Red Crosses; Sasha Filipenko
Europa Editions - August - 2021
It's a rare book that has an overall sad storyline can also make the reader smile at times.
Sasha Alexander is a 30 year old widower and father of a young daughter whose life is in upheaval since the loss of his wife. He moves back to Minsk in an effort to move beyond his loss. Oddly, on the door of his new apartment he finds a large red cross. It isn't long before he learns the culprit is his neighbor, the 91 year old Tatyana Alexeyvena who is slowly losing her short term memory. She painted the crosses as a way to find her way back to her own apartment.
With her long term memory pretty much intact, Tatyana is anxious to tell her new neighbor her earliest memories. Born in London, she moved to Russia at the age of nine (her father was Russian). She marries, has a daughter and her husband eventually became a POW in WWII. If that isn't terrible enough she was seen by the Russian government as a traitor and sent to the gulag for a decade where she was tortured.
So it's probably difficult, based on this, to see how a story like this could occasionally make me smile yet, it did. I loved the Tatyana character and the way she tells us about her past. Although she seemed lucid most of the time, memory is a funny thing even for those of us who still seem to have it all together. Do we always remember the painful parts of our past exactly as it happened? For a story that is only about 200 pages, this wasn't a quick read for me. The translation was very good but the way the story is told takes took time for me. There are telegrams, poems, letters peppered within the story. I do wish Sahsa's story was a bit more developed but, overall, this book was well-done. It's been a long while since I've read a book translated from the Russian so I was happy I tried this one.
Rating - 4/5 stars
The eGalley was provided to me as a free download courtesy of Europa Editions and Edelweiss in exchange for my unbiased review.
I love plots similar to this...where an older person begins to remember the past, but is it really true or is it jumbled up still? Unreliable narrators are always fun.
ReplyDeleteI love an unreliable narrator as well but, I think many people seem to shy away from stories with them.
DeleteSuch an interesting storyline, sounds good.
ReplyDeleteIt was different and quite interesting as well.
DeleteI am intrigued by the plot. It sounds like a lovely story.
ReplyDeleteI do like when an older person has a story to share in fiction.
DeleteWhat a heartbreaking life! I haven't read a book translated from the Russian in who knows how long!
ReplyDeleteYes, I was wondering that as well. Dr Z perhaps:)
DeleteI love the sound of Tatyana, and her story intrigues me.
ReplyDeleteIt was an interesting story, and I liked the writing a lot as well.
DeleteYes, timing is everything for me too!
ReplyDeleteSounds like tough reading at times, but so interesting!
ReplyDeleteYes, I didn't know much about that time in Russian history, terrible what some people went throuhg.
DeleteTatyana (and the red crosses on the doors) intrigues me. Also, I'm always drawn to books with an epistolary nature and the inclusion of letters, poems, and telegrams appeals to me.
ReplyDeleteThe book was just different - but, in a good way.
DeleteMemory is definitely a strange thing. I noticed mine has slipped ever so slights in my 50s. I am not as good at remembering people's names as I used to be.
ReplyDeleteHelen, my memory with names was really good when I worked in HR. Since I retired, if I meet someone new, at yoga for example, unless I do the name/word association when they tell me their name, it is gone in a minute - LOL
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