Contents
An atmospheric novel about a wayward princess takes you to Russia in the 1970th century. The story about children who resourcefully look for a new husband for their mother takes place in England in the XNUMXs. The parable of Circe, who is ready to give up immortality for love, tells of a mythical past… Each of these books is your new journey through time, space and into the depths of the human soul.
INDEPENDENCE
“Garden” by Marina Stepnova
There are books that don’t open right away. You begin to see their meaning clearly only towards the end. They lead on false paths to make history feel like an unpredictable journey. Such is the “Garden” of Marina Stepnova. It seems to be about the events of the XNUMXth century, about a noble family, but the main problem is eternal, inherent in human nature itself.
Princess Boryatinsky has a late child. The phenomenon at that time and in that society was strange. At the same time, they love the girl Tusya very much – both the mother and the stern family doctor Meisel. The girl grows up as a wayward young lady, is fond of horses, and stubbornly does not recognize secular decency.
Meanwhile, in Simbirsk, under the strict control of her father, almost her antipode and future husband lives – the timid prince in exile Radovich, a friend of the People’s Will Alexander Ulyanov. The narrative throws from Tusin’s growing up to the gymnasium everyday life of Radovich. Each of the characters, explicitly or implicitly, wants to free himself from something, get rid of his father’s severity, class and gender conventions, the ghost of his own cowardice from the past. Sometimes this is possible, sometimes not.
And sometimes – and this is what the novel already hurts almost physically – for the sake of the longed-for freedom, the heroes have to sacrifice loved ones or their own conscience. Or, running away from some shackles, find themselves in others.
So Radovich, neglecting his father’s condition, falls into financial and emotional dependence on his wife. Tusya dreams of being engaged only in horses and refuses the fate of a secular lady destined for her. But on the very day when, according to her decision, the garden on the estate is cut down in order to build a stud farm, her almost forgotten, old mother dies.
The new is bored in the familiar garden-paradise, the new strives to escape from the power of the old. It is natural. But this independence has its own dark side, which is worth remembering. Just so as not to reach cruelty in their strong-willed aspirations. Do not hurt loved ones and do not fall into another addiction, perhaps more terrible – after all, Tusino’s hobby at times resembles a real obsession, and the fate of Radovich under her unpredictable leadership is unlikely to be happy.
It is also normal to look for compromises, after all, it is not for nothing that freedom is so often associated with responsibility.
Edited by Elena Shubina. 416 p., 665 rubles.
FAMILY
“Man at the helm” by Nina Stibbe
Conservative England in the mid-70s. The Vogel family divorces, and a mother with three children moves to a remote village, where she drinks and writes plays. Sounds like the beginning of a drama, but… read on and laugh out loud!
The fact is that the resourceful Vogel children are looking for a new husband for their mother. They are not going to lose heart, and the narration from the point of view of the middle sister Lizzy is riddled with irony: “people stop thinking rationally when you tell them how good they look”, “mom’s date at the restaurant went smoothly because they decided not to eat with chopsticks.”
At the same time, behind the humor lies a lyrical story about mutual support, about the ability to take care of each other. The narrator herself speaks of this at the end: “No one can cope with life alone – if he is truly alone.”
Translation from English by Natalia Rashkovskaya. Phantom-Press, 384 p., 456 rubles.
TIME
“Circe” Madeleine Miller
Everything will end sooner or later. And everything that is important to us is important because it will end. This property of life is easy to formulate logically, but it is difficult to feel and even more difficult to love. Circe, the title character of a dynamic novel-parable based on ancient Greek myths, succeeded.
Known according to legends as an occasional assistant to Odysseus, here the nymph Circe plays the leading roles. The lonely daughter of the celestial Helios likes mortals more than god relatives, and she is not much different from an ordinary person: she learns to solve problems herself, falls in love, becomes disappointed, becomes a mother, finds friends.
But her son Telegon and beloved Telemachus are people, which means that time, so swift, leaving around the ruins of the past, will be merciless to them. There is only one way Circe can get closer to those who are dear to her – by giving up her immortality.
Translation from English by Lyubov Tronina. Corpus, 432 p., 620 rubles.
PORTRAIT
“Fluid” by Kirill Ryabov
“Maybe I’m the kind of doctor who heals through pain…” says Kirill Ryabov from St. Petersburg in an interview. By the age of 37, he changed many professions, worked both in a crematorium and in an orphanage. And most of his books can not be called cheerful.
The naturalistic stories about Leningrad under siege in the debut collection The Corpse Burner (2013) and the book Glue (2015), where a father exchanges his children’s food stamps for vodka, may seem too gloomy, but the author cannot be denied the ability to evoke empathy for the characters.
The real breakthrough was the novel “Dog”, which this year was shortlisted for the National Bestseller Award. The story of the unemployed widower Bobrovsky came out extremely topical, but not without absurd humor.
The hero is immersed in apathy, he is pursued by his wife’s greedy relatives and collectors, whom he defeats with indifference. Bobrovsky subtly feels and cannot stand the lie, which has become too much around him. His path provokes the reader to take a closer look at himself: does everything suit me? Shouldn’t something be changed before it’s too late?
The Dog, like Ryabov’s other stories, is a prickly, countercultural work. However, this is the case when the counterculture is not shocking, but a way to talk about the unsightly corners of the soul – hidden cruelty or indifference, pathological greed and selfishness. After all, as you know, problems should be spoken out before they transform into something more terrible and destructive.
Dog. Kirill Ryabov. Fluid, 224 p., 437 rubles.