FACE TO FACE: A Collection of Stories by Celebrated Soviet and American Writers

by Thomas & Anatoly Aleksin--Eds. Pettepiece ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 19, 1990

A worthy project: 18 offerings chosen to exemplify the range and commonality of experience of young people, equally divided between their countries of origin and published simultaneously in both. Many of the American pieces are excerpts from novels (e.g., Voigt's Bullet cradling the dog he's accidentally shot; Paterson's Park seeking his father's name at the Vietnam Memorial). Others are previously published stories, including one by Myers' from Boys' Life and the title story in The People Could Fly. In comparison, the Russian stories seem a little old-fashioned in their morality and simplicitly--the Park's Quest excerpt follows a conventional WW II story in which the 12-year-old protagonist sets off ""to avenge. . .all those. . .who had been crashed by the murderous boot of the enemy"" after Nazis have bombed refugees, killing his mother. Yet they also offer intriguing glimpses of ordinary daily life. The juxtapositions, as the stories alternate between the two countries, are provocative in their implied parallels and contrasts. An interesting, somewhat uneven collection.

Pub Date: April 19, 1990

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 237

Publisher: Philomel/Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1990

Categories: CHILDREN'S