Alrighty, let me start with all the information on the cover of the book, including the full title, author’s name, and other people involved. The author, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya (she/her) is a Russian author, still alive, who was born in 1938 in the U.S.S.R. She started by writing plays that were censored by the Russian government. Eventually, she could publish short stories after the Soviet Union crumbled, like those found in this collection: There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby: Scary Fairy Tales (2009). The stories were selected and translated by Keith Gessen and Anna Summers, who also include a brief introduction that I recommend you read to learn a bit more about the author.
I felt skeptical going into this collection largely because I’d bought two of Petrushevskaya’s books at the same time and did not care for the first one: There Once Lived a Girl Who Seduced Her Sister’s Husband, and He Hanged Himself: Love Stories. Basically, if I recall correctly, the stories just didn’t add up for me. However, the scary fairy tales I’m reviewing today were much more successful.
The book is broken into four sections: Songs of the Eastern Slavs, Allegories, Requiems, and Fairy Tales. The imagery of hotel-like apartment living — run down spaces with neighbors close by (and maybe annoyed with your baby) — and the hunger that permeates everyone’s lives give you that feeling of the Russia I’ve seen in the news. I don’t pretend to know what life is truly like in Russia, though I have interviewed a Russian author who talks about famine.
Another reason I think Neighbor’s Baby is successful is thanks to Petrushevskaya’s attention to dream-like wandering. A person wakes up in a place they don’t recognize only to be directed to a place or person they don’t know. In a way, the stories often feel like they’re going in reverse or figure-eights.
In a story that begins, “There once lived a father who couldn’t find his children,” a man has no details about his offspring but is directed to “…take the local train to the Fortieth Kilometer stop.” After he debarks, he walks through the winter landscape until he reaches a forest with a path clearly traveled. He comes upon a hut, and much like the story of the three bears, he finds no one home but lets himself in to enjoy the fire and eat the food left out. When there’s a knock on the door, the man opens it to find a boy in raggedy clothes who knows nothing about himself and does not live there. The man cares for the boy. Eventually, a woman shows up. Perhaps you can see where this story is going, but as you read, you experience a dreamy sort of quality despite these three people doing what is fundamentally normal stuff: eating, keeping warm, sleeping.
In many stories it’s hard to know who’s dead and who is alive. Is this a ghost we’re dealing with, or someone who has jumped to a surreal timeline in which they receive a warning — or is it a threat? — from a loved one we also can’t tell is alive or dead. The whole collection is rather haunting and uses both fairy tales and Russia as a foundation for the spookiness. And to be clear, when I say “fairy tales” I mean the originals in which people don’t always fare well, not the Disney versions of teen girls finding adult princes to marry and then live happily ever after (the end).
Despite their similar foundations, each story is quite different. There is the timely story “Hygiene,” which recalls all things panicky about a pandemic. You get “There’s Someone in the House” in which the occupant, convinced she’s being haunted, starts destroying her property before the ghost can do something frightening with her things. I was especially intrigued by “Marilena’s Secret” in which twin ballerinas are cursed by a magician to live as one very fat woman all day with the exception of two hours each night when the fat woman separates and the ballerinas are magically coerced to dance. The story is fat positive, highlighting Marilena’s physical strength, her love of shopping for clothes, the beauty of her vibrant white teeth, and the wealth she accumulates through her performance in a circus.
I really enjoyed There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby because it kept me guessing, kept me wondering, and had a lot of spooky heart behind each story. I look forward to learning more about Ludmilla Petrushevskaya when I read her memoir. She’s been called the most important living Russian writer, but I’ll gamble that most of us had never heard of her before.
CW: mention of abortion, sizeism, physical violence off the page, mention of suicide.
Grab the Lapels 
No, I was not aware of her before, but this sounds like an interesting collection. I like speculative, slightly magical, or hint of paranormal stories. I’m glad this one was a hit after you didn’t get along with the first book of hers you tried.
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A creative writing professor at a nearby college whose family has roots in the Czech Republic turned me on to Petrushevskaya. There are a lot of interesting women writing over in that area.
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First of all, this must be the longest book title plus author name ever! This does sound like a great collection, I love the spooky vibe of it all. I have a fairy-tale ish book on my shelf that I want to read soon and reading this review made me excited for it! Once I get to it you’ll know what I’m talking about…
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Did you notice the entire cover of the book is taken up by the title and her name and the two translators? LOL. There’s little room for much else! I will say, though, her book titles certain are catchy.
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I’ve heard good things about this author, especially about this collection! It sounds like it might edge too close to horror for me, but I like the idea of returning fairy stories to their less jolly originals. Have you read Angela Carter’s stories in the same vein?
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I have read Angela Carter, and I would say Petrushevskaya is even less dark than Carter. There are some ghostly things in Neighbor’s Baby, but none of it is scary or horror, really. I can see you enjoying them.
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Question: given your less than stellar experience of her, what made you decide to read this Melanie? How much is the book (are the stones) ABOUT Russia?
It sounds intriguing but as you know not a book that is likely to be high on my priority list.
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For some reason I bought several of Petrushevskaya’s books after a colleague told me about her, so I already owned them. I’m trying to read through all the books I own, especially the physical copies that take up space.
I’m not sure that I really got a sense that the stories were about Russian specifically, and perhaps because I’ve never been there, the setting to me never really screamed RUSSIA. I pictured something Eastern Eurpoean-ish for the most part.
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Ah, that explains it.
And thanks re Russia … I haven’t been there either!
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I have definitely never heard of her before. It sounds like an interesting collection of stories though. I like the titles a lot.
Russia is not a country that is on my visit list. No offense meant to any Russians. I am sure it is beautiful but politically, I would likely do/say something that would land me in prison.
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You’d be all Brittney Griner and hoping for a prisoner swap. I, too, do not know much about Russia. I learned a bit when I kept getting books from a woman who was born and raised in Russia but now lives in the U.S., Zarina Zabrisky.
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I’ve heard of her before but I’m sure it must only be from you! This does sound like an interesting collection and I think modern fairy tale can be a great way of story-telling in the right hands.
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I wonder what kinds of stories are coming out of Russia recently. I believe there is censorship there (and Petrushevskaya was censored for many years before she could publish). What would a modern story set in Russia look like? Seriously, I have inkling.
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I have no idea. Until recently I would have thought every day life in Russia was not that different from what I’ve seen in other European countries. But now…I’m sure it’s very different and I don’t have a good sense of how the average Russian citizen feels about things or what their day-to-day requires of them.
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And their traumatic history isn’t that far in the rear-view mirror. I’m sure people are still affected by it.
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Yes, I spent some time in the Czech Republic a few years ago and that really drove home the recent reality of history. Things I had learned in school were very real to people my parents’ age. A book I read recently, The Eighth Life, was also really good at showing how it all ties in and still affects Russia and former Soviet countries to this day.
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Oooooh, I highly recommend this book about a Czech writer. It’s different and innovating and really cool: https://grabthelapels.com/2016/12/06/nemcova/
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Cool! I’ll take a look!
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