About Love

Victor Astafyev’s book “About Love” is a collection of stories about the complicated, multilayered fates of former front-line soldiers in the first postwar years. These stories show how hard it is to return to ordinary life after what has been endured: the heroes try to cope with memories of the war, with inner pain and anxiety, and learn to live again among loved ones, where feelings often intertwine with resentments, distrust, and misunderstanding. The postwar reality appears harsh and grim, yet it is precisely love—fragile and stubborn—that becomes a support and a source of strength for the characters, even when around them there are losses, disappointments, and moral trials. These stories are about human endurance and about a rare, salvific warmth that helps you stand through after the war.

The collection includes the stories “A Breather; An Agitated Dream; Take It and Remember; Wife’s Hands; A Bright Day?; Live Your Life; A Sailor-Shirt from the Pacific; The Passing Goose; Pioneer—An Example to All; Under What Star Were You?”