Къщичка сред блатата

by Evgenii Ryss, Leonid Rakhmanov, Евгений Рис

200 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1957

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit that I’m fairly proud of myself for reading my first book in another language. But not only can I not remember how I came to possess it, I seem to be the only person on Goodreads who’s read or even listed it. It was first published, according to the copyright page, in 1968, in Baltimore MD, by something called Friends School, and seems to have been written specifically for students of Russian.

The story is narrated, at least initially, by a young girl whose father, it seems, is a well-known scientist. Events in the first few chapters moved jarringly fast; by the end of chapter 3, it is the summer of 1941, and she is staying with her father and one of his partners in a remote laboratory, where the scientists are working to produce a vaccine that will work against gangrene, when they’re cut off from the Russian forces by фашисты- the fascists. At least, that's what I think happens. One of the interesting things about reading this book, for me, was trying to tell the difference between what was actually meant to be ambgious, and what seemed to be ambiguous, because I just didn't understand a few words or details. The closest reading experience I can think of in English is Ulyssess, although I got completely lost in Ulyssess.

Anyway, the vaccine disappears. The book then, about halfway through, changes narrators, which it took me about a page and half to realize. After I did realize it, I initially thought that the new narrtor was perhaps the spy who'd stolen the vaccine, telling his life story and explaining his motivations. It seemed unlikely however, especially considering that the book is implicitly fairly sympathetic to the Soviet Union, that the writers would take pains to humanize an enemy of the people. The new narrator, it turns out, is actually a detective who's dispatched to the laboratory to find the spy (or traitor, or, perhaps if the book were a little less polite, сука), and the book turned, kind of abruptly, into a mystery story.

Recommended for students of Russian at what I would estimate to be the high intermediate/low advanced levels. I learned a lot of new vocabulary, but could still follow the story. I am really curious though, about the circumstances under which this book was published, considering that it was 1968. Could it have been part of some program to encourage Russian language acquisition among Americans, and to therefore improve US-Soviet relations? If so, where did the funding come from?

[Íñigo Alfonso Asama · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fem stjärnor till denna underbara sovjetiska deckare! Oj vad den är spännande, den har allt man söker i en bok om tyska spioner och sovjetiska forskare och proletära detektiver! En mysig liten bok att läsa över en kväll.

[Emiliya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Една от любимите ми книги.

[Tanveer Karim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read for intermediate/advanced Russian students. Like the other reviewers, I was very proud to have read a novel completely in Russian, and actually understood the material. Story-wise, it is quite predictable, hence the rating of 3. Nonetheless, I can understand why it is predictable; probably to make it easier for intermediate readers.

[Novelista · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent first read for a student learning Russian.