The Talisman and Other Tales

by Viktoriya Tokareva

Tokareva is one of the first of the post-Glasnost writers to come out of the Gorbachev era and write chillingly and also humorously about real life in Russia, taking ordinary people in extraordinary situations.

Genres: Short Stories

Paperback

First published June 10, 1994

Reviews

[JimZ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had read two of this author’s short stories in a the periodical Granta (Happy Ending [4 stars] and Centre of Gravity [4 stars]), and since I liked them, and since I have a lot of respect for the periodical’s choices, I ordered this book from the internet. I was sort of disappointed with the collection overall, and actually skipped the last short story (The Talisman) because it was rather long (~80 pages) and I really was not enjoying (overall) the 12 stories that had preceded it. Here is a bio from Wikipedia on the author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktori...

And here are the 12 stories that I read in order of appearance in the book and my ratings of them. I think this is the only collection of this author’s works that have been translated into English. My average rating for the collection (minus the last eponymous story) was 2.5 stars.

Her characters were quirky and they often thought or said or acted in funny ways and that was okay, but after a while the lack of interesting plots (in my opinion) started to wear on me.

1. Pirates on the High Sea — 2.5 stars
2. Bad Mood — 2.5 stars
3. The Japanese Umbrella — 2.5 stars
4. The Secret of the Earth — 2.5 stars
5. Coincidence — 4 stars
6. Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo — 3 stars
7. Relatives for Life — 1.5 stars
8. A Cubic Centimeter of Hope — 2.5 stars
9. Happy Ending — 3 stars
10. The Happiest Day of my Life — 2.5 stars
11. A Wee Drop to Calm the Nerves — 1.5 stars
12. Zigzag — 2 stars
13. The Talisman — I did not read

Review:
• https://www.the-independent.com/arts-...

Note: Goodreads has the title wrong...it should be The Talisman and Other Tales. Ha!