Three Apples Fell from the Sky in Around the World in 80 Books

Apr 04, 2022 Stil de scriitor rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

O carte care mi-a placut foarte, foarte mult. Si nici nu ma îndoiam ca va fi asa. Ii voi face o recenzie separată pe blog, dar până atunci vreau sa menționez cat de fascinata am fost de atmosfera satului armean si de povestile personajelor. Desi cartea abunda in evenimente tragice, parca am simtit si o unda de speranta. Ma simt de parca m-am intors in copilărie si o vedeam pe bunica la gura sobei, facand mancare, iar afara era viscol si totul albit de zăpadă. Daca nu ați citit cartea, nu ezitati ...more

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Jan 21, 2023 Daisy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: armenia, audio-library-books, readers, aroundtheworld2023

Charming, with lots of food references (and lots of housekeeping).

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Jan 25, 2021 Tony rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: project-fit, translated-fiction, novels, historical-fiction

There is an entire class of fiction that is summed up with the descriptor “moving.” One reads glowing professional reviews of these books, and scrolls through 5-star online reviews gushing over how the work brought the reader to tears. I have yet to encounter writing that has moved me to tears, but that’s just how I’m wired. I suspect that if I were wired differently, this book would probably tick that box. It’s set across several generations in a tiny, isolated, fictional Armenian mountain vill There is an entire class of fiction that is summed up with the descriptor “moving.” One reads glowing professional reviews of these books, and scrolls through 5-star online reviews gushing over how the work brought the reader to tears. I have yet to encounter writing that has moved me to tears, but that’s just how I’m wired. I suspect that if I were wired differently, this book would probably tick that box. It’s set across several generations in a tiny, isolated, fictional Armenian mountain village and draws its charms from its depiction of the humanity of the villagers. At one end of the spectrum, this kind of fiction can become nostalgic dreck, pining for a simpler era of folksy tradition. At the other end of the spectrum, it can fall into an equally insipid sentimental social realism, wherein the reader is invited to both celebrate and pity the hard but noble lives lived by simple people.

This treads a nimble path between these, with characters that are hard-working but sometimes silly, grumpy but loving, single-minded but sly. They are tangible people who don’t always make sense, but feel all the more real for that. There is no story per se, more a chronicle of time passing. The book seems to take place roughly from around World War I into the 1950s, but one aspect I struggled with was aligning the village’s chronology within that of the outside world. And the world is very much outside, intruding only the form of a creaky telegraph, irregular mail delivery, and occasional trade in goods from “the valley.” There is a minor character who is described as fleeing the Bolsheviks, and there are men who go off to war, and a countrywide famine -- but for the most part, this is a portrait of a self-contained community, more affected by earthquakes and mudslides than world events. It’s also worth mentioning that there’s a smidgen of magical realism to the proceedings -- something I generally don’t go for, but used judiciously here in a way that adds a little more tang to the story. At the end of the day, replace some of the foods and a few of the traditions described, and this story could be about any tiny mountain village in the world, and by extension, our common humanity. ...more

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May 16, 2024 Bogdan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: russian-breeze

An interesting novel with a little bit of magical realism but not exaggerating. I would say that the magical parts from this story are used just to show up the mythical nature of the traditional rural villages, having roots in the folk tales which originates from such places.

Overall, I come across a piece of very good literature which made me think that beyond the language barrier, the rural, traditional societies in many parts of the world are very much alike.

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