Kensington and find underneath it a forest full of wild mushrooms and swooping bats that live upside down. This is a Polish forest covered in new snow in the murderous twentieth century. At the same time, in the first decade of the twenty-first, I can see the feet of customers eating herrings with sour cream two metres away from my own table. Their shoes are made from suede and leather. A grey wolf prowls this dark forest, its ears alert to the sound of spoons stirring chocolate-dusted cappuccinos in West London. When it starts to dig up an unnamed grave that has just been filled with soil, I do not wish to continue with this mental excavation, so I pick up the fork and nod at Lisa, who has been gazing at the lump on my back as if staring through the lens of a microscope.
The rain tonight is horizontal.
SHINING A LIGHT (story two, an excerpt)
When they finally arrive at the lake that was once a mine, the green water is still and flat. Alice thinks it might have some sort of force that will suck her deep into the earth and make her disappear like her lost suitcase. Jasna lends her a swimming costume but Alice takes her time getting changed. She folds her blue dress carefully and then places it on a rock. Everyone is in the water, except for Mr Composer who refuses to swim and sits on the same rock as her dress, buttoning up his jacket and shivering. When he catches Alice’s eye he shrugs his shoulders and wryly translates the sign at the entrance to the lake. He tells her it says, ‘DANGER! NO SWIMMING!’ He watches her climb down the clay path and dive into the water. It is very cold and she cannot feel her legs. Adrijana and Jasna have swum out to the centre of the lake where it is deepest. They have pinned up their brown hair and swim calmly and slowly together like the swans on the Vltava. After a while they turn on their backs and stare at the sky.
Alice climbs out of the water and sits dripping wet next to Mr Composer or Alex or whoever he is. He hands her a plastic carrier bag. Inside it is a heavy square of cake. He explains that it is baklava made by his mother who he has just returned from visiting in Belgrade. It is not like the baklava Alice is used to because it’s heavy like bread. He takes out his mobile and Alice hears him say, ‘I’m at a lake outside Prague with Alice who is from Britain, which is why I am speaking to you in English. She wants me to tell you she likes your cake.’
VIENNA (story three, excerpt)
She is middle Europe, he thinks. She is Vienna. She is Austria. She is a silver teaspoon. She is cream. She is schnapps. She is strudel dusted with white icing sugar. She is the sound of polite applause. She is a chandelier. She is a velvet curtain. She is made from the horn of deer found deep in the pine forests of middle Europe. She is spun from money. She smells of burnt sugar. She is snow. She is fur. She is leather. She is gold. She is someone else’s property. He holds out his arms, inviting her back to her own bed, inviting middle Europe to share her wealth, to let him steal some of her silver, to let him make footprints across her snow and drink her schnapps.
Magret ignores his invitation to return to his thin white arms.
STARDUST NATION (the beginning)
Good morning.
The London dawn. The light. The birds. The car alarms. The agitated men and women waiting for buses that don’t arrive. Does anyone still say ‘Good morning’ in the breezy manner of 1950s black-and-white English films? When I was five years old my mother employed a Dutch tutor to teach me mathematics and biology. She definitely had a breezy morning manner when she walked into the nursery in her high white leather shoes.
‘Goedemorgen, little Thomas! How is your heartbeat today?’
PILLOW TALK (two seemingly small lines)
‘Why do people always say “I love you” in a sad voice?’ Pavel smiles in the special way that shows his gold tooth.
‘I’ve never understood why,’ Ella replies.
CAVE GIRL (this story is perhaps one with the least strength. There is not much holding it together and it threatens at every moment to crumble into dust. But there is still beauty in it, and things that will remain a mystery in the way that only short fiction can do. What I am setting down here is only half a sentence.)
When she speaks it’s like she’s trailing the tips of her fingers across the surface of a swimming pool...
PLACING A CALL (excerpt from the first few paragraphs. Even the first sentence gives a little jolt. This is the way to start a story. With a jolt, a little humor, and some mystery.)
You are telling me something I don’t want to hear. You are telling me the honest truth. We are standing in the garden and it is dusk. There are rain clouds in the sky and midges and someone is planting a rose bush in the garden next door. The telephone is ringing.
The telephone is ringing. I run into the house and pick up the receiver. The telephone is pressed against my ear, someone is calling and I am answering. I am saying hello into hard black plastic but I hear the dial tone and the ring tone happening at the same time. Someone is missing. Someone is trying to get through. And then I remember there is a bird in the garden that imitates a telephone when it sings. I can see it now in the tree in the garden where you are telling me the honest truth. It is singing in an old-fashioned ring tone, it is singing like a land line. I run back into the garden.
We are standing in the garden and it’s autumn and there’s a bird in the tree that imitates a telephone when it sings. Your hair is silver but you are not old...
SIMON TEGALA'S HEART IN 12 PARTS (yes!)
It was an electrical event.
ROMA (again begins with a jolt and a mystery. This isn't the best of stories, but she does something interesting and fantastically skillful with drama and tenderness.)
Her husband who is going to betray her is standing inside the city of Roma. She is talking to him over the wall because she is not invited inside. She says, ‘You’ve broken my heart,’ in the way an actress might say it. Standing by the fountain in the centre of Roma is the woman who admires her husband. She walks past him in jeans and trainers. Her neck and cheeks are flushed.
A BETTER WAY TO LIVE (the title place)
...Two green plastic butterflies. They told me she wanted a better way to live...
If you are not intrigued enough to pick up this book, I don't know that there's much more I can do. I highly recommend the book. It's something to read quickly, and then read again slowly. It is full of the wisdom of imperfection, and living moments that leave a little school of question marks in their wake (sailing slowly on the shimmering waters.) I look forward to reading other books by Levy.
And let this book speak for itself.
BLACK VODKA (first story of the collection. An excerpt)
At that moment I drop the silver fork in my right hand. It falls noiselessly to the carpet and bounces before it falls again. I bend down to pick it up and because I am nervous and have downed too much vodka, I start to go on an archaeological dig of my own. In my mind I lift up the faded rose-pink carpet of the Polish Club in South Kensington and find underneath it a forest full of wild mushrooms and swooping bats that live upside down. This is a Polish forest covered in new snow in the murderous twentieth century. At the same time, in the first decade of the twenty-first, I can see the feet of customers eating herrings with sour cream two metres away from my own table. Their shoes are made from suede and leather. A grey wolf prowls this dark forest, its ears alert to the sound of spoons stirring chocolate-dusted cappuccinos in West London. When it starts to dig up an unnamed grave that has just been filled with soil, I do not wish to continue with this mental excavation, so I pick up the fork and nod at Lisa, who has been gazing at the lump on my back as if staring through the lens of a microscope.
The rain tonight is horizontal.
SHINING A LIGHT (story two, an excerpt)
When they finally arrive at the lake that was once a mine, the green water is still and flat. Alice thinks it might have some sort of force that will suck her deep into the earth and make her disappear like her lost suitcase. Jasna lends her a swimming costume but Alice takes her time getting changed. She folds her blue dress carefully and then places it on a rock. Everyone is in the water, except for Mr Composer who refuses to swim and sits on the same rock as her dress, buttoning up his jacket and shivering. When he catches Alice’s eye he shrugs his shoulders and wryly translates the sign at the entrance to the lake. He tells her it says, ‘DANGER! NO SWIMMING!’ He watches her climb down the clay path and dive into the water. It is very cold and she cannot feel her legs. Adrijana and Jasna have swum out to the centre of the lake where it is deepest. They have pinned up their brown hair and swim calmly and slowly together like the swans on the Vltava. After a while they turn on their backs and stare at the sky.
Alice climbs out of the water and sits dripping wet next to Mr Composer or Alex or whoever he is. He hands her a plastic carrier bag. Inside it is a heavy square of cake. He explains that it is baklava made by his mother who he has just returned from visiting in Belgrade. It is not like the baklava Alice is used to because it’s heavy like bread. He takes out his mobile and Alice hears him say, ‘I’m at a lake outside Prague with Alice who is from Britain, which is why I am speaking to you in English. She wants me to tell you she likes your cake.’
VIENNA (story three, excerpt)
She is middle Europe, he thinks. She is Vienna. She is Austria. She is a silver teaspoon. She is cream. She is schnapps. She is strudel dusted with white icing sugar. She is the sound of polite applause. She is a chandelier. She is a velvet curtain. She is made from the horn of deer found deep in the pine forests of middle Europe. She is spun from money. She smells of burnt sugar. She is snow. She is fur. She is leather. She is gold. She is someone else’s property. He holds out his arms, inviting her back to her own bed, inviting middle Europe to share her wealth, to let him steal some of her silver, to let him make footprints across her snow and drink her schnapps.
Magret ignores his invitation to return to his thin white arms.
STARDUST NATION (the beginning)
Good morning.
The London dawn. The light. The birds. The car alarms. The agitated men and women waiting for buses that don’t arrive. Does anyone still say ‘Good morning’ in the breezy manner of 1950s black-and-white English films? When I was five years old my mother employed a Dutch tutor to teach me mathematics and biology. She definitely had a breezy morning manner when she walked into the nursery in her high white leather shoes.
‘Goedemorgen, little Thomas! How is your heartbeat today?’
PILLOW TALK (two seemingly small lines)
‘Why do people always say “I love you” in a sad voice?’ Pavel smiles in the special way that shows his gold tooth.
‘I’ve never understood why,’ Ella replies.
CAVE GIRL (this story is perhaps one with the least strength. There is not much holding it together and it threatens at every moment to crumble into dust. But there is still beauty in it, and things that will remain a mystery in the way that only short fiction can do. What I am setting down here is only half a sentence.)
When she speaks it’s like she’s trailing the tips of her fingers across the surface of a swimming pool...
PLACING A CALL (excerpt from the first few paragraphs. Even the first sentence gives a little jolt. This is the way to start a story. With a jolt, a little humor, and some mystery.)
You are telling me something I don’t want to hear. You are telling me the honest truth. We are standing in the garden and it is dusk. There are rain clouds in the sky and midges and someone is planting a rose bush in the garden next door. The telephone is ringing.
The telephone is ringing. I run into the house and pick up the receiver. The telephone is pressed against my ear, someone is calling and I am answering. I am saying hello into hard black plastic but I hear the dial tone and the ring tone happening at the same time. Someone is missing. Someone is trying to get through. And then I remember there is a bird in the garden that imitates a telephone when it sings. I can see it now in the tree in the garden where you are telling me the honest truth. It is singing in an old-fashioned ring tone, it is singing like a land line. I run back into the garden.
We are standing in the garden and it’s autumn and there’s a bird in the tree that imitates a telephone when it sings. Your hair is silver but you are not old...
SIMON TEGALA'S HEART IN 12 PARTS (yes!)
It was an electrical event.
ROMA (again begins with a jolt and a mystery. This isn't the best of stories, but she does something interesting and fantastically skillful with drama and tenderness.)
Her husband who is going to betray her is standing inside the city of Roma. She is talking to him over the wall because she is not invited inside. She says, ‘You’ve broken my heart,’ in the way an actress might say it. Standing by the fountain in the centre of Roma is the woman who admires her husband. She walks past him in jeans and trainers. Her neck and cheeks are flushed.
A BETTER WAY TO LIVE (the title place)
...Two green plastic butterflies. They told me she wanted a better way to live...
If you are not intrigued enough to pick up this book, I don't know that there's much more I can do. I highly recommend the book. It's something to read quickly, and then read again slowly. It is full of the wisdom of imperfection, and living moments that leave a little school of question marks in their wake (sailing slowly on the shimmering waters.) I look forward to reading other books by Levy.
May 11, 2025
I enjoyed this collection of ten short stories. there was a common theme of tracing histories, on/with the body, and within relationships, and a sense of more general human histories alongside the more personal histories of the characters. Europe especially, cross cultural relationships, relationships and trust and betrayal, family and loss. and recurring inclusions of existing very tangibly in a body, especially the heart and heart sounds.
📚 📖 📚 📖 📚
Black Vodka
🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 +
I was already familiar with this short story from the BBC short story awards from 2010 (iirc the date). I've listened to it several times over the years and always enjoyed it... and did so again 🙂 two people, mutual interest/curiosity, tho perhaps for different reasons (but that doesn't matter), desire.
Shining a Light
🌟 🌟 🌟 +
a nice story of dislocation, on a number of levels... social exploration... homesickness of a sort. a British woman, and a small group of Serbians, in Prague.
Vienna
🌟 🌟 🌟 ++
an encounter/affair between a man and woman... their different relative privileges. their origins - places and language. a Russian man visiting Vienna (from Zurich), at the end of his marriage.
Stardust Nation
🌟 🌟 🌟 +
an upper class man, his Dutch tutor as a child, his present work. a strange call from one of his employees, Nikos. class and violence. performance. memory and identity, empathy and madness.
I didn't especially like the main character or reader, but it was an interesting story.
Pillow Talk
🌟 🌟 🌟 ++
a hotel room in Barcelona, Pavel (Czech) and Ella (British Jamaican). an evening walk and meal. later, an interview in Dublin (Pavel), an encounter in a cafe, and a new lover. his return to London, navigating their existing relationship. the sense of belonging, and/or lack of certainty of it.
Cave Girl
🌟 🌟 🌟 ++
a brother and (older?) sister. rituals. identity and bodily change. not recognising, and also falling in love with, his changed sister. how much is real, and how much a metaphor for adolescence?
(read by the narrator I don't like so much again, but the story was compelling enough).
Placing a Call
🌟 🌟 🌟 ++
"you're telling me something I don't want to know...[ ]... the honest truth". moments of memory and/or future... linked by a bird in the garden, a plant. repetition gives rhythm, a structure that feels like a poem 💙
Simon Tgala's Heart, in Twelve Parts.
🌟 🌟 🌟 +
a relationship between a man and a woman, Simon and Naomi. visa applications. their different words for the same hat. his father. hearts and blood. a new cadillac, sex with another woman... and the end of his relationship with Naomi?
(the "steel crutch" mentioned in passing towards the end felt abit incongruous, metal ones are usually aluminium - this distracted me so much I needed to relisten to the end of the story! I guess it's possible steel was used for a reason, but ?? 🤔)
Roma
🌟 🌟 ++
foresight of the potential end of a relationship... or ?? 🤔
A Better Way to Live
🌟 🌟 🌟
death, loss, grief. imagining a better way to live. "orphans groping for things we're connected to". the starling from the previous story made an appearance? 🙂🐦 memories, global awa personal, situate it nicely.
ends the collection well 🙂
🌟
accessed as an audible audiobook, donated to the RNIB library
narrated by Nicola Barber, Alex Block, Ralph Lister and Alison Larkin.
📚 📖 📚 📖 📚
Black Vodka
🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 +
I was already familiar with this short story from the BBC short story awards from 2010 (iirc the date). I've listened to it several times over the years and always enjoyed it... and did so again 🙂 two people, mutual interest/curiosity, tho perhaps for different reasons (but that doesn't matter), desire.
Shining a Light
🌟 🌟 🌟 +
a nice story of dislocation, on a number of levels... social exploration... homesickness of a sort. a British woman, and a small group of Serbians, in Prague.
Vienna
🌟 🌟 🌟 ++
an encounter/affair between a man and woman... their different relative privileges. their origins - places and language. a Russian man visiting Vienna (from Zurich), at the end of his marriage.
Stardust Nation
🌟 🌟 🌟 +
an upper class man, his Dutch tutor as a child, his present work. a strange call from one of his employees, Nikos. class and violence. performance. memory and identity, empathy and madness.
I didn't especially like the main character or reader, but it was an interesting story.
Pillow Talk
🌟 🌟 🌟 ++
a hotel room in Barcelona, Pavel (Czech) and Ella (British Jamaican). an evening walk and meal. later, an interview in Dublin (Pavel), an encounter in a cafe, and a new lover. his return to London, navigating their existing relationship. the sense of belonging, and/or lack of certainty of it.
Cave Girl
🌟 🌟 🌟 ++
a brother and (older?) sister. rituals. identity and bodily change. not recognising, and also falling in love with, his changed sister. how much is real, and how much a metaphor for adolescence?
(read by the narrator I don't like so much again, but the story was compelling enough).
Placing a Call
🌟 🌟 🌟 ++
"you're telling me something I don't want to know...[ ]... the honest truth". moments of memory and/or future... linked by a bird in the garden, a plant. repetition gives rhythm, a structure that feels like a poem 💙
Simon Tgala's Heart, in Twelve Parts.
🌟 🌟 🌟 +
a relationship between a man and a woman, Simon and Naomi. visa applications. their different words for the same hat. his father. hearts and blood. a new cadillac, sex with another woman... and the end of his relationship with Naomi?
(the "steel crutch" mentioned in passing towards the end felt abit incongruous, metal ones are usually aluminium - this distracted me so much I needed to relisten to the end of the story! I guess it's possible steel was used for a reason, but ?? 🤔)
Roma
🌟 🌟 ++
foresight of the potential end of a relationship... or ?? 🤔
A Better Way to Live
🌟 🌟 🌟
death, loss, grief. imagining a better way to live. "orphans groping for things we're connected to". the starling from the previous story made an appearance? 🙂🐦 memories, global awa personal, situate it nicely.
ends the collection well 🙂
🌟
accessed as an audible audiobook, donated to the RNIB library
narrated by Nicola Barber, Alex Block, Ralph Lister and Alison Larkin.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 17, 2020
Kitap on kısa hikayeden oluşuyor, öyküler ve karakterler arasında herhangi bağ olmamasına rağmen, birbirleriyle ilişkide gibi hissettirip ve elinizden bırakmadan okuma isteği doğuruyor. Levy, insan ilişkileri, aşk, travmalar, çocukluk, kayıp, fiziksel ve ruhsal deformasyonlar ve kayıplar üzerine; mesafeli bir dille ama oldukça yaralayıcı hikayeler anlatıyor. Telefon etmek, Yıldız Tozu Ülkesi, Yastık Sohbetleri ve Roma öyküleri benim favorim oldu.
“Kayıp insanların gürültünün içinde saklanması gereken şehirlerde sessizlik acımasızdır. Ama biz bahçede yağmur altında durmaktayız...
Yağmur her zaman kederi büyütür ve sert şeyleri yumuşatır.”
“Kayıp insanların gürültünün içinde saklanması gereken şehirlerde sessizlik acımasızdır. Ama biz bahçede yağmur altında durmaktayız...
Yağmur her zaman kederi büyütür ve sert şeyleri yumuşatır.”
November 15, 2025
"Liminalite" diye bir kavram var; Türkçesine "eşiktelik" diyebiliriz sanırım. Antropolojide kullanılan bir kavram aslında ama özellikle pandemi sonrası psikolojide de yaygınlaştı. Bir şeylerin bittiği ve sonsuza dek değiştiği ama yeninin henüz kendini inşa edemediği o tuhaf, tekinsiz yerde olma halinin duygusunu tariflemek için kullanılıyor. (Gramsci'yi analım: "Şimdi canavarlar zamanı.") Deborah Levy'nin Siyah Votkası tam da bu eşiktelikte gezinen öykülerden müteşekkil.
Levy ile ilişkimi derinleştirme girişimlerim kapsamında bu kez öykülerine uğrayıverdim. On kısa öyküden oluşan Siyah Votka, sahiden tam uğramalık bir metin. (Yaşayan Otobiyografi serisine doğru gidiyor sanki bu yol bu arada, herhalde yavaş yavaş oraya ulaşacağım, bakalım.)
Birbirinden bağımsız gözüken ama aslında bir tematik kardeşliği olan öyküler bunlar. Uzakta olmak, kimlik, aidiyet, yalnızlık, göç, sevmenin biçimleri gibi tekrarlayan temalarla bağlılar birbirlerine. Karakterlerin her biri silik ve müphem, bu başlangıçta öykülerle ilişkilenmeyi biraz zorlaştırıyor gibi ama kitabı bitirince bir tuhaf duygu bırakıyor insanda. Levy'nin okuduğum iki romanında da aynı uçucu hüznü hissetmiştim, öykülerini de benzer bir duyguyla okudum.
Göç dedim yukarıda, başıma bir silah doğrultulsa ve bu öyküleri tek kelimeyle özetlemem istense herhalde onu seçerdim. Çoğu karakter ait olmadığı bir ülkede veya mekanda, sanki yurtlarını terk etmemişler de yurtları ve dilleri tarafından terk edilmiş gibiler. Şu pasajı mesela alıntılamak isterim, çünkü bence kitaptaki düm öykülerin ortak duygusu burada gizli: "On dakika önce bacaklarını müthiş umutsuz bedenine sarmış olan Orta Avrupa tarafından kullanılmış, aldatılmış, istismar edilmiş, alay edilmiş hissettiğini düşünüyor; ve evliliğiyle aynı zamanda sona ermiş olan yirminci yüzyılı."
Kitaptaki tüm karakterler üç aşağı beş yukarı bu duyguda - yahut bu eşikte diyeyim hatta. Kendi travmasını başkasına aktararak kurtulmaya çalışan bir karakteri anlatan Yıldız Tozu Ülkesi ile cinsiyet değiştirme ameliyatıyla "başka tür bir kadın" olmak isteyen bir kadını anlatan Mağara Kızı öyküleri en sevdiklerim oldu. İşte böyle.
Levy ile ilişkimi derinleştirme girişimlerim kapsamında bu kez öykülerine uğrayıverdim. On kısa öyküden oluşan Siyah Votka, sahiden tam uğramalık bir metin. (Yaşayan Otobiyografi serisine doğru gidiyor sanki bu yol bu arada, herhalde yavaş yavaş oraya ulaşacağım, bakalım.)
Birbirinden bağımsız gözüken ama aslında bir tematik kardeşliği olan öyküler bunlar. Uzakta olmak, kimlik, aidiyet, yalnızlık, göç, sevmenin biçimleri gibi tekrarlayan temalarla bağlılar birbirlerine. Karakterlerin her biri silik ve müphem, bu başlangıçta öykülerle ilişkilenmeyi biraz zorlaştırıyor gibi ama kitabı bitirince bir tuhaf duygu bırakıyor insanda. Levy'nin okuduğum iki romanında da aynı uçucu hüznü hissetmiştim, öykülerini de benzer bir duyguyla okudum.
Göç dedim yukarıda, başıma bir silah doğrultulsa ve bu öyküleri tek kelimeyle özetlemem istense herhalde onu seçerdim. Çoğu karakter ait olmadığı bir ülkede veya mekanda, sanki yurtlarını terk etmemişler de yurtları ve dilleri tarafından terk edilmiş gibiler. Şu pasajı mesela alıntılamak isterim, çünkü bence kitaptaki düm öykülerin ortak duygusu burada gizli: "On dakika önce bacaklarını müthiş umutsuz bedenine sarmış olan Orta Avrupa tarafından kullanılmış, aldatılmış, istismar edilmiş, alay edilmiş hissettiğini düşünüyor; ve evliliğiyle aynı zamanda sona ermiş olan yirminci yüzyılı."
Kitaptaki tüm karakterler üç aşağı beş yukarı bu duyguda - yahut bu eşikte diyeyim hatta. Kendi travmasını başkasına aktararak kurtulmaya çalışan bir karakteri anlatan Yıldız Tozu Ülkesi ile cinsiyet değiştirme ameliyatıyla "başka tür bir kadın" olmak isteyen bir kadını anlatan Mağara Kızı öyküleri en sevdiklerim oldu. İşte böyle.
January 30, 2019
In awe with Levy’s way with words, more so with how she so carefully demonstrates how tiny traumas can snowball into something seismic. Be it an innocuous deformity as in “Black Vodka,” an abusive childhood in “Stardust Nation,” or an aimless self-discovery in “Shining a Light.” These stories are sad but also warm and bright and, man, nothing feels more reaffirming than reading the tribulations of fictional characters who seem so real. When I read Levy, I hear a trace of Sexton in her voice that is comforting. And yeah, that sounds dark, but I love melancholic literature because it’s therapeutic and familiar to me.
March 1, 2017
I have this totally subjective theory that writers who pen both short stories and novels are always better at one form than the other. (Atwood's stories are inferior to her novels; the reverse is true of Carol Shields.) I have to say that this collection of Levy's stories bolsters my theory, failing to compare to her incredible novel Hot Milk. Still, the writing here is lovely, and one or two of them were pretty good. It's still a pick.
May 19, 2019
ilişkiler üzerine çok hoş öyküler... bazen bu ilişkilere karakteri değişen bir ablayla kardeşi, bazen ölmüş bir koca, bazen çok dilli çok ülkeli otel odalarında kaçamak dahil...
özellikle yetimlik üzerine olan son öykü ve baba şiddetiyle ilgili olan öykü çok etkiledi beni.
deborah levy hiç duygusal olmayan cümlelerle çok duygusal anlar kurabiliyor. uzak, mesafeli ama içten öyküler.
özellikle yetimlik üzerine olan son öykü ve baba şiddetiyle ilgili olan öykü çok etkiledi beni.
deborah levy hiç duygusal olmayan cümlelerle çok duygusal anlar kurabiliyor. uzak, mesafeli ama içten öyküler.
March 8, 2013
A disappointment. Because I'm not good at reading short stories or because this is a little on the pretentious side? A little from column a, a little from column b. But, don't take my word for it, you be the judge.
http://wp.me/p20PAS-hc
http://wp.me/p20PAS-hc
February 15, 2024
deborah levy’den okudugum ilk kitapti, diline bayildim. sevgililer gununde iliskiler hakkinda kisa oykulerin oldugu bir kitaba denk gelmek de ayri guzelmis, diger kitaplarini da en kisa zamanda okumak istiyorum
May 11, 2024
Echt perfect boek voor in de trein. I looove Deborah Levy’s schrijfstijl en deze verhalen waren allemaal zo grappig en melodramatisch soms!!! Heel leuk en mooi xxxx
“There is so much of the world to record and classify, it’s hard to know how to find a language for it. So I am going to start exactly where I am now. Life is beautiful! Vodka is black! Pears are naked! Rain is horizontal! Moths are ghosts. Only some of this is true, but you should know that this does not scare me as much as the promise of love.”
“There is so much of the world to record and classify, it’s hard to know how to find a language for it. So I am going to start exactly where I am now. Life is beautiful! Vodka is black! Pears are naked! Rain is horizontal! Moths are ghosts. Only some of this is true, but you should know that this does not scare me as much as the promise of love.”
June 27, 2014
Interesting... on a sentence level, I really enjoyed these stories. This writer has a strong, confident voice. The stories, though, felt more like vignettes which is, certainly, fine. I just wanted more. I also wanted to see more variety from one story to the next. It all read like one long story at times.
The title story is phenomenal.
The title story is phenomenal.
September 27, 2016
Although Levy's prose is always a pleasure to read, I think her forte really belongs with the longer form, rather than these short (sometimes VERY short) pieces. Although all are strange and evocative, they seem to be over before they really build up any steam.
May 7, 2024
hepsi ilginç yaratıcı öykülerdi, "Yıldız Tozu Ülkesi" ve "Mağara Kızı" özellikle ilginçti...
September 9, 2024
I adore Levy's prose. It also works best for me in audio.
December 21, 2015
I think the fact that I read, nay demolished, this in one day says a lot, even though it is short as books go, I really could not put it down. Each story portrays a different aspect of love and loss that will touch every reader on their level depending on their own experiences and heartbreak.
Black Vodka tells of an outsider advertising executive who discovers that there are people out there who can see past his physical appearance and those who find it and him simply fascinating and the effects this has on our unnamed narrator. The ending allows the reader to add their own stamp by leaving it open to interpretation, be it happy or sad.
Shining a Light follows Alice as she spends time in Prague without her beloved baggage and discovers that in losing it she has opened herself up to experiencing even more than she could've dreamed. Is it possible that she lost more than just physical luggage at the airport, you decide.
Vienna tells of a meeting between ex's and the complexity of the emotion, feeling and attraction that comes with it leading to the inevitable bedroom antics before the final good-bye and the emptiness this leaves.
Stardust Nation shows how the bond between two men, employer and employee, best of friends, can form and strengthen to a point that the one suffers the troubles and sorrows of the other and how this can change both parties involved.
Pillow Talk follows Pavel and Ella as their relationship is tested and changed by the actions of one and the desires of the other and how this can drive people apart, and together, for better or worse.
Cave Girl shows the development of a child into teenage-hood from the view point of her brother and how these changes can be disturbing, terrifying and cause stirrings of unknown and unwarranted feeling. This shows the confusion that engulfs both of the sexes when it comes to those complex teenage years.
Placing a Call is a short tale that takes place in a garden where our narrator struggles to hear and accept the truth of the loss she feels and the implications of this loss. Despite it's short length this is a really poignant story and one that will forever be brought to mind by the sound of an old style telephone.
Simon Tegala's Heart in 12 Parts follows Simon as he falls for Naomi, written in 12 short parts this story shows the ups and downs of new love (lust?) and how this can infiltrate every aspect of a person's being.
Roma is a heartbreaking tale that follows our unnamed narrator as she dreams of her husband leaving her before waking and finding it is true, that deep down her subconscious was preparing and warning her of what was to come, allowing her to preserve some of herself as her world crumbles
A Better Way to Live tells of Joe and Elisa as they move on from their losses in their early years to find a better life, a life filled with those things that they have missed out on. A somewhat uplifting tale despite the low start that shows that you can change your path for the better.
Black Vodka tells of an outsider advertising executive who discovers that there are people out there who can see past his physical appearance and those who find it and him simply fascinating and the effects this has on our unnamed narrator. The ending allows the reader to add their own stamp by leaving it open to interpretation, be it happy or sad.
Shining a Light follows Alice as she spends time in Prague without her beloved baggage and discovers that in losing it she has opened herself up to experiencing even more than she could've dreamed. Is it possible that she lost more than just physical luggage at the airport, you decide.
Vienna tells of a meeting between ex's and the complexity of the emotion, feeling and attraction that comes with it leading to the inevitable bedroom antics before the final good-bye and the emptiness this leaves.
Stardust Nation shows how the bond between two men, employer and employee, best of friends, can form and strengthen to a point that the one suffers the troubles and sorrows of the other and how this can change both parties involved.
Pillow Talk follows Pavel and Ella as their relationship is tested and changed by the actions of one and the desires of the other and how this can drive people apart, and together, for better or worse.
Cave Girl shows the development of a child into teenage-hood from the view point of her brother and how these changes can be disturbing, terrifying and cause stirrings of unknown and unwarranted feeling. This shows the confusion that engulfs both of the sexes when it comes to those complex teenage years.
Placing a Call is a short tale that takes place in a garden where our narrator struggles to hear and accept the truth of the loss she feels and the implications of this loss. Despite it's short length this is a really poignant story and one that will forever be brought to mind by the sound of an old style telephone.
Simon Tegala's Heart in 12 Parts follows Simon as he falls for Naomi, written in 12 short parts this story shows the ups and downs of new love (lust?) and how this can infiltrate every aspect of a person's being.
Roma is a heartbreaking tale that follows our unnamed narrator as she dreams of her husband leaving her before waking and finding it is true, that deep down her subconscious was preparing and warning her of what was to come, allowing her to preserve some of herself as her world crumbles
A Better Way to Live tells of Joe and Elisa as they move on from their losses in their early years to find a better life, a life filled with those things that they have missed out on. A somewhat uplifting tale despite the low start that shows that you can change your path for the better.
April 29, 2023
I love Levy’s writing, and I love this collection of short stories. There isn’t one that I skimmed over or wasn’t enthralled by.
Levy, being Levy, cloaks these stories in repeating images and motifs, all circling around identity, loneliness, ephemeral feelings and places, the mundane parts of living showing themselves to actually be portals for the grand ideas.
This collection is set across Europe: London, Barcelona, Dublin, Prague, Poland, the Algarve coast in Portugal. One character wonders if he is arriving or departing, and a lack of place of belonging, of being in a transitory space, is explored in most of the stories here.
Like all of Levy’s fiction, these stories are work on multiple levels, and like all of Levy’s work, I was spellbound reading it.
All of the stories here are excellent, but I find the following to be exceptional (and I am generally not a fan of short stories):
Stardust Nation
Black Vodka
Cave Girl
Roma
Vienna
Levy, being Levy, cloaks these stories in repeating images and motifs, all circling around identity, loneliness, ephemeral feelings and places, the mundane parts of living showing themselves to actually be portals for the grand ideas.
This collection is set across Europe: London, Barcelona, Dublin, Prague, Poland, the Algarve coast in Portugal. One character wonders if he is arriving or departing, and a lack of place of belonging, of being in a transitory space, is explored in most of the stories here.
Like all of Levy’s fiction, these stories are work on multiple levels, and like all of Levy’s work, I was spellbound reading it.
All of the stories here are excellent, but I find the following to be exceptional (and I am generally not a fan of short stories):
Stardust Nation
Black Vodka
Cave Girl
Roma
Vienna
March 12, 2022
Deborah Levy okumak tanıdık ama unuttuğum duygularla yeniden karşılaşmak gibi. Kitabın önsözünü yazan Michele Roberts bu hissin kökenini benim ifade edemeyeceğim bir şekilde yazmış: “Bu öyküleri okurken bütün o muhteşem farklılıkları ve bilenmezlikleriyle başkalarıyla özdeşleşmenin ne anlama gelebileceği duygusunu genişletmek zorunda kalıyoruz”
September 28, 2024
3,5 ⭐️
Irgendwie tragisch, aber irgendwie so nah am Leben, deswegen noch tragischer. Aber ganz erfrischend mal wieder ein paar short stories weg zu lesen. GaLiGrü aus DüDo ✨🦦
Irgendwie tragisch, aber irgendwie so nah am Leben, deswegen noch tragischer. Aber ganz erfrischend mal wieder ein paar short stories weg zu lesen. GaLiGrü aus DüDo ✨🦦
May 9, 2025
'Placing a call' is one of the most beautiful short stories I've ever read.
I think I'm in love with Deborah Levy
I think I'm in love with Deborah Levy
May 25, 2022
Levy's attention to details and ability to be very precise in her writing fascinate me, but most of the stories turned out to be rather odd and less enjoyable than i had expected. the ones that i loved are 'pillow talk' and 'a better way to live'.
April 16, 2020
Don't be fooled by this slim, 120 page collection. Deborah Levy proves, once again, that she is among the best stylists working today. These stories are so deliberate and confidently written, and I found myself in awe of her writing and completely engrossed.
I've now noticed that Levy seems to repeat certain words, or images through her work, and for the perceptive reader familiar with Levy, you may get a kick out of seeing things pop up in this collection. For example, in her essay, Things I Don't Want to Know, she conjures up the scene of a young soldier saying goodbye to his mother, sister and girlfriend, and this seemingly innocuous image appears in one of the stories here. She does this in The Man Who Saw Everything with words like "zebra crossing"--it's definitely an interesting experiment, and I will keep my eyes open when I get to Swimming Home and Hot Milk to see if this theory holds.
Stardust Nation, Shining a Light, Cave Girl, and Black Vodka were the standout stories for me. A quick read, but the stories are worth repeat readings. 4/5.
I've now noticed that Levy seems to repeat certain words, or images through her work, and for the perceptive reader familiar with Levy, you may get a kick out of seeing things pop up in this collection. For example, in her essay, Things I Don't Want to Know, she conjures up the scene of a young soldier saying goodbye to his mother, sister and girlfriend, and this seemingly innocuous image appears in one of the stories here. She does this in The Man Who Saw Everything with words like "zebra crossing"--it's definitely an interesting experiment, and I will keep my eyes open when I get to Swimming Home and Hot Milk to see if this theory holds.
Stardust Nation, Shining a Light, Cave Girl, and Black Vodka were the standout stories for me. A quick read, but the stories are worth repeat readings. 4/5.
December 9, 2021
This contemporary collection portrays love and loss in ten short stories. Each serve as a profound glance into a life somewhere in the world, with plenty of room for thought and contemplation. This is my first Deborah Levy read. While the writing is effortless and beautiful, I found some of the stories were either tedious or left me wanting more. One of the reasons I avoid short story collections is because it’s so rare to find a group of tales that all bring the same kind of delight and satisfaction. And that’s exactly what I found with Black Vodka. One story caught my attention, then the other lost it, and it feels like an exhausting way to read.
Despite my desire to skip through, I did enjoy the author’s writing style. It’s poetic and lyrical, paints strong images in the mind, and poses questions that stir the heart. Her characters are not overly memorable, but I love the window she provided into different realities across Europe. Since the stories are so short, it’s a collection that could easily be finished in one sitting. With such an engrossing prose, the story should have matched up. But sadly, the spark was missing making this short collection an okay but not wonderful read (or in my case, listen).
Despite my desire to skip through, I did enjoy the author’s writing style. It’s poetic and lyrical, paints strong images in the mind, and poses questions that stir the heart. Her characters are not overly memorable, but I love the window she provided into different realities across Europe. Since the stories are so short, it’s a collection that could easily be finished in one sitting. With such an engrossing prose, the story should have matched up. But sadly, the spark was missing making this short collection an okay but not wonderful read (or in my case, listen).
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