This book by a Czech author, Petra Hulova, b.1979, translated only into German - 'Kurzer Abriss meines Lebens in der mongolischen Steppe' - describes the life of a woman, Djaza [transliterated into German], born into a Mongolian family growing up in a ger (yurta) in the steppes of Mongolia.
Ms Hurlova has herself lived in Mongolia for a while - in fact, she has a bit of a Mongolian slant to her eyes; she studied Mongolian at university - the things you can study in Prague!
The story is told very simply - Dzaja grows up in a family with four children, where she is one of two 'bastards' produced by her mother while her mother's husband was not looking; one has a Chinese streak and the other is more Russian. While he and the family accept these two children, at school it is more difficult. Life in general is not that easy, although the family is one of the more prosperous ones. An older sister dies in a horserace, the Russian one goes mad over a boy and gets sent away to Ulan Bator, as does eventually Dzaja. They both find work - but what kind of work - and Dzaja eventually produces a child. Neither of these two sisters ever marry. Meantime in the steppe the youngest sister marries and settles down to country life.
The book is very interesting in its detailed description of Mongolian life - I recognize the descriptions of urban life from my experiences in Kyrgyzstan, with the bazaars, the micro-raions around the town (as in Vilnius, for that matter), the settlements of gers round the outside of the micro-raions, the general neglect, the drunkenness, the meat markets, aspects of Soviet hospital care, also some of the food (though Mongolians also drink salted, fatted [rancid?] tea like the Tibetans). But there are also significant differences to Kyrgyzstan; eg Buddhism pervades everything, the dead are left out in the open for nature to take care of them.....
The structure of the book is a bit strange; Djaza is the narrator for most of it, so much so that her name is never mentioned, and when one or two other narrators (all female, which is a bit of a pain) tell their stories into which she falls, it takes a long time to work out who this 'Djaza' is they are referring to - in her own part her name was never mentioned. I wondered a bit whether the main part of Djaza's had not been long enough to fill a whole book - but on the other hand the stories told by the different people present completely different views of Djaza's account - a story of non-communication in families, I guess.
The only really irritating aspect of the book is the lack of translations of Mongolian words, of which there are many - yes, there is a list at the end of the book, but it is very far from complete. Had someone been lazy here? Sometimes that makes parts of the story difficult to understand.
But generally, it is very interesting and worth reading for someone who goes to work in Mongolia. If they speak German...
Ms Hurlova has herself lived in Mongolia for a while - in fact, she has a bit of a Mongolian slant to her eyes; she studied Mongolian at university - the things you can study in Prague!
The story is told very simply - Dzaja grows up in a family with four children, where she is one of two 'bastards' produced by her mother while her mother's husband was not looking; one has a Chinese streak and the other is more Russian. While he and the family accept these two children, at school it is more difficult. Life in general is not that easy, although the family is one of the more prosperous ones. An older sister dies in a horserace, the Russian one goes mad over a boy and gets sent away to Ulan Bator, as does eventually Dzaja. They both find work - but what kind of work - and Dzaja eventually produces a child. Neither of these two sisters ever marry. Meantime in the steppe the youngest sister marries and settles down to country life.
The book is very interesting in its detailed description of Mongolian life - I recognize the descriptions of urban life from my experiences in Kyrgyzstan, with the bazaars, the micro-raions around the town (as in Vilnius, for that matter), the settlements of gers round the outside of the micro-raions, the general neglect, the drunkenness, the meat markets, aspects of Soviet hospital care, also some of the food (though Mongolians also drink salted, fatted [rancid?] tea like the Tibetans). But there are also significant differences to Kyrgyzstan; eg Buddhism pervades everything, the dead are left out in the open for nature to take care of them.....
The structure of the book is a bit strange; Djaza is the narrator for most of it, so much so that her name is never mentioned, and when one or two other narrators (all female, which is a bit of a pain) tell their stories into which she falls, it takes a long time to work out who this 'Djaza' is they are referring to - in her own part her name was never mentioned. I wondered a bit whether the main part of Djaza's had not been long enough to fill a whole book - but on the other hand the stories told by the different people present completely different views of Djaza's account - a story of non-communication in families, I guess.
The only really irritating aspect of the book is the lack of translations of Mongolian words, of which there are many - yes, there is a list at the end of the book, but it is very far from complete. Had someone been lazy here? Sometimes that makes parts of the story difficult to understand.
But generally, it is very interesting and worth reading for someone who goes to work in Mongolia. If they speak German...
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