Irina’s Comments (group member since Aug 29, 2010)

Irina’s comments from the And Other Stories Lithuanian-Language Reading Group group.

''Tonight I'll Be Sleeping By The Wall''

The word essay is probably a bit too 'academic' in the British context, therefore does't reflect Radvilaviciutes writing too well. But I do think it is more than appropriate to translate it as 'short stories', as unlike many Lithuanian authors writing in this genre, Radvilaviciute magically combines the flow of her own thoughts and an actual storyline and draws out a few very intriguing plot twists when you least expect them!

The stories are incredibly sentimental,ironic and very engagingly structured. It is interesting to follow how she gets so easily inspired by casual events. I also liked how she slenderly 'plays around' with other famous people's thoughts and enriches her own writing by doing so.

Great book! Very happy to have read it!

''Their Habits' is indeed a very funny and quirky (if I may use that word) collection of every day observations which, I have absolutely no doubt, anyone from Lithuania can relate to.

Every story somehow resembles a phone call you make once in a while in order to tell your friends and family back home about the weirdest thing you saw on the underground the other day.

And although at first you might get the impression that the author finds all these cultural differences purely annoying (and then you ask yourself 'why does she still live here then?'), by the end of the last story you realise how much sympathy she has for London and it is probably the exact same 'twisted' sympathy most of us who came here in search of a better life have.

The language of the author is very easy to follow, but not primitive which makes the book even more charming. All in all - it is fascinating how Paulina Pukyte managed to capture what's on every Lithuanian's mind and put it into a clever and witty collection.

However, as Jan noticed, 'to make fun of British people is quite banal' and therefore Paulina Pukyte's insight might not be enough to make an impression to a non-Lithuanian reader. It would be quite interesting though to have an anthology of stories such as 'Their Habits' from other countries that are being represented in Britain.