LiveFromSofia

by Alexander Shpatov

#LiveFromSofia

Twentieth-century masters of the short story – Yovkov, Elin Pelin, Radichkov – perfectly captured the spirit and voice of rural Bulgaria; as their twenty-first century heir, Alexander Shpatov offers a brilliant take on urban Bulgaria, told in the unmistakable inflection of a hardcore Sofia native. #livefromsofia brings to life not idyllic villages and pastures, but looming monuments and underground labyrinths, back alleys and main boulevards, gray panel-block apartment complexes, as well as the hoodie-bedecked kids loitering around their entrances. With these stories, Shpatov helps all of us Sofiaphiles put our finger on why we love this strange and contradictory place and experience the 2.0 version of this city as never before.
Angela Rodel, translator

A sense of a city, a clever cartography via new languages and networks – this is what Alexander Shpatov’s stories draw us into. The best of them, such as “Yellow Brick Road,” “Panel-Block Church,” “Wise Men from the East Take OK Supertrans” and others easily mix fiction with reality, urban legends with new reports, they move past Five Corners, the National Theater, Youth II… The city, of course, is Sofia. As we would like to read it. A city with stories. And with legends.
Georgi Gospodinov, author of "Natural Novel"

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Wishing you pleasant moments with our e-books,
Colibri Publishers

Genres: Bulgaria

176 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 13, 2014

Reviews

[Костадина Костова · Rating 4 out of 5]

По принцип не съм фен нито на късия разказ ( О. Хенри е изключението), нито особено на съвременните български автори. Толкова разочарования съм натрупала по втората тема, че изобщо нямах очаквания от този сборник. Но се оказах в грешка, изказът е приятен и адекватен, а самите разкази са интересни и се целят директно в трудните въпроси без отговори. Не съм фен и на начина, по който бирата се е намърдала като пресечна точка на въжделенията, социалният ни контекст, икономическият ни двигател и какво ли още не в общестовото ни. Затова и не ме грабна корицата, но успях да я забравя, наслаждавайки се на тези кратки градски.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories about the urban jungle of Sofia especially after having had a few months to explore the city and connect a bit with Bulgarians. The fact, though, that yet another Eastern European city claims to be strange and controversial, made me laugh. I seem to remember these exact same adjectives from elsewhere.
I would love to find out about the origins of some of the stories as - news, gossips, urban legends? - I don't imagine they are just made up!

[Fleur Arkesteijn · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s an interesting read in the sense that the author feels free to experiment. It’s a refreshing way of meandering through mostly fictional stories. My favorite story from the book was “princesses from Slaveykoy”. To be honest I didn’t really care for the other ones.