Reviews for The Heinemann book of South African short stories

The average rating for The Heinemann book of South African short stories based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-10-04 00:00:00 Shane Parrish I constantly look to read books that take me out of my country in my mind's eye. On this journey I soon discovered that foreign authors ( in languages other than English ) had translations into English that somehow did not sound right. A few months ago I decided I start learning other languages to enable me to read these books. I started with Italian and am probably making progress - time will tell. Ok so what ? I found this book in Manhattan which appeared a good start for me to read Italian and English side by side. The choice of stories are excellent. Each one ending with a twist. The stories are just 10-12 pages long and the Italian versions are alongside. Italo Calvino is amongst the authors whose story is in the list. I enjoyed the stories. Recommended. I hope I can find more such books in other languages like Spanish and French too.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-11-23 00:00:00 Rachel Painter This book contains the following stories, all very well written and, I believe, full of meaning and insight into the culture. 1. The Long Crossing / Il lungo viaggio - Leonardo Sciascia - Shocking in its curtness, cutting perspective into human cruelty and despair 2. Italy / Italia - Goffredo Parise - Slow and bland perspective of the life of an Adam-and-Eve couple of Italians 3. The Girl with the Plait / La ragazza con la treccia - Dacia Marini - A tiny sad puzzle, a story of circular fate and a satire of mores, human weakness, loneliness and societal pressure 4. The Last Channel / L'ultimo canale - Italo Calvino - Unreliable narrator trying to find meaning in life, held in an insane asylum, disorganised narration 5. Lilith / Lilít - Primo Levi - A story of friendship in captivity and the role of religious tales in building a culture, light read 6. The Island of Komodo / L'isola di Komodo - Susanna Tamaro - mystery and metaphor, thematically reminiscent of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein 7. Women by the Pool / Donne in piscina - Sandra Petrignani - a story about finding meaning in everyday life in the middle age. Really enjoyed the childhood flashbacks, which provided a basis for comparison and gave dept to the story 8. A Naughty Schoolboy / Un cattivo scolaro - Stefano Benni - Biting satire of the sharpest kind, story of an Italy where the roles and worth of books and television have been reversed and children are made to remember famouse TV quotes for school. Strongly recommend. Also, strikingly accurate rendition of school teachers in Romania and, apprently, Italy, too. 9. Saturday Afternoons / I pomeriggi del sabato - Antonio Tabucchi - a story of how the ghost of the past become superimposed on the present - I think. It's a story of the fantastic. That being said, read this, if your reading skills in Italian are intermediate or more. The translations by Nick Roberts, the editor, are poor. I hope he keeps his artistic license for whatever vaguely original work he might be tempted to author. For such as he, who seem to consider translation work slightly below them, may I recommend fanfiction? I warmly recommend this anthology for anyone looking to learn Italian or discover more of Italian literature.