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How to take back control of your life? What is more difficult: to endure troubles or joys? What is the value of professional recognition and how to achieve it? We share a selection of books that can answer these and other equally important questions.
“Temporarily” Hilary Leichter
The unnamed narrator of the novel, Hilary Leichter, is a young woman who changes one profession after another. She lives in a special world where there is a certain class of temporary workers. And she herself is also “Temporary” – she receives various orders from the agent, the essence of which she does not always know in advance: either to sort a collection of shoes, or to replace a person on a pirate ship, or even to become a witch’s assistant.
And it seems to be fun, not serious. And the heroine is cheerful, agrees to everything and jokes, for example: “My career is short, like my skirts.” But the comical absurdity in the spirit of “Alice in Wonderland” gradually turns into a truthful, convincing story.
Through aphoristic colloquial language, similar to the speech of a witty girlfriend over a cup of coffee, the novel makes us accomplices in what is happening. Here the storyteller was hired by a child – to be his mother for a while, and she soon feels like a real parent, loves the young customer like a son. And the boy is strict and cold, for him the relationship remains within the limits of the official contract, and as a result the heroine feels overwhelmed.
The situations are fantastic, but the problems are real: love without reciprocity, cynicism, loss and social instability. The changes turn the storyteller’s world into a kaleidoscope in which she is just another bright piece of glass, a function without the right to linger where it’s really good.
Unpredictable, sometimes cruel, but always obligatory tasks fetter the girl, prevent her from establishing connections with other people. How to take control of your own life in such conditions?
Of course, we all depend on something and sometimes go with the flow. The question is how much we are aware of the alternatives and the consequences of what is happening. And do we like the river on which we swim?
Hilary Leichter is an American writer and journalist. Her short stories and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s and The New York Times. Temporarily is her debut novel.
Human Affairs Karine Thuil
Star TV presenter Jean Farel is aging, but by hook or by crook he is trying to stay afloat, although the director of the channel is about to send him into retirement. The son, who is accused of rape, adds problems, and a high-profile trial begins. Intrigue, lies, corruption…
Caught in disgrace, Jean remembers the few friends and colleagues who appreciate him not only for his performances on the screen. After all, there is another, quiet glory – professional recognition, respect. True, it is more difficult to achieve it.
An exciting action-packed story, for which the Frenchwoman Karin Thuil received the Goncourt Lyceum Prize.
“Turn off my video” Alexandra Shalashova
2020, first wave of coronavirus. Moscow high school students in distance learning. Locked at home, they can’t get away from a showdown.
Ilya, with whom busy parents rarely communicate, swears via video link with a young teacher. He is in love with her and, ashamed of his feelings, seems to take revenge. Vera, an excellent student, has a date canceled due to the pandemic, and she blames herself for her supposedly ugly appearance. Her friend Alena endures the harassment of her stepfather and the indifference of her mother.
The characters want to be heard by their parents or each other, but finding the right words is not easy. The emotional polyphony created by the author leaves the impression of a poignant document of the era.
“777” Kirill Ryabov
There are three reasons to read the novel by Young Petersburg Prize winner Kirill Ryabov:
1. To learn to keep my composure. The author masterfully describes the “sudden wealth syndrome”, that special psychological state, a complex of bright and somewhat destructive emotions that cover a person who suddenly received a lot of money. We are often taught to be resilient to adversity and adversity, but unexpected joy is also stressful. The poor cook Khlebnikov is accidentally given three million rubles by an ATM instead of a salary, and the hero immediately embarks on adventures: he leaves his family, goes to play in a casino, tries to make a prostitute from a brothel happy … Needless to say, he soon finds himself in a web of threats and debts, from which hard to get out?
2. To understand the value of love. The comedic plot is combined with a deeply lyrical theme: Khlebnikov leaves his wife in a fit of arrogance, but continues to think about her over and over again, no matter what he does, and eventually regrets the mistake. He will have to admit: in personal relationships, as in financial ones, quick decisions are not always the best.
3. To cheer up. Kirill Ryabov’s humor is rather harsh, which is justified by the semi-criminal adventures of a suddenly rich hero – there are straightforward jokes about both sex and violence. But for those who like the films of Tarantino and Guy Ritchie, the novel “777” is a great opportunity to laugh heartily.