Crystal in a Transparent Frame: Stories about Water and Stones

Vasily Avchenko — writer and journalist, lives in Vladivostok. Author of the biography of the writer Oleg Kuvaev (in collaboration with philologist Alexey Korovashko), books "The Far East: The Hieroglyph of Space", "Red Sky. Non-fiction Stories about Earth, Fire and... a Flying Man" and others. Twice a finalist for the literary awards "Big Book" and "National Bestseller".

"Crystal in a Transparent Frame" — a unique, almost artistic and at the same time full of amazing facts description of life in the Far East.

"I am just a person living by the sea. Almost any of my fellow countrymen knows much more about fish, the sea, and stones than I do. But none of them writes about what I would like to read. Both fish and stones remain silent. Therefore, I have to speak."
Vasily Avchenko

"An author who has elevated journalism to the level of magnificent artistic prose. His documentary novel, dedicated to seemingly specific regional problems, is written in such a way that these very problems and life segments unexpectedly resonate with our experiences, our thoughts, and most importantly — reveal some unseen, hidden sides of ourselves."
Andrey Astvatsaturov



3 Reasons to Buy This Book
1. Reading the book «Crystal in a Transparent Frame» is like listening to the stories of a very skillful storyteller. Avchenko captivates with the simplicity of his narrative and excellent sense of humor. This is a look at events and facts from the life of the Far East through the lens of a person for whom this region has become home. The book can be dissected into quotes and aphorisms, with almost every page containing either a precise thought or a subtle joke. 2. The author himself characterizes the genre of the book as «enthusiastic amateurism», claiming that everything told is merely his opinion. However, in each chapter, Avchenko quotes famous authors whose names and fates are connected to the Far East — from Mikhail Prishvin to Oleg Kuvaev, from Alexander Fadeev to Ilya Lagutenko. 3. Vasily Avchenko is a singer of the Far East, where the near abroad consists not of Kazakhstan or Belarus, but of Korea and China. This book is a rare non-Eurocentric view of the world, life values, and the Russian language in modern Russian prose.