★★★☆☆ Average
(Magical Realism) On the eve of the 1989 revolution, a young school boy’s life is changed by mysterious paintings of butterflies that appear all over apartment buildings in his neighborhood. (4,167 words; Time: 13m)
"The Small White," by Marian Coman [bio] (translated by Sebastian Simon, edited by Jason Sizemore), appeared in Apex Magazine issue 116, published on January 1, 2019.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2019.046 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: The window into the life of a kid in communist Romania was interesting.
Con: The ending is abrupt and senseless. “And then they all burned up in a fire.”
There are a few problems with the translation. It needed at least one more round of polishing.
Other Reviews: Search Web
Marian Coman Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Pro: The window into the life of a kid in communist Romania was interesting.
Con: The ending is abrupt and senseless. “And then they all burned up in a fire.”
There are a few problems with the translation. It needed at least one more round of polishing.
Other Reviews: Search Web
Marian Coman Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
Enjoyed it up until that very abrupt and brutal end.
ReplyDeleteApex was famous for stories with great ideas but for which the authors usually couldn't find satisfactory endings.
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