This was so very wonderful. I sought it out because of a Read Across Asia challenge (the author, Abgaryan, is Armenian), and listen, the "balm for the soul" claim on the front cover was not an oversell.

At first this felt like a collection of connected short stories, but the chapters and various characters wove closer and closer together until it was all clearly a single piece. The story of Anatolia, but really of all of the village of Maran, which after earthquake, locusts, famine, and war, is home to only a few dozen old people. But this isn't a tragic tale of disappearing ways of life, but rather an affirming one of second chances, the ties of relationship and remembrance, the mutual care and aid that makes a community.

Really beautiful. ( )

i m p e r d i b l e !!!
Un dels llibres que més m'ha agradat. Ho té tot: bona història, història gran i història petita, tendresa, imaginació. No apta per qui només vulgui històries realistes, però què hi ha de més real que els sentiments i l'estimació?
Un bravo per la traducció! ( )

So far, I have yet to see the good times mentioned in the book's summary. There has been death and war and famine and blood and domestic abuse. I'm sure there is some charm to be found in this story, but I don't have the patience to look for it under all of this grim description of bad times. ~ DNF @ 19%

Anatolia is 58 and one of the villagers of Maran, a village in the mountains of Armenia that's had its share of disaster and heartbreak. When Anatolia starts bleeding, she prepares to die, and thus begins the story of not just Anatolia but many of the villagers, their family and history.

The old Armenian saying that's the epigraph for this book gives it both title and structure:
And three apples fell from heaven:
One for the storyteller,
One for the listener,
And one for the eavesdropper.

The beginning is slow and I wasn't sure what to make of the story. I didn't always think to pick it up, but when I had more than a few minutes and could really sink into the story, I enjoyed it greatly, getting to know the villagers and their stories. Their lives are simple, and the village has been through so much: mudslides, famine, and war. But there is so much hope, and the day-to-day life of Anatolia, Vasily, Yasaman, and so many more are given dignity and importance in the storytelling. Before I knew it, I became invested and cared deeply about each of them. ( )

And three apples fell from heaven:
One for the storyteller,
One for the listener,
And one for the eavesdropper

This old Armenian saying opens Three Apples Fell from the Sky. Originally published in Russian in 2015, this novel by Moscow-based Narine Abgaryan is now being issued by Oneworld Publications in a flowing and idiomatic English translation by Lisa C. Hayden. And what a delightful book it turns out to be.

The novel is set in Maran, a small, isolated village in the Armenian mountains, where time seems to have stood still. Indeed, the temporal setting of the novel remains vague. Maran seems untouched by modern technology and one gets the impression that the story could be happening over a hundred years ago. But there are hints (especially when the city is mentioned) that the setting is much more recent. It all enhances the feeling that the narrative stands out of time. Several tragedies across the decades – war, famine, pestilence, earthquakes and landslides – have threatened to wipe out Maran, but the tightly-knit community clings on to life, even though its few inhabitants have grown old and infirm.

The novel follows a tripartite structure inspired by the opening proverb. Part I, titled “For the One Who Saw”, focusses on the librarian Anatolia. Although she now in her late fifties, Anatolia is one of the youngest inhabitants of Maran. She is frail and in poor health, resigned to the fact that death has reached her, just as it has taken away her abusive husband and close relatives. But the other villagers, who treat her with almost parental affection, will have none of this. They play matchmakers and, somewhat unexpectedly, set her up with the widowed blacksmith Vasily. The first part of the novel also introduces us to a rich supporting cast of colourful characters who reappear in later sections.

Part II is titled For the One Who Told the Story and its protagonists are Vano, his wife Valinka and their orphaned grandson Tigran. Tigran is the only Maran infant to survive the epochal famine, and he has a solitary upbringing with his doting grandparents. His only companion is a strange white peacock which appeared roughly around the time when Vano and Valinka took Tigran into their care. This section of the novel follows Tigran’s journey into adulthood until his marriage and the birth of his son.

Part III, For the One who Listened, combines the two threads of the story, leading to an unexpected and heart-warming conclusion.

This is a magical novel. It manages to be life-affirming without descending into cheap sentimentality. Tragedy and death stalk its pages, and are never trivialised and understated, yet there is always an underlying seam of humour and hope.

Abgaryan achieves this challenging balance in part through the beauty of the novel’s prose, which mimics the oral storytelling of myths and legends. The novel is, in fact, imbued with a particular brand of magical realism which I particularly associate with Russian and Eastern European authors – the likes of Bulgakov, Remizov, Hamid Ismailov. At times it even reminded me of Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad, despite the very different context. It is a style which is on the one hand earthy and realistic, delighting in minute descriptions of everyday village life, and on the other hand marked by supernatural elements drawn from fables and biblical/religious imagery. Ghosts which haunt the twilight hours; dreams and premonitions; miraculous events… these appear in the novel as matter-of-factly as the delicious dishes prepared by the old villagers.

This novel was a prize-winner in Russia and the English translation will hopefully earn it the new fans it deserves.

For the full review accompanied by a playlist of Armenian music, head to: https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2020/06/three-apples-fell-from-the-sky-by-nar...

4.5* ( )