A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True (2009) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit

Write a ridiculously simplified synopsis.

Characters/People edit see section history

• Magda: Irena's daughter
• Irena: Magda's mother, aunt to
• Nela: Baba Yaga's name for her Grandmother; also known as Anielica
• Marysia: Add a description of this character.
• Tadeusz: Clarinet player at the bar
• Pani Bożena: Older woman that Baba Yaga helps
• Anielica: Beautiful, married to Pigeon. Baba Yaga's grandmother
• Sebastian: Boy from the bar
• Jakub: Pigeon's brother. Very monotone. A lot of people ignore him
• Jagie
• Kinga: Girl who works in the bar and is always trying to move somewhere else
• Pani Hetma
• Pani Plotka
• Baba Yaga: Cousin to Magda, granddaughter of Nela.
• Monika
• Ronan: Irishman from the bar
• Pani Wzwolenska
• Ruda Zdzira: Girl who used to be Magda's best friend but ends up getting with Zaba, Magda's boyfriend
• Tomek: Sebastian's roommate
• Piotr Skrzynecki
• Pigeon: Good with his hands, rebuilds Anielica's home, Baba Yaga's grandfather
• Mickiewicz
• St Mary
• Sylwester
• Jama Michalika
• Leszek
• Czes
• Mamo
• Sammy Jo
• Jaruzelski
• Malina
• Wiktor: Irena's ex husband
• Nowy Targ
• Epler

Quotes edit see section history

• “"'I heard that, mamo'. 'Then stop eavesdropping'. 'I'm not eavesdropping. You didn't even bother to say it behind my back'. 'Turn around then'."”

  Magda and Irena

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• That thing was that a woman's heart is not bought by the currency of a man's emotion for her. A woman's heart is won over by her own feelings for herself when he just happens to be around,

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• Głupstwa są najpiękniesze.' The stupid things you do in life are the most beautiful.

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• At least when I was in the village I could imagine something on the horizon. Here in the city, the dreams that once swelled inside me now feel like nothing more than a dried-up little kernel rattling around, and the only thing I can see is the crumb trail of obligations leading me from one day to the next.

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• The music has me by the shoulders, the nostalgia by the throat, the laughter by the stomach.

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• That was before I found out that capitalists are just communists without the polyester.'

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• the most important things that are said are the ones that are barely audible, and Irena whispers to me what Magda could not, what Czesław could not, what Nela herself could not. 'It's not your fault,' she says. 'It never was.'

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• When you're a child, every word embeds itself like a splinter. Even when the skin grows over, you can still feel it somewhere underneath.

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• It could be that Magda feels the same isolation I feel, that we are both locked inside ourselves, waiting for anything—a tiny bird, a blown leaf, a question—to

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• the clock, but my friendship with Magda is forged in that one night, that single flash of light searing us into the hypotenuse of the triangle we three are to become, the triangle in which it will be so easy to get lost.

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• When someone is telling you what to do all the time, anything you do of your own volition becomes a protest, doesn't it?'

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Krakow
• Pisarowice
• Warsaw
• Half-village

First Sentence edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• babcia: grandma
• barszcz: beet soup
• Boże: God
• buc: a**hole
• bzdury: crap, garbage
• dupa: butt, bum
• dzień dobry: good day, a general greeting
• głupek: idiot
• głupia panienka: stupid little girl
• kanapki: canapés/small, open-faced sandwiches, usually eaten for breakfast and/or a light evening meal
• kochana: sweetie, “luv”, a general term of endearment
• mamusiu: mommy
• na razie: until the next time, see you later
• załatwić: to arrange something, usually by nepotism, bribery, complicated negotiations or cunning
• złoty: monetary unit

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Brigid Pasulka (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award (March 2010)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 813.6

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Brigid Pasulka: Brigid Pasulka's official site, including information on her first novel and additional resources for learning more.

More Books Like This edit see section history