Svetlana's Reads and Views

Name of Book: Madang kipup chin/ The House with a Sunken Courtyard Author: Kim Won-Il, translated by Sun Ji-Moon ISBN: 9781564789136 Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press Type of book: South Korea, post Korean war, 1954-1955, daily life, survival, relationships, family, friendships, neighbors, work, selling newspapers, hard-scrabble existence Year it was published: 1988 (translated in 2013) Summary: An occasionally terrifying and always vivid portrayal of what it was like to live as a refugee immediately after the end of the Korean War. An occasionally terrifying and always vivid portrayal of what it was like to live as a refugee immediately after the end of the Korean War. This novel is based on the author’s own experience in his early teens in Daegu, in 1954, and depicts six families that survive the hard times together in the same house, weathering the tiny conflicts of interest and rivalries that spring up in such close quarters, but nonetheless offering one ano...

Name of Book: The Modern Man Author: Cristiane Serruya ISBN: 9781489524553 Publisher: Createspace Type of book: Poetic, philosophic Year it was published: Originally 1988 Summary: A philosophical divagation about the evil banality of daily acts. With this subtitle, the author dedicates herself to dissect a few hours of a man's thoughts, feelings and life, in his non-functioning world, which is habitually regulated by tic-tacs, and the consequences of his previous acts. Awarded with Honors by the Law School, PUC RJ. This work was originally published in Portuguese, in 1988. It was translated by the author herself in 2013. The ebook and paperback is bilingually written in English and Portuguese. Opinion: I honestly have difficulty in deciding where to place this book, or rather what outline to use. It may be fiction, but its a sparse story that reminds me of reading The North China Lover by Marguerite Duras. The story is poetic and somehow when I was readi...

Name of Book: Zoya Author: Danielle Steel ISBN: 978-0-307-56706-2 Publisher: Dell Type of book: Russia, 1917-1970s, America, history, multi generational family saga, Year it was published: 1988 Summary: Against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution and World War I Europe, Zoya, young cousin to the Tsar, flees St. Petersburg to Paris to find safety. Her entire world forever changed, she faces hard times and joins the Ballet Russe in Paris. And then, when life is kind to her, Zoya moves on to a new and glittering life in New York. The days of ease are all too brief as the Depression strikes, and she loses everything yet again. It is her career, and the man she meets in the course of it, which ultimately save her, as she rebuilds her life through the war years and beyond. And it is her family that comes to mean everything to her. From the roaring twenties to the 1980's, Zoya remains a rare and spirited woman whose legacy will live on. Characters: V...

Name of book: Spellbound Author Name: Christopher Pike ISBN: 0-671-68793-X Publisher: Archway Paperback Novel Type of book: Young adult Year it was published: April 1988 Summary: They found Karen Holly in the mountain stream, her skull crushed. There was only one witness to the tragedy, Karen's boyfriend, Jason Whitfield. He said a grizzly had killer her. But a lot of people didn't believe him. They thought Jason had murdered her in a fit of rage. And now weeks have passed, and Jason has another girlfriend, Cindy Jones. And there are the new kids in town. Joni Harper, the quiet English beauty that Cindy's brother, Alex, cannot get out of his mind. And Bala, the foreign exchange student from Africa, the grandson of a powerful shaman. Together they will return to the place where Karen was killed. Some will die. The others will come face to face with a horror beyond imagining. Characters: Although the characters seemed to be two dimensional in my view, t...