Talking about one very long and not very easy life, the author clears the narrative of unnecessary surroundings and leaves only the main thing — a love story. Which remains with the hero even after he loses his beloved. But do not go into despair.
The music of the author’s speech gives rise to a feeling of happiness and harmony, and our past, as we receive it from the hands of the author, is not at all like those heavy and pompous pictures of Ancient Russia that textbooks and «patriotic» programs often show us. Talking about one very long and not very easy life, the author clears the narrative of unnecessary surroundings and leaves only the main thing — a love story. Strong, which probably does not happen now — she remains with the hero even after he, through his own fault, loses his beloved. But do not go into despair. His life will become not just a life — but a redemption, a service to «Heavenly Love» (he believes that she continues to live, but now — in heaven). In essence, a novel about enlightenment. About those adventures that await a person on the path to perfection, when he changes his appearance, name, and fate. Either he is a famous healer, or a holy fool, or a wise traveler, or a monk. He is like a chrysalis turning into a butterfly: each transformation means for him a new stage of spiritual growth… And every time we do not know — what kind of hero will appear before us? Vodolazkin shows a world where perfection is achievable and loss can be endured. It reveals to the reader an unusual, homely, bright and very close Middle Ages… And it makes the distant history feel like a part of personal history.
ASTREL, 440 p.