Der sterbende See

by Abdishamil Nurpeissow, Abdizhamil Nurpeisov

389 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Samantha]

That was intriguing. Unfortunately, the German translation read quite awkward and dated in places, but the story was interesting. Shadiger, fisherman and main character, is witness and victim of the ecological changes of the Aral Sea. Not only is he caught in the difficulties of sustaining his livelihood, conflict with others surrounding the future of the Aral Sea, but in parallel to losing his heritage, he's losing his wife to Asim, who represents the big cities, modernity, "progress", and therefore the cause for the destruction of Shadiger's life (with the Aral Sea of course being impacts by climate change, man-made dams and hydrological changes, and land use changes). There was a big focus on the small occurrences of Shadiger's daily life, the people he meets (some of which were frankly crazy), and the ins and outs of his existence between the lake and his family life.