# Forum Learning Russian Language Resources for Studying Russian Book Reviews  "Кысь"  Татьяны Толстой -- кто-нибудь тут читал?

## Throbert McGee

По рекомендации подруги на Вебе, я читаю роман, *но в английском переводе* (изданном под названием "The Slynx" -- переводчик: Jamey Gambrell). 
Anyway, I'm enjoying the book, but I really wish that the English edition -- or the Russian version that I found at lib.ru -- had a glossary explaining all of the неологизмы that appear in the book. (Perhaps future editions will; Anthony Burgess eventually agreed to add a "Nadsat glossary" to _Clockwork Orange_, by popular demand.) 
 I mean, I'm curious to know which of these words were "cut from whole cloth" by Tolstaya (i.e., totally invented), and which words were based on real Russian roots. 
For example, in chapter Есть, there are mutated humans with elephant-like noses, who are called кохинорцы in the original and "Cockynorks" in the English edition. I did a Google search on "кохинор", and I could only find references to the "Koh-i-noor" diamond. Is there a hidden pun that I'm missing? 
So, I'd be interested in seeing what native Russians have to say about Кысь and its language.

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## gRomoZeka

> "*Кысь*" Татьяны Толстой -- кто-нибудь тут читал?

 Я читала, правда, очень давно. Замечательная книга. 
   "Кох-и-нор" (KOH-I-NOOR) is a Czech brand of art and office supplies. It has been extremely popular in Russia/U.S.S.R. for decades. "Koh-I-Noor" pencils and erasers were considered must-have among those who were into graphics of any kind (art school pupils, engineers, etc.). It's still a well-respected brand. 
 Regarding an elephant reference:  
  (this particular item even had its own "nickname" - "резинка со слоном").

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## Lampada

У меня был цанговый жёлтый Кохинор с меняющимися стержнями и точилкой в торце. Где-то ещё здесь валяется. 
Вот такой примерно:

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## Lampada

Татьяна Толстая. Кысь

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## it-ogo

I started to read it rather long ago but soon put it off. I found it too mechanistic. It is very technical in language and manner with a really large vocabulary and wide range of literary tricks. But I felt like all those tricks and style are forced, artificial and too intensive. If you know what I mean. 
Strangely enough I enjoyed some other books of the same author.

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## Doomer

This is an awesome book. I read it three times  ::  
Read it in Russian, I think you'll enjoy it even more

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## Throbert McGee

Thanks for the replies, everyone -- especially to gRomoZeka for clearing up the mystery of the elephant-nosed кохинорцы! The Koh-I-Noor brand is definitely available in the US (I've seen their pencils in art-supply stores) but I think here it's mainly known as a maker of professional-quality pencils (not so much for erasers and other office supplies).

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