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Books in Translation Recommended books Short Story

The Bride From Odessa – Edgardo Cozarinsky

Translated from the Spanish by Nick Caistor.

The Bride From Odessa is a collection of eleven short stories written by Argentinian author, Edgardo Cozarinsky. Spanning over 100 years, and several continents, the stories show an impressive range of cultural knowledge.

The stories are mainly based on Jewish migration around the Second World War, but the oldest one is about Russian Jews, who find refuge in Argentina in 1890, and the most recent, is about an Argentine-American Jew who travels to Lisbon to unravel the threads of his grandparents’ wartime affair. It is difficult to go into more detail about what happens without giving things away. Even the back cover of the book ruins one of them – so if you do decide to get your hands on this book – please don’t read the back cover first!

Although each story is only about 15 pages long, the characters are vivid, and each one is compelling. Cozarinsky also has a career as a filmmaker, and I think this comes across in the eye for detail he has in the book’s construction.

I really enjoyed reading this collection – it has made me realise how little I have read from South American authors, and how poor my knowledge of their history is. The small snippets of information I now have, has left me craving more! I ordered one of Cozarinsky’s novels as soon as I finished reading this book, and can’t wait to read more, from both him, and other Argentinian authors.

Recommended, especially for the first short story.

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Books in Translation Other

Lost in Translation Reading Challenge

I read a few books in translation in 2008, but to encourage me to read a few more I’m going to join the Lost in Translation Reading Challenge.

The aim is to read six books in translation in 2009. Hopefully, I’ll manage a few extra on top, but I won’t commit to that at the moment!

The ones I’d like to read first are:

  1.  The Bride From Odessa by Edgardo Cozarinsky completed 27th January 2009
  2.  The Lost Estate by Alain Fournier completed 14th Febuary 2009
  3.  Blindness by Jose Saramago completed 5th March 2009
  4. The Book of Fathers by Miklos Vamos
  5. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
  6. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larrson

7+ To be decided!