The Women's Decameron

The Women's Decameron by Julia Voznesenskaya is a modern-day version of Boccaccio's Decameron, where ten women share their stories daily for ten days while quarantined in a maternity ward. The tales cover a wide range of moods and styles, exploring different aspects of women's lives from poverty, lack of education, love, security, and unhappiness. Through the clever choice of diverse characters like an engineer, secretary, stewardess, and tramp, the book delves into various themes such as first love, assault, seduction, unfaithfulness, revenge, generosity, and more. The narratives provide insight into Russian culture, especially women's lives, post-WWII, offering a nuanced portrayal of the characters and their interactions.

Voznesenskaya's writing style in The Women's Decameron is highly imaginative and witty, with each tale described as a little pearl that could be developed into a novel or short story. The book is structured to allow readers to pick it up and put it down easily, with a deeper continuity within the work as the stories progress day by day. The author's brave challenge to societal norms and her ability to encapsulate a wide spectrum of emotions and themes such as sensuality, vulgarity, love, cruelty, sentiment group, and more make this novel a compelling read that sheds light on the state of Soviet society during its decline.