There Once Lived a Woman who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby

Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, 2009 Date Read: 4/3/22

Once again, an entry on the "100 Best Novels of All Time" isn't a novel. This is a collection of short stories. Allegedly, "scary fairy tales", although they aren't scary at all. Also aren't fairy tales. Frankly, this is a book of lies.

A few of the stories are creative or unique, but nothing in it was frightening. It wasn't even unsettling. At a stretch, one or two were sad. Perhaps this is a fault of translation? Maybe things that are scary to a Russian reader just aren't to me. I didn't live under Soviet rule. That might be the issue. I really don't know. Read it for yourself and tell me what you think.

Length: 206 pages

Rereadability: no

Classic: as has been said before, this isn't a novel.