Immortal Love

by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya

A complete collection of short fiction by the award-winning author of The Night captures the lives of women as they search for love, living space, and money, and cope with their children, family strife, and the problems of aging in Soviet Russia.

Genres: Short Stories, Russia, Russian Literature, Fiction, Literature

348 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Ludmilla Stefanovna Petrushevskaya (Russian: Людмила Петрушевская) is a Russian writer, novelist and playwright.

Her works include the novels The Time Night (1992) and The Number One, both short-listed for the Russian Booker Prize, and Immortal Love, a collection of short stories and monologues. Since the late 1980s her plays, stories and novels have been published in more than 30 languages. In 2003 she was awarded the Pushkin Prize in Russian literature by the Alfred Toepfer Foundation in Germany. She was awarded the Russian State Prize for arts (2004), the Stanislavsky Award (2005), and the Triumph Prize (2006).

Reviews

[Robert Morgan Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

LP is one of my favorite writers. Haven't read her novels--though this early collection gives me a possible window into her style: long, unbroken paragraphs that sometimes border on dithering, but for the most part--especially the final 1/3 of the collection--show a sharp mind for detail and concision, foreshadowing the masterpieces to come (There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby and There Once Lived a Girl Who Seduced Her Sister’s Husband and He Hanged Himself). This collection is for devoted fans like myself. However, those two more recent collections should be read by everyone. One of Russia's greatest authors--THE heir to Chekhov. Evan more so than Nabokov.

[Fríða Þorkelsdóttir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ljúdmíla Petrúshevskaja!!!

[Hulda Kristín Hauksdóttir · Rating 2 out of 5]

flott en bara ekki my cup of tea

[Ísak Regal]

Bókin var alveg skemmtileg á köflum þó að efnistök sagnanna væru niðurdrepandi. Hér er fjallað um líf kvenna og karla í Rússlandi, ástir þeirra og súr örlög, framhjáhöld, slúður, drykkju- og skepnuskap, leiða, ofbeldi og fleira. Sögurnar eru sagðar blátt áfram og ekki mikið staldrað við til að sýna vorkunn og aldrei ber á votti af tilfinningasemi. En það er ekki þar með sagt að tónninn sé íronískur eða kaldur, þvert á móti, hér fá allir að vera litnir samúðarfullum augum.
Sögurnar eru flestar sagðar án samræðna sem ég myndi yfirleitt ekki mæla með en það virðist virka fyrir Ljúdmílu Petrúshevskaju. Setningnarnar eru langar en flæða vel og það koma fyrir ótal margar persónur án þess að nokkur þeirra sé mikið í brennidepli. Það er eitthvað hrífandi við hversu blygðunarlaus höfundur er þegar hann lýsir bágum aðstæðum einstæðra mæðra, framhjáhaldi, breyskleika og ömurlegum lifnaðarháttum. Þetta er allt saman trúverðugt og það er aldrei farið yfir línuna eða haldið aftur af sér. Þetta er þó ekki framúrskarandi verk í mínum augum þó að það sé áhrifamikið og veiti eflaust góða innsýn í líf þessa fólks. Ég myndi til dæmis ekki vilja lesa bókina aftur og löngun í endurlestur er að mínu viti ágætis mælikvarði á gæði verka.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

from the story "The Adventures of Vera":

"On these occasions the subject of the conversation was invariably love, because what else can girls of eighteen talk of amongst themselves! Of course they can talk about films, and sport, and books, and the weather, and their mothers, and money, and about the awful things that happen out there on the street, and about the hatefulness of injustice and treachery; and about childhood, and how tired they get, and how their legs ache and how stuffy it is, and about the shady goings-on at work. In fact, whatever others find to talk about, they do too; and there's no concealing that girls of eighteen are just the same as other people. They differ only in one respect – they talk a great deal about love and relationships, interrupting, analyzing, using their intuition or shutting their eyes to things, confiding and weeping, and, finally, acquiring through these conversations a certain toughness in life, which in due course seals their mouths and leaves them alone with themselves, somehow or other to fight their lone solitary fight."

[Skuli Saeland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Afskaplega skemmtilegt smásagnasafn. Margar sagnanna voru með þeim stystu sem ég hef lesið, einungis tvær blaðsíður. En engu að síður kröftugar og áhrifaríkar. Petrushevskaya var ekki í náðinni hjá gömlu valdstjórninni í Kremlin og rit hennar voru því ekki gefin út fyrr en Sovétríkin liðuðust undir lok en hún er nú talin á meðal fremstu rithöfunda Rússa.
Sögurnar fjalla um venjulegt fólk og ólíkar aðstæður þess, oft að miskunnarlausu bersögli og innsæi. Bókinni lauk of snemma og ég vil lesa meira eftir Petrushevskayu.

[Ariadna73 · Rating 5 out of 5]

As its title indicates; this is a book about love. There are stories about different kinds of love: love from a son to his mother; despite the fact that she manipulated and betrayed him in so many ways even when things most mattered to him in his infancy. There are other curious tales such as the woman who falls inlove with a midget coworker; and the young girl who was obsessed with telling the story of her life to everyone (kind of what happens nowadays with twitter and facebook LOL)

[Tamar Nagel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent translation. I could rave about Ludmilla Petrushevskaya for hours, but I'll keep this short. She is absolutely wonderful, with an uncanny skill for capturing emotions and the so-called mundane life in a non-trivial way. I savored each one of her stories; she is a master storyteller, first and foremost. It is rare to come across such talent, and I feel blessed for having read her work.