Рецензия на книгу

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  arailymabdulla27 ноября 2020 г.

  Guzel Yakhina, “Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes”

  The multiplicity of actors is the reason why it is hard to write about the historical events. Especially when you were not a participant, cause probably, contemporaries of the events mights have a different understanding of the events from those that were not present. Thus, when you start reading the book, there is no need in endless discussions about the possible historical inconsistencies. However, we all have a right to write about people and their feelings, because it is about the story and not the history. And to show the course of a history through the prism of an interesting character is a good choice for the author that wants to write a historical prose. Actually, I am sympathizing with the fact that there is something personal in this book, and the author - Guzel Yakhina shares it with us.
  The events described in this book took a place in 1930s in Russia during the dekulakization. These historical events serve as a background for a story about a woman- Zuleikha from a small Tatar village, who is sent to Siberia with other convicts and kulaks. Before this turn of the events, she was a dutiful wife, on whose narrow shoulders were entrusted the household, the indifference of her husband-Murtaza, and the insults from her mother-in-law. Sounds harsh? Maybe, but Zuleikha doesn’t see that her life isn’t her own, her eyes are closed.
  As my impression of this book was vague, I decided to read other reviews. It is interesting, how people whether totally loved or totally hated it. This is a success for the author, since regardless of what kind of emotions her book evokes, we can say for sure that it does not leave the reader indifferent. Not every author succeeds in attracting so much attention from the very first book. And attract not only ordinary readers, but also literary critics. Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes received such awards as “Big Book”, “Readers Award”, and “Yasnaya Polyana”.
  Before talking about the content, I want to discuss the language of this book. There are a lot of descriptions of the surroundings and descriptions of the actions made by the characters, that is why there are a lot of verbs. Thus there is a lack of monologues. I wanted to understand the way of thinking, feelings and emotions of the characters themselves. When Ignatov looks at Zuleikha, I want to know what is he thinking about. Another unclear thing was that in the first chapter we see everything through Zuleikha’s eyes, but in the next chapters it the narrative is in the third person. This transition and the choice of the language are explained by the fact that at the beginning this book was actually a script for a film that Yakhina wrote while studying at the Moscow Film School.
  It was important for Yakhina to tell about those who became victims of the soviet system. She didn’t want us to see a love story and a word “Gulag” in the background. People that were forced to leave their motherland will have to face sufferings, starvation, absence of medical help and death. It affected everyone: men, women, old people, children, all of them encountered horrors of that time. The system forces them to go through this all only to become a free labor force. The same idea is seen in Vodolazkin’s “Aviator”, where Stalin calls these people “a material’ and uses them for experiments.As I already mentioned in the beginning, the author filled the book with something personal- and this something personal is the life story of her grandmother, who was sent in exile with her parents for 16 years. Of course, the stories of Zulikha and Yakhina’s grandmother are different , but anyway it was important for Yakinha to tell us the story of her ancestors.
  So, as we figured out the importance of historical events we can move to the topic of love, which drives this book. It fascinated me no less than the historical aspect of the book. Here, it is not a premitive word to describe the love between man and a woman, but also the love of a mother for her son; love for an idea, for a lifework or the love for life. A fragment, where Murtaza has a conversation with his mother is a very powerful one. When a mother being blind and deaf is still able to feel and understand the pain of her child. A love for an idea, is when Ignatov, a 30 years old man, puts the patriotic feelings above everything else so hard, that he can’t even imagine that it is possible to love a woman. The third type of love- love for life might be discussed in the context of any character, but I won’t to discuss Zuleikha in particular. For me, a love for life is associated with the moments when Zuleikha keeps poisoned sugar in her pocket. The idea of death being so close and so sweet was something genius for me, cause in reality we all are able to take our own lives at any moment and we don’t do that. You have an ability to avoid the pain, the sufferings, and the unknown future, but you keep going. It is a powerful idea.
  Probably, you live in a cave if you still haven’t heard about this book, but I guess it is worth to know whether will Zuleikha finally awake or not, and what will she see? Will someone help Zulikha to finally take her life into her own hands?

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