Ledra Street

by Nora Nadjarian

A first collection of short stories by award-winning Cypriot poet and writer Nora Nadjarian. For the title story 'Ledra Street', Nadjarian created a fictional fatal accident whose absurdity mirrors the tragic lack of logic with which a street in Nicosia has been cut in half by the partition of the capital city. The story was Runner-Up in the Commonwealth Short Story Competition in 2001. The stories in Ledra Street range from evocative single lines to sardonic yet compassionate accounts of life in the world's last divided capital. Whether she writes about couples falling in and out of love or recreates the lonely world of the foreign worker in Cyprus, Nora Nadjarian's short stories come straight from the heart. Included in the collection are the award-winning stories 'Spoon Sweet' and 'No-Man's-Land', and a number of the stories have been previously published in literary magazines and other publications in the UK, the United States, India and New Zealand. Nora Nadjarian has already published three collections of poetry and her work has won prizes or been commended in various international competitions, including the Scottish International Open Poetry Competition, the Commonwealth Short Story Competition, and most recently in the Feile Filiochta International Poetry Competition 2005 (Ireland). Her work has been recommended in an article in The Guardian (1st May 2004), on the literature of the new member states of the European Union, where she was described by Julian Evans as - a Limassol-born poet whose work is gaining followers outside Cyprus.A"

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, The World, European Literature

182 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2006

About the author

Nora Nadjarian is an award-winning Cypriot poet and author. She has represented Cyprus at literary events and festivals in Europe and elsewhere, including Frankfurt Book Fair and Dresdner Bardinale.

Her work has been cited or published in the Guardian, the Irish Times and the Telegraph and has also won prizes and commendations in international competitions, including the Commonwealth Short Story Competition, the Féile Filíochta International Poetry Competition, the Binnacle International Ultra-Short Competition and the Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Prize.

A frequent speaker at writing conferences and events, she has been widely anthologised and translated into several languages. Her work deals with the themes of women, refugees, identity, exile, love and loss, as well as the political situation in Cyprus.

Her work was included in A River of Stories, an anthology of tales and poems from across the Commonwealth, Best European Fiction 2011 (Dalkey Archive Press), Being Human (Bloodaxe Books, 2011) , Capitals (Bloomsbury, 2017) and The Stony Thursday Book (Limerick, 2018).

Reviews

[Pedro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una recopilación de más de treinta cuentos, de la vida cotidiana; algunos hacen referencia sobre la situación especial de Nicosia y Chipre, aunque la mayoría tratan sobre relaciones humanas, familiares, de pareja, en general desde una perspectiva femenina.

Ledra Street, que provee el título al libro y al primer cuento, es una calle que, según entiendo, cruzaba casi toda la ciudad de Nicosia, de norte a sur; actualmente se encuentra interrumpida por la partición de la ciudad.

Además de la calidad narrativa (Nadjarian es poeta y se nota), los cuentos son muy buenos, de una gran profundidad y sensibilidad humana, no exenta de humor.

“ 'Woody’, le pregunto, ‘podrías decirme porqué le hiciste eso a Mía?’
‘Porque nunca me entendió’, es su respuesta.
No sé si es sincero. Probablemente no.
¿Somos los hombres alguna vez sinceros sobre nuestras relaciones? ‘¿Es que alguna vez las mujeres comprenden a los hombres?’ le pregunto.
‘Por supuesto!’ responde, sinceramente sorprendido, con los ojos saltando de sus órbitas. ‘Mi madre me entendía. Ya cuando yo tenía tres meses solía mirarme y asentir comprensivamente frente ante mis alaridos. Si, Woody. Si, mi amor, yo te entiendo.’”
(Microcuento Alguna vez los hombres serán sinceros? Alguna vez las mujeres entenderán?)

Un libro muy bueno, para leer de manera intermitente, como suele ser aconsejable con los libros de cuentos.

Nora Nadjarian nació en 1966 en Chipre, una isla en el extremo oriental del Mediterráneo, en la que convivían poblaciones de cultura griega (cristianos) y turca (musulmanes). Con los eventos de 1974, la isla (incluyendo su capital, Nicosia) quedó dividida en una parte turca y una parte griega, con tendencia a la separación de ambas comunidades.

[Kyriakos Sorokkou]

Τελευταίο βιβλίο του Γενάρη

Το πρώτο και το τελευταίο βιβλίο του Γενάρη αποτελούσαν την εξαίρεση

τα ενδιάμεσα βιβλία επιλέχθηκαν από μαθητές μου και δεν είχα ξαναδιαβάσει

το πρώτο ήταν η Περηφάνια και η Προκατάληψη και επιλέχθηκε άκρως ληξιαρχικά

διότι το πρώτο βιβλίο που με συντροφεύσε στην πρώτη νοσηλεία της χημειοθεραπείας ήταν το πρώτο
μυθιστόρημα της Τζέιν Όστεν

και έτσι αποφάσισα τη νέα κάνσερ φρι χρονιά να κάνω την αρχή με το δεύτερο της Τζέιν Όστεν

***
το συγκεκριμένο και τελευταίο βιβλίο του Γενάρη είναι η πρώτη συλλογή διηγημάτων της Αρμενοκύπριας Νόρας Ναντζαριάν

πολλά από αυτά τα διηγήματα είναι σε στυλ flash fiction δηλαδή 1 - 2 σελίδες ακόμα και μισή σελίδα που τελειώνουν πάρα πολύ γρήγορα.

και είναι περισσότερο σκηνές πάρα ιστορίες.

πολλά τα ξεχνάς πριν καν προλάβεις να μπεις στο κλίμα.

δύο από αυτά, τα εκτενέστερα, ασχολούνται με Αρμενοκύπριους.

κάποια είναι μικρές σκηνές από τη ζωή των Κύπριων στην παλιά πόλη της Λευκωσίας.

και γενικά ασχολούνται με θέματα που απασχολούσαν την Κύπρο αρχές του 21ου αιώνα.

Το άνοιγμα των οδοφραγμάτων σχέσεις των δυο κοινοτήτων οι μετανάστες η παράδοση μαζί με το σύγχρονο.

Διαβάζονται εύκολα αλλά θα ήθελα να είναι λίγο πιο μεγάλης έκτασης για να μπω καλύτερα στο θέμα.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful collection of short stories that reflect the Cypriot experience.

[Kata Bitowt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Šiemet nusprendžiau pirkti vietines knygas kelionėse. Metus pradėjau nuo Kipro ir baigiu poetės kiprietės knyga.

Labai patiko trumpų istorijų teksto poetiškumas, buvo malonu skaityt.
Buvo pora juokingų vietų. Bet šiaip istorijos tokios netikėtai liūdnos, kad galvojau 'nu ir kam čia dabar taip reikėjo?'. Važiuoju autobusu, skaitau ir nuliundu, nu ir kam?
Bet gal toks ir yra Nikosijos vajbas, tam tikra prasme. Neišsprendžiamas, limbo virtęs buiteku, sulaužęs daug žmonių likimų.
Tai galiausiai džiaugiuosi susipažinus su Kipro literatūra.

[Maud (reading the world challenge) · Rating 3 out of 5]

[#83 Cyprus] As is usual with short stories, I liked some more than others. There were some very good ideas, and a few of the stories that focused on politics made me realize how ignorant I am on the conflict between Greece and Turkey on the island. The writing style was poetic with a few stunning parts although you could tell that English isn't the author's first language.

[Christos · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pleasant read and it definitely hit home. Not a big fan of the writing style though.

[Rosamund · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some excellent stories in this collection. I was particularly intrigued by the ones that explore living in the divided city of Nicosia. But others did not sing for me.

[hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

i hated the love stories and the stories that were literally two sentences long but the others were interesting

[rena · Rating 3 out of 5]

finishing this little book i am full of mixed feelings.
i know i definitely liked it but then im not sure,cause i don’t even know if i understood correctly the depth of it.

there is no question that the writing was beautiful.confusing and messy at some parts,but beautiful nonetheless. some poems and some stories felt too complicated,too out of my reach for me to understand. but i also found parts of this book that i enjoyed a lot. reading them and experiencing everything the writer described•melancholy,longing,nostalgia,pessimism,hope,love,loss.

there is something very confusing about this book.
i don’t know what else i need to say other than that it filled me with emotions and took me through different places,different situations,different people with their complicated thoughts and feelings and pasts. even though there were parts of the book that exhausted me while reading them or didn’t make me feel connected to them,understand them and appreciate them in the fullest,it was a good book that i mainly enjoyed and felt impacted by.
i would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes poetry,every day stories and aspects of life described in both a realistic and romanticised way. 3.5 stars🤍

[John Benson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up at the Moufflon Bookshop along the wall that separates North and South Nicosia in Cyprus. I wanted to buy a book that captured life in this divided country well and this book of 30+ short stories seemed to capture it well. We had just come off Ledra Street, the main pedestrian entrance into Turkish North Nicosia and Cyprus. The author is mainly a poet and the stories are mainly about 3-5 pages in length, but capture life in this city and country well. A few stories never grabbed me, as so often happens in short story collections, but still, I found it to be a strong overview of life in this country we had enjoyed visiting

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Global Read Challenge 51: Cyprus

I've never read anything from Cyprus and these stories were a great introduction. She really captures the pain of living in a divided city. Some of the stories were quite short and poem like. Like with every short story collection some are better than others, and there was a fair amount of repetition of themes.

[Anna Ruth FL · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 I enjoyed the stories that gave me insight about living on Cyprus ( such as the title story, The Cyprus Problem, The Dinner Party - with references to Cypriot football, and Guided Tour), but I wish there were more of them in the collection. New to me word- Kafenion a traditional Greek Cafe/Coffeehouse.

[Karina Montalvo · Rating 2 out of 5]

NOTA: No leí este libro, pero Goodreads no tiene su poesía. Poemas muy ligeros sobre migración, pero con metáforas muy simples: agua, barcos, aire, etc. Quizá en el idioma original se aprecian más las figuras.

[Athena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sublime

[Miriam Pirolo · Rating 5 out of 5]

With regards to content, the stories in 'Ledra Street' are very different from one another but through the poetic use of the language, they stylistically complement each other. The author discusses contemporary subjects of which some are political, but you will find these mostly at the beginning of the collection. The rest of the stories narrates everyday events or accounts which can't really be bound to a certain moment in time.
I especially liked 'No-Man's-Land', 'My Silent Life', 'Coffee Cup', 'Okay, Daisy, Finish' and 'The Haiku Writer', stories which reflect the magic hidden in the most banal moments of our life, e.g. the idea that a beautiful artistic scene can be found anytime and anywhere.

[Konrad Plechowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some stories I really like, but just a bit too many that left me indifferent or confused. It's a poetic prose, very nostalgic or melancholic, but the message simply got lost sometimes for me. Though there are some great ones: Okay Daisy Finish, Dinner Party, A Man of Principle, to name my favourite..