Outdoor Games

The new book by Pavel Krusanov, the author of «The Bite of an Angel», «American Hole», «The Dead Language» and other equally unexpected and discussed works, is this time about hunting. Yes, about hunting in its classical, Turgenev understanding. But Krusanov wouldn't be Krusanov if he limited himself to a banal retelling of hunting stories about trips for waterfowl and game birds. Yes, this is in the new book, and it's told so vividly, brightly, and with such expertise that you feel as if you yourself, like in a computer simulation, slip into the hero's wading boots and squelch through the marshy bogs in anticipation of a successful shot. The book is actually broader, deeper, and more astonishing than just about shooting a gun. And the geography of this book is not only Pskov region around Nvorzhev. There is also the Peruvian selva with its mysteries and nighttime fears. There are many other roads that the author leads us down, immersing us in the complex, sometimes unpredictable world of a person's inner self. And of course, the book contains magic, because, as the author said in one of the interviews: «Literature is not just a game of words and meanings; it is the heir to verbal magic, the magic of spell. Only in the case of literature, the miracle it conjures is of a special kind. After reading a talented book, transformation happens not outside, but inside you. As a result, at least for a time, you become different, and through you, the surrounding reality is slightly transformed».