Rose

“Sometimes I ask myself why I need an external figure to write: a mother, a father, Svetlana. Why can't I write about myself? Because I am the basis of the reflecting surface of a mirror. The metallic coating. You can stare for a long time at the back side of the mirror and see nothing but fine shimmering dust. I reflect reality.” The autofiction trilogy, begun with the books “Wound” and “Steppe,” is completed by Oksana Vasyakina with a novel in which she tries to unravel the mystery of the short, almost weightless life of her aunt Svetlana. From small fragments of memory, a complex image emerges, where difficult relationships with a mother, domestic disorder, and indifference to one’s own fate coexist with almost childlike vulnerability and purity. But the further the heroine delves into the story of Svetlana, the more she realizes the unbreakable connection with her and the more she learns about herself and the nature of her writing.