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The Vale of Tears

The Vale of Tears

17 hrs. 30 min.
Language Russian
Narrator Grigory Perel
Narrator Grigory Perel
Description
In the new novel by Mikhail Elizarov, winner of the “Russian Booker” and “National Bestseller” awards, he tells the story of a retiree named Sapogov. He decides to sell his soul to the devil in a bid to gain the missing impressions in life, because he feels lonely, without vivid memories, and lives modestly. Elizarov skillfully shows how fairy-tale motifs affect vulnerable groups—such as children and the elderly—who for whom scary stories become a way to order chaos.

Elizarov is known as a prose writer and musician, author of books “Earth,” “The Librarian,” “Pasternak,” and “The Little Cartoons,” as well as collections “Nails,” “We went out for a smoke for 17 years,” “Buratini,” “Shells. Cubes.” His new novel is titled “Yudol.”

An excerpt from the novel describes a scene from a courtyard, where characters wait for a shipment transport with sugar. Everyone has swollen fingers, and they cross themselves when they see their hands. Against the background of an old truck resembling a Soviet catafalque, a scene unfolds in which the neighboring crowd suffers from the same strange illness. The described action creates a requiem-like atmosphere.
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