A Week Like Any Other: Novellas and Stories

by Natalya Baranskaya, Pieta Monks (Translator)

One of Russia's finest short story writers makes her U.S. debut in this enthralling collection of fiction. Women's lives are the central preoccupation of Natalya Baranskaya: A scientist frantically juggles her professional life with her duties as wife and mother; a woman writer who regrets never marrying is finally glad of it; a delinquent girl is brought before the people's court for her "anti-social" behavior. With candor and satirical wit, Baranskaya captures perfectly everyday realities of family and society.

Genres: Short Stories, Russia, Fiction, Russian Literature, Womens, 20th Century, Historical Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Natalya Vladimirovna Baranskaya (Russian: Наталья Владимировна Баранская; January 31, 1908 – October 2004) was a Soviet writer of short stories or novellas.

Baranskaya wrote her stories in Russian and gained international recognition for her realistic portrayal of Soviet women's daily lives.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Nente · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a bilingual review of the novella "A Week Like Any Other"; the catalog record for the English translation: A Week Like Any Other: Novellas and Stories.
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Долго откладывала чтение этой повести, потому что ожидала расстройства, слёз и тяжести на душе от описания повседневной жизни работающей молодой мамы; совмещать работу и ребёнка и сейчас бывает непросто, а уж 50 лет назад было куда как хуже. И действительно, Оля и её проблемы на этих страницах как живые, и я сочувствовала ей не меньше, чем если бы мы были подружками с универа, а теперь встречались раз в полгода, потому что чаще минутку не выделишь.
Но чего я не ожидала, так это, что многое меня не только расстроит, а не на шутку разозлит. Ужасает как раз то, что персонажи книги считают нормальным и даже хорошим.
Во-первых, у главной героини самый лучший муж по сравнению со всеми коллегами: он действительно её любит, он берёт на себя по крайней мере часть заботы о детях и домашних дел, в конце концов, он не пьёт - и тем не менее для него совершенно неоспоримо, что его работа и научные интересы бесконечно важнее работы жены, хотя квалификация у них примерно одинаковая и в близких областях. Ей и платят меньше за ту же работу небось.
Во-вторых, идеологические семинары! Тот, что попался на "неделе как неделе", мешает Ольге и сделать срочную работу, и накормить вовремя детей, но не пойти на него никак нельзя. И при этом никто из его участников, включая ведущего, не высказывает в обсуждении никакие свои мысли, все говорят по заученному, смысла и пользы в этом действии ноль, и все прекрасно это осознают.
В-третьих, планирование семьи. Для которого у них нет вообще никаких вариантов, кроме аборта. И это я не пытаюсь вызвать благородное негодование по поводу бедных детишек, нет. При адекватной и доступной контрацепции (и информации о ней) большинство что-то соображающих женщин будут пользоваться именно ей, ведь аборт и для здоровья женщины очень вреден. А в советские времена, выходит, выбора совсем не было.
Для меня вполне очевидно, что автор для себя тоже эти моменты выделила и именно поэтому смогла нам их так чётко передать. Читать рекомендую всем и каждой.
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I've been putting this off for quite some time, expecting to be depressed by the faithful description of the working mother's daily round. It's not so easy these days even, while 50 years ago in the USSR it was by all accounts much worse.
And of course I got that. Olga and her exhausting routine really come to life for the reader, and I sympathized with her as I would with one of my own friends (whom I now would see twice a year, if that, and exactly because of the overload).
But I didn't expect that I'd be even more angry than upset at what's described. The very things that the characters accept as normal or even above average made me furious.
1) The main character is far more happily married than her other colleagues. Her husband loves her, shares at least some childcare and domestic tasks, does not drink - and yet this best of husbands has no doubt at all that his job and research are far more important than his wife's, though they have the same qualifications in similar science fields. He suggests, first casually, then seriously, that if she finds it all a bit too much, she should simply abandon work and take care of the home and kids - and everyone thinks it normal. I'll bet she's underpaid as well.
2) The stupid "political talks" every institute employee is expected to attend are the limit. Nobody expects or is expected to say anything they really think, everyone is simply mouthing the words, and yet this nonsensical activity is obligatory. The session falling on the "week like any other" prevents Olga both from completing an urgent laboratory assignment and from taking care of the kids, one of whom gets unwell as a result, but non-attendance is impossible.
3) The only birth control they have available is abortion. I'm almost sick with anger at this one, and not because I'm pro-life; I'm pro-choice, but when adequate contraception is available and affordable (and women are informed), surely most sensible women will take advantage of it. After all, abortion is harmful to the woman herself and should therefore be a last resort. But in 1960s USSR there were no options.
Altogether, I feel certain that Baranskaya realized all these points, which is why she's put them across so clearly. Recommended to every woman living in Russia and everyone who wants to know us.

[Μιχάλης Παπαχατζάκης · Rating 3 out of 5]

Οι "Επτά ημέρες μιας γυναίκας" είναι ένα πολύ ενδιαφέρον ανάγνωσμα και ως προς το ύφος και ως προς το περιεχόμενο. Περιγράφει αυτό που λέει ο τίτλος: μια εβδομάδα μιας νεαρής σπουδαγμένης εργαζόμενης γυναίκας στη Μόσχα το 1969, που έχει δυο πολύ μικρά παιδιά και σύζυγο και τελειώνει τόσο γρήγορα το βιβλίο, όσο και η εβδομάδα.

Πράγματι, η γραφή της είναι αγχώδης. Ο χρόνος που περνάει στη δουλειά της, χωρίς να είναι εντατικοποιημένος (αναφέρει το διάλειμμα της κάθε μέρας και τις ευχάριστες συζητήσεις και τα ψώνια με τις συναδέλφισσές της), παρουσιάζεται με τόσες λεπτομέρειες (είναι ερευνήτρια σε χημικό εργαστήριο) που θέλεις να τελειώνει επιτέλους να πάει σπίτι της. Τρέχεις στους ρυθμούς της. Όταν πάει το βράδυ, έχει να κάνει δουλειές. Ο άντρας της έχει σχολάσει και έχει πάρει τα δυο παιδιά από τον παιδικό και τον βρεφονηπιακό σταθμό και ψιλοβοηθάει. Ψιλό-βοηθάει. Κοιμίζουν τα παιδιά, διαβάζουν στο κρεβάτι και κοιμούνται. Η Μπαράσκαγια βάζει σε κεντρική θέση τον χρόνο, το ξυπνητήρι. Κάθε πρωΐ εφιάλτης με τα ξυπνήματα και τα ντυσίματα, όπου ο άντρας της πάλι ψιλο-βοηθάει. Συνήθως πάει καθυστερημένα στη δουλειά της.
Μέσα σε αυτήν την καθημερινότητα υπάρχει και ένα ερωτηματολόγιο που πρέπει να συμπληρώσουν οι εργαζόμενες για τον προσωπικό χρόνο που τους απομένει, το οποίο σηκώνει συζήτηση μεταξύ τους και θέτει το ζήτημα της εργαζόμενης μητέρας στην ΕΣΣΔ. Το βιβλίο ουσιαστικά παρουσιάζει τη θέση της στην τότε κοινωνία, η οποία ήταν σαφώς καλύτερη από τα προεπαναστατικά χρόνια (την σύγκριση την κάνω εγώ από όσα έχω διαβάσει, όχι εκείνη), αλλά ακόμα υποδεέστερη του άντρα. Και παρουσιάζει και μια καθημερινότητα αρκετά εσωστρεφή, για τα ζευγάρια που έχουν μικρά παιδιά, παρά τις μεγάλες παροχές που τους έδινε το κράτος σχετικά με την φροντίδα τους. Είναι δηλαδή ένα ρεαλιστικό βιβλίο. Δείχνει ρουτίνα. Όντως είναι η εποχή της στασιμότητας, όπως ονομάστηκε, η περίοδος που διαδέχτηκε ήδη από το '50 τους φρενήρεις ρυθμούς της δεκαετίας '30.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly well written, "A Week Like Any Other" follows Olga Voronkova throughout the course of a "normal" week in the life of a woman living in post-Stalinist Soviet Russia. I honestly had to stop reading in the middle of the the story because the stressed nature of Olga's life - and Baranskaia's writing style, which perfectly conveyed the rushed, stressed tone - was beginning to stress me, the reader, out over all the things I had to do in my life. Perfectly relate-able.

[Sergey Dolgov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Памятник советской эпохи. Желательно для прочтения тем, кто говорит "эх какую страну про....". Тоскливое жизнеописание женщины из благополучной среды. Что же тогда было у неблагополучных...

[L.A. Starks · Rating 5 out of 5]

These novellas and short stories are set in Russia though they concern different subjects and different time periods.

I was alerted to this book by a Wall Street Journal feature. It reminded me somewhat of Ayn Rand's We the Living, as well as current discussion about work-family balance.

The lead novella, "A Week Like Any Other" is somewhat of a piece with The Feminine Mystique, although in this 1960s Soviet workers' paradise, the main character already has the equivalent education and job to her husband. Cultural expectations have not caught up to professional ones, so readers experience the protagonist's weariness as she takes on an endless second shift at home. The novella also superbly portrays ins and outs of working in a laboratory, rare for literature.

The other novellas and short stories are good also. "The Petunin Affair," "Lubka," and "The Woman with the Umbrella" were my favorites among these.

[Anetq · Rating 5 out of 5]

Baranskaja beskriver nøgternt en helt almindelig uge i en helt almindelig laborants liv i Sovjet. Og samtidig livet i Sojvet, livet som småbørnsmor, som kvinde og livet i laboratoriet. "Mødreklubbens" fælles indkøbsordning, forsøgene med plastmaterialerne - når det lykkes at få tid ved testmaskinerne, det partipolitiske møde, kampen om at komme med sporvognen og skifte metro, og alle de husmoderpligter der venter den arbejdende kvinde, når hun kommer hjem og har lavet aftensmad til familien. Og Olga er heldig, for hun har en god mand, der ikke drikker og faktisk hjælper til når han ikke er nødt til at læse.
Det lyder måske trist, men hos Baranskaja er 70'er socialrealismen ikke træls, men veludført.

[Dinara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Читается на одном дыхании. Где-то смешная, где-то грустная, где-то перехватывает дыхание. Повесть, которую стоит прочитать. Она не только рассказывает про то, как жили "настоящие" советские женщины, но и доставляет удовольствие ее читателю.

[Kadi Viik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kohustuslik kirjandus feministidele.

[Sonia Crites · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of simple short stories giving you a glimpse at the lives of common people with common struggles. They are well written and entertaining.

[Liza · Rating 5 out of 5]

читала вслух на русском (естественно). отличная повесть о советской матери, любящей, но не успевающей за растущим списком дел.

[Chinchilla_clouds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Η εξαντλητική εβδομάδα μιας εργαζόμενης μητέρας, που προσπαθεί να τα προλάβει όλα, και εν τέλει προλαβαίνει σε επτά ημέρες να στεναχωρηθεί, να θυμώσει, να νιώσει ενοχές, να αγχωθει, να χαλαρώσει και μετά ξανά από την αρχή.

Δυνατό βιβλιαράκι, μιλάει για μια πραγματικότητα πέρα από την σοβιετική Ρωσία του '70, μια πραγματικότητα σύγχρονη και διόλου ξεπερασμένη.

(Πόση εντύπωση μου έκανε, και πόσο γνώριμο ως συναίσθημα ήταν η ντροπή της που "τολμά" να παραπονεθεί. Σε πόσες από εμάς, μας έχουν μάθει ότι άμα έχουμε (σχεδόν) τα απολύτως αυτονόητα, δεν πρέπει σε καμία περίπτωση να είμαστε αχάριστες και να ζητάμε κι άλλα;)

[shalini]

professor: "Exile is the worst kind of punishment. You know there's no Whole Foods in rural Russia"
--
all these stories are about the real struggles of women in Soviet Russia and then there's the single male pov story that's just Petunin being an absolute loser for 50 pages.

[Emma Shi · Rating 4 out of 5]

4

This story was so unfortunate that it made me feel better about my own life. At least I don't have a husband that beats me and don't have to take care of 2 children and an incompetent husband whose basically a 3rd child. All this while working full time as a scientist?? This short story is written like a diary and I was actually getting so anxious reading it. How is all this happening in a week?? Being a Soviet woman seems terrible, but I need to figure out how to be half as productive as one. It's sad how universal and timeless the themes are - even now, this is reality for a lot of women.

[Nora Linnea · Rating 2 out of 5]

En bok som skildrer balansen mellom arbeidslivet og den skjeve rollefordelingen mellom mann/kvinne i sovjet på 60/70 tallet. Kort bok på rett over 100 sider hvor vi blir tatt med på en «vanlig» uke i hovedpersonens liv

[Kevin S · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Fellini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Короткая повесть об обычной неделе обычной советской женщины. Со стороны кажется, что жизнь её сложилась довольно удачно: работающий муж, двое детей, новая трёхкомнатная квартира, интересная работа. Но за этим образом кроется бездна невидимой работы: постоянное "добывание" продуктов и бытовой химии, готовка, стирка, уборка, микроменеджмент детей и всего дома. Ежедневные бытовые подвиги, за которыми героиня уже не замечает себя - молодую симпатичную женщину. Печально всё это.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed these simply crafted stories, both their style and content. Subtly transportative.

[Abbie O'Hara · Rating 3 out of 5]

great insight into women's everyday lives under USSR in the 60s. The double burden is highlighted immensely. The Soviet Union claimed during this period they were one of the most feminist and progressive nations in the world - this wasn't their primary goal, but rather it was said that feminists came along as a result of socialism, helping promote socialism as superior to other economic modes. However, men were not expected to return to the home and raise children or do any domestic work. It is my opinion that women were exploited as an artificial economic labor force in both the home unit (obviously, as always) and, now due to socialism, in the public industrial sphere. The soviet push for rapid industrialization took place during harsh times of famine and war - the country's population was rapidly declining and a desperate need for workers, scientists and engineers engendered the need for women to enter these spaces, but it is a clear feminist is not the ideology which prompted such an environment. Women still were relegated to the domestic sphere due to implicit gender roles which were not challenged outside the immediacy of factory settings. (women were most successful in workplace environments that were already accessible to women such as medicine and nursing, domestic service). They still were responsible for domestic labor and were not given adequate state resources for childcare. These insufficiencies serve as evidence that makes clear the socialist state did not prioritize feminism, but simply needed more laborers and, in the process of women entering the labor force, exploited an oversimplified version of feminism in order to justify socialism and contrast itself with the West and capitalsim as the Cold War set in.

[Ezgi ☕️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found out about this book while reading "Why can't we sleep: Women's new midlife crisis" by Ada Calhoun. The book tells a story in Russia and captures a realistic portrayal of Soviet women's daily lives. Olga Voronkova is a 26-year-old research scientist and a mother of two young kids. She has a full time job- which she seems to be happy with, but she is juggling a full-time career and a seemingly never-ending list of obligations at home. She is often sleep deprived and her alarm clock is used as a good symbolism example- might be why it was translated as "Alarm Clock in the Cupboard" initially in America. Her days begin very early and end very late. Although the novella presents a detailed and realistic view of Soviet women's daily realities in the 1960s, I think the challenge of her life mostly arises due to her husband's lack of help (not enough help to be correct) and living far away from work. I can give my mother's life in Turkey- which was almost the same as this lady- and Turkey is not a communist country. I lived through a similar experience, of course to a lesser degree, when I had small children. I had to work, they had to go to the daycare at a young age which means they were sick most of the day. Maybe men are little more helpful nowadays, but it is almost never enough. On top of that, we have to deal with less job security and less maternity leave and very expensive daycares.

Being women is a tough business. Let's hope our daughters will have better lives than we did..

Other stories were alright. I liked The Purse and The Petunin Affair- but the highlight of the book was "a week like any other".

[Massimina Ferny · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a while since I read any Russian short story collection. And unlike Chekhov which is really 'classic', and Lyudmila Petrushevskaya which is totally this century, Natalya Baranskaya falls comfortably into the modern Soviet era. Her books are very hard to find and if not for the fact that I was just lucky enough to come across a copy I don't think I would have ever discovered her.
These stories are just lovely. The title story, A Week Like Any Other, was published in 1969 in Novy Mir to critical acclaim in Russia, and was translated in 1974 into English (relatively soon, which shows how seminal it was for those times). It describes a hectic week, and the life of a working mother with two kids, how she navigates her problems at work, deals with her kids and then catches precious hours of sleep before her alarm clock rings again. Working women with children are a recurring theme in Baranskaya (who lost her husband in the war and had 2 kids to bring up).
I really liked the other long story, Lubka, about a delinquent who is turned against by her neighbours and hauled to court for unproletariat values, and how she is reformed in the end by those who speak up and still see the goodness of her character.
Baranskaya is a must read for all Sovietophiles and Russophiles --provided you can find her works.

[Amanda K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this collection as part of a Russian Literature course to represent the domestic and female perspective of Soviet Russia. The title story, "A Week Like Any Other," is a novella that outlines a typical week of Olya Voronkova as she attempts to balance her life as a scientist, a wife, and a mother. The novella is written in fast-paced, nearly frantic prose – mirroring the rush of Olya’s life. The expectation for women of this era to divide their efforts between work and home is suggested by the character Maria Matveyevna when she says, “Now listen Olya, you must be proud of yourself, you’re a good mother and a good worker. You’re a real Soviet woman.” (12). Accordingly, a 'real' soviet woman is someone who fulfills both roles, lest she be blamed for the national crisis of declining birthrates. Other highlights from the collection include "The Petunin Affair," "Lubka," and "The Woman with the Umbrella." Another reviewer pointed out how love is often used as the saving force in these stories, and I think that was apt. Ultimately, Baranskaya's collection provides an important and entertaining window into the everyday life of Soviet Russia.

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

With so simple words it describes everything in detail.

We are reading about the week of a regular woman trying to balance her work with her family.

It’s close to a diary but not exactly.

And when a questionnaire is given at her at work she goes into deep thoughts about herself and other women in her workplace.

What’s admiring is the ways she has discovered to save some time either to finish some work or to spend more time with her children.

The book was written in another era but the problem is still the same in the majority of the world. We have low birth rates and women afraid to find out an unexpected pregnancy that will ruin their career.

But are those fears really unjustified?
Can you blame all those brilliant women for remaining single or without giving birth?
Can they forgive themselves for that?

[Andreea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting collection of short stories about women's lives in the Soviet Union describing the intersection of work and life (and how much one can take over the other), what the expectations of a 'Soviet woman' are as well as the relationships between mothers and their children. My favourites were the novella, A Week Like Any Other, which truly exemplifies the attempts at reaching a balance between what's required at the job and at home, the stressful and draining typical week at the end of which there is always more to do (pretty relatable), and Lubka's story, a teenager who is brought to the people's court for demonstrating behaviour incompatible with communal life (she drank, she partied, she invited people over) and the trials and tribulations of her community banding for or against her banishment to Siberia.

[Barbara Waloven · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are 6 short stories and a novella in this book. Stories were written in the Soviet Union by a woman between about 1969 and 1986. The book was first published in the USA in 1990. This collection has a candid and sometimes satirical theme of women’s everyday lives in business, homes, families, society, behaviors, judgments and more. In some ways the stories coincide with women’s lives here in the US during the same timeframe but in other ways they couldn’t be further apart. I found it very interesting that some women’s rights were years ahead of us and that we are losing some of those same rights today. If you think you know the Soviet Union or have a certain image of how women fare, well, this book will open your eyes.

[Zander · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t think I could say that I enjoyed A Week Like Any Other per se but it’s very well written and I think Baranskaya perfectly conveys what she is trying to say about Soviet society’s treatment of women without ever explicitly saying it. The novel could almost be viewed as a psychological/existential horror in my opinion. The way that stress and overworking is almost monotonous, the way that Olga’s husband is kind of awful but she keeps telling herself (and her coworkers keep telling her) that she is lucky to have him, the way that Olga is clearly drowning in her responsibilities but there is no reprieve anywhere in sight, and the way that the title and the ending suggest that this week was entirely unremarkable and her life has been like this for some time and will continue being like this for much longer all add up to a really unsettling and almost horrifying picture of what life was like for an average russian woman in this era

[Alexandra Forsenate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection is just so unbelievably good. I loved the writing, the tone, the characters, her style, it feels so real. Lubka might’ve been my favorite story, but A Week Like Any Other hit closer to home. A true window into the USSR in the 1960s but it’s also just 7 wonderful stories that are really thoughtful.

[Agnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A week like any other was my favorite-years ago I read that women don't write about work, so this is a nice exception. I enjoyed all of the stories and her writing style.

"If the tears stay in your eyes then you can't call it crying".

This is included in the 500 Great books by women.

[Marija · Rating 5 out of 5]

Я люблю эту повесть, но грустно, что ситуация и сегодня как-то похожа. Я имею в виду пробки, общественный транспорт. И в этом беке, женщинам надо выбрать или семью или карьеру. Гендерное равенство улучшилось, но надо ещё бороться за права!

[Amy Raymond · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read only A Week Like Any Other - thoroughly enjoyed!

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so interesting to read! It was a great representation of the burden and responsibilities that women carried.