About the just-released book of Galina Sokolova “A Dreadful Night or a Visit of the Green Fairy” (excerpt from the review).

Before talking about Galina Sokolova, I want to talk a bit about Odessa literature in general. Because it is a separate phenomenon in the Russian-language literature and everyone understands why this happened.. A free city, a mixture of nations and languages, a unique flavor, that is, Odessa gave birth to its own separate, South Russian school of painting, and its own literary school, different from others, and very strong.

Moreover, literally every work of the authors of this school was attended by Odessa, as a separate hero of a novel or story.. Odessa is diverse, bright, populated by people of different classes, religions, and therefore insanely interesting. Unfortunately, we are now witnessing the disappearance of old Odessa and its transformation into a unified city.. The population is changing, Odessa residents are leaving in search of a better share, natives of other cities come to their place, Odessa architecture is being replaced by modern concrete boxes, turning Odessa into something like a sleeping area of ??some metropolis.

And here there is an interesting phenomenon.. Odessa holds tight in the hands of his writers. Do not let out of their tight hugs. Dominates writer. If you reread everything that is being written now, then basically it is about Odessa, moreover, Odessa is no longer existing. The reader is nostalgic for her, and the writer not only meets him, but he also longs for the past. And because there are numerous memoirs, about what was, as we spoke in the Odessa language, that is, modern Odessa literature - basically describes life, language, resurrects some stories of Odessa life. This is a direct path to the reader’s heart, the easiest and absolutely win-win.. There is also a certain value in it, it somehow prolongs the life of our glorious parent in the memory of our descendants, but this is not for long.

On the other hand, the question arises, does this approach limit our literary field, does it reduce it to serving local tastes and preferences? Is it really that good? Such sad thoughts sometimes occurred to me when ....

And then Galina Sokolova appears. Absolutely dissimilar to others, neither classics, nor contemporaries, nor anyone but herself. With some fantasy stories covered with some frills, layers of time, meanings, diving in time here and there. Her prose has no relation to time at all; it pierces the time from today to antiquity and back..

Fantasy is boldly combined with sometimes even naturalistic details of the life of Odessa, and its slang, not always clear to me, by the introduction of earthly and mundane characters, purely from Odessa, but nevertheless, the work of Galina Sokolova dramatically breaks out of the general context of not only the south , but also throughout Ukraine. It stands alone, not like anyone. She has no predecessors, and followers will probably be. So, Galina Sokolova may be starting a new postmodern, as Veronika Koval, school. And this school, too, note, was born in Odessa! But, is a step forward, which is very valuable.

Her story is very densely peppered with quotations from different poets, of all times and peoples, and inserts that refer us to various branches of knowledge.. From the laws of physics to the details completely unknown to the broad mass of the people from the life of amoebas and seals. The erudition of the author strikes. But then there is a small roll. All the same, the overall plot should outweigh the volume. That is, by the number of pages, it certainly outweighs. But, on sensation, no. Since these erudite inserts, being unexpected, are perceived very sharply, then emotionally make up 50 percent of the sensation from reading, that is, they are equal in sensation to the plot.. And it pushes him a little, or something. In short, the inserts are a little smaller, or the main story is bigger.

I would very much like to say about the language of the story. There are such bits that you just lick your lips off from pleasure reading. Especially descriptions of seascapes. For example, ". the wave, touching the coast with my hand, is such a fresh image! But again, a fly in the ointment. Maybe I'm wrong, but I would like throughout the story to either such a language as in the description of the sea, or a common language as in the rest of the. Although, perhaps, this is the author's idea, poetic pieces to tell poetic language, and household - household.

And yet, about the scene on the Volga, in 1917, her vision of a great-grandmother, falling to her knees in front of an icon and simply, as in everyday life, praying to the Lord: “Yes, take all my children, finally, where are you looking? I beg, please, and you and nothing! They all eat, eat and eat!

Here are just leave Vadinka, and all the rest, tidy up, I'm tired of them ". Scene of Shakespeare's power and heat, written in a specially landed language.

In any case, for today Galina Sokolova is one of the most interesting authors of Odessa, original, gone ahead and indicating to us that time is passing and new ways are to be found in literature, and she does not have one more book, but we will read and be surprised about!.

It turns out that not all is said in literature! You can still invent something! ! !.