Customer Reviews

Give Me: (Songs for Lovers)

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If you are worried about "character development" this book is not for you. The book is strictly for your entertainment, to tickle your imagination. There is a different story in each chapter. Some containing relationships between poverty strucken kids. How drugs, alcohal, and sex ruins there lives or brings excitment to it. Other chapters on fictional characters such as one of my favorite called "Green Men" where these "green men" monsters wander the streets at night raping, killing, and eating people... if you don't share my ill interest on these topics please, don't waste your money.

I highly recommend this book. Written by Irina Denezhkina, who was only 21 at the time of publication, she orginally published her short stories on the internet where they were noticed and later published as a volume. It has been translated into 12 languages and is a Russian national bestseller. Denezhkina writes authentically and first-hand about vodka, drugs, young love and pubescent sex in post-Soviet Russia. Written on the surface of life's happenings and very sparse on commentary, there is a hardness and detachment in her voice that lacks the whiny angst of many, young, American writers. That's okay with me, because although I enjoy narrative reflection, very young writers sometimes make the mistake of imposing their opinions at the detriment of telling an authentic story.

This is a collection of short (and long) stories written in the late 90s and published in 2002 in Russia by a woman who was born in 1981. The stories are largely just "snapshots" of the lives of teenagers in Russia -- the kinds of teenagers who play or listen to punk rock and rap, do drugs, drink lots of beer and vodka, beat each other up, and hook up. The stories don't really have a real "resolution," problems aren't solved, and the stories just have a beginning and an end (with an end that comes very quickly and leaves you wondering where that leaves the characters). Some of the sex and violence is pretty graphic and not good for the stomach. And I can't think of a character who I would want to be, even for a day.

Personally, I found some aspects of the stories confusing, and I'm not sure if it's a cultural difference or something else. For example, the story "Give me!" has the narrator having married a guy online and visiting him an hour away from where she lives -- they don't live together and I'm not sure her mother knows she has a husband. Is it usual for couples to sometimes live apart? Are they really married?

Or, in the story "Valerochka," a boy throws a white ball out of a closed window on a train, right through the glass. Later, the ball comes back in through another window. All I'm wondering is "what just happened?"

There is sex and violence in a number of stories, but "Vasya and the green men" and "Postscript" are truly gruesome and are to be avoided if you can't stand extreme abuse and sexual violence.

Still, other stories were very nice to read, such as "Death in the chatroom," where a strange person carrying a scythe visits someone sitting at her PC. And after pretty much every story, I am left wondering "so what happens next?" Where do the characters go from here? I get the feeling that the author simply hasn't lived long enough to be able to tell us that, yet.

These stories were an interesting ride. They were somewhat awkward and not always clear, but gave me a good picture in the lives and psychology of some Russian teenagers (I'm sure not all are like this!). Although I was pretty glad when I got to the end, I am likely to re-read some of the stories. I am interested enough to try and figure them out a second time.

This book is an excellent look into the lives of Russian youth post Soviet life and how the new generation lives with its newfound freedoms and materialisms; its much like Trainspotting without the intense amounts of drug use and slang (but there is still plenty of it.) Contrary to the previous poster, I thought that there was plenty of character development, but considering that these are just short stories, and that some of the characters are just hedonistic, air-headed teenagers, I don't think that too much development was need.

I too look forward to what Ms Denezhkina has to put out in the future. She seems very promising. Definately read if one is interested about life in Russia, particulary for its youth too young to remember Communism.

While Denezhkina's voice is clearly a strong one, her character development in these short stories simply isn't there. Characters float in and out of stories with minimal consequence. I look forward to seeing what she does in the future, but this book was a bit of a disappointment.