Month: March 2020

Kirill Eskov “The Gospel of Afranius”

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Kirill Yeskov is a paleontologist, and writing science fiction and speculative literature is a hobby for him. The Gospel of Afranius is his first work, written in 1995, for which he received the “Big Zilant” award in Kazan. However, he became widely known to science fiction fans in 1999 with the release of The Last Ringbearer, which completely reinterprets the events of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. I would argue that Yeskov laid the groundwork for this approach in The Gospel of Afranius.

This book is an attempt to view the death and ascension of Christ through the lens of cold logic. The “novella” essentially consists of two parts. In the first, the author tries to assess the known facts and inconsistencies in the story as we know it from surviving sources and the Bible, making it more of an analytical essay.

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Reflections on the “Neapolitan Novels”, Friendship, Violence, and Social Mobility

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I started reading the Neapolitan Novels after being bombarded with rave reviews about the book. And I must say, I was not disappointed. Though the book didn’t grab me right away. The saga follows the lives of two friends, from their childhood to old age, spanning from the 1950s to the early 2000s. And this friendship is quite strange—it’s filled with envy and competition. It’s more akin to a codependent relationship between a man and a woman (let me clarify, this is about psychology, not about any kind of romantic love, which isn’t part of the dynamic between these friends). It’s the kind of relationship where they can’t break apart, but being together for too long is unbearable. The two are bound by elastic cords that can’t be snapped. And if they do part ways, it’s only to crash back together with twice the force. They compete with each other throughout their lives, yet it doesn’t stop them from helping one another.

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Robert G. Fresson “Flying Colors”

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The book Flying Colors: A guide to flags from around the world caught my attention with its title. After all, it’s genuinely interesting to learn why each country has its particular flag and what significance lies behind it. The cover even promised to delve into the history of all these colors and shapes. I was intrigued enough to buy the book in print, which I rarely do these days. But I had no choice, as there’s no digital version available.

The book is quite small, just 112 pages. And even those pages don’t contain much text—there’s a lot of graphic content. Plus, early on, the author introduces little helper figures of different colors (they’re even on the cover, raising flags like American marines). It’s unfortunate, though, that these helpers don’t play much of a role later on. They appear in nearly every illustration, but quickly fade into the background, becoming “white noise” that you barely notice. I had expected each one to serve a unique purpose, but that wasn’t the case.

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Fredrik Backman “Three Novellas”

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I’m somewhat hesitant to read all of Fredrik Backman’s books at once, even though his first two really resonated with me, more than I expected. Maybe that’s exactly why I’m hesitant. Additionally, both of the books I’ve read left a lasting impression, and I feel the need to give myself time to process those emotions and let them settle.

That’s probably why, instead of jumping into his third novel, I decided to start with three short novellas that were recently published in Russian under the “unexpected” title—Three Novellas.

These are really just three very short stories, more like sketches. And all of them are quite sad. I’ve heard some readers refer to them as “stories about illnesses,” and in a way, that’s true.

The first one is about cancer and a little girl. And it’s quite unsettling how Backman, with such brevity and simplicity, conveys the inevitability of death, while also evoking a certain calm acceptance.

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