Greetings, Steemians and Steemettes!
In retrospect, yesterdays blogpost about bookcases is probably one of my favorites so far. For one because it was the first time that I was actually going somewhere for the sole purpose of taking some pictures and inspiration for a post but also because I was able to do it together with someone else. With that being said, I am glad that I was able to leave from work somewhat early today. There has been a lot going on this week, so taking this opportunity to lay back for a bit is most welcome.
After yesterdays post, it feels only natural to talk about a book today. A while ago, while throwing out all the things that have no place in my home anymore, I stumbled over an old box. In that box, I left a couple books that I read a couple years ago. Different genres as usual, but there were also a couple books of Sergej Lukianenko in there. Does that name ring a bell? It may because I mentioned that name in another post of mine before. I read the book in german, so I will translate everything freely as I see fit.
50 Greyshades of Rodin
"Rough Draft"
I actually had to google for a couple minutes until I found the English name for this book which surprises me. The German name of the book that I own is "Weltengänger". Translated into English, it would mean as much as "Worldwalker" or "Worldwanderer", something along those lines. Similar to spectrum, this story plays in russia again. We have a different main character though. A young man named "Kirill", a 25 year old young man working in an unspectacular job for some software company. Sounds about as bland and boring as real life can get, right?
Picture found on lovelybooks.de. Not the cover of the book I own myself, but I liked it enough for wanting to add it. I actually like this author so much that I feel like writing a couple more reviews on books written by him in the future. Especially now that I have just stumbled over most of my own copies again.
The first page welcomed me with a nice comparison between having remarkably unlucky days and others that are on the bright side of life. A notion you as someone who has walked the earth for a couple years now can probably relate to, right? I know I can. Some of these days, everything just seems to go well. You wake up, feeling great about yourself, you go through your workout exercises with unparalleled vigor and everything you touches ends up being great.
Some of these others days, you feel like you should have just stayed in bed because everything you surround yourself with seems to end up rebelling against you. The only really good thing that can be said about days like these is that they make you appreciate the good times a bit more and that after having lived through the worst, it can only become better. But let us put that to the side.
What do you think how Kirills first day in the book went?
There's something strange in the neighborhood
Tell me if this sound familiar. You had a rough day going through your daily grind. After a while, you finally manage to get home, only to find out that there is someone in your house. Does it sound familiar? It may. Some people have had all kinds of thieves and robbers enter their homes. Some of them have been able to catch these red-handed trying to steal away their belongings.
Not Kirill.
Entering the apartment his parents gifted to him, he finds out that everything he ever owned is gone. Well, gone would be the wrong word here. It has been replaced all together! All of his furniture, his belongings. The only thing still around that seemed familiar is his dog called "Cashew". People give their pets silly names no matter the country you are living in I suppose. But let us not stop there. Apparently, Kirill has also been replaced because as he finds out, his apartment also has someone who claims that the apartment doesn't belong to him.
A woman called Natalya finds herself in big distress over a stranger, our main character Kirill, entering "her" home. A trait she shares with Kirill although his source of course is Natalya with all of her belongings being in his apartement.
Even you, Cashew?!
Of course, Kirill ain't having nothing of that, so he calls the police. All the commotion also put his neighbors on the spot who take his side in the conflict. Yet he has no solid proof for the apartment actually belonging to him to support his claims. To make things even worse, Kirills dog Cashew behaved strangely towards him, being distant and at times even aggressive towards him. Not what you would expect a dog to behave towards its beloved owner, right?
Feeling destroyed and desperate about this bizarre case of depth, Kirill asks a friend of his, "Konstantin", called "Kotja" most of the time, for advise. The two of them met at Kotjas place, discussed the strange events, drank some cognac and made some plans for the following days. Making plans is always a nice thing to do because it makes you feel like you are grabbing your problems by the collar and work them real hard until they won't bother you anymore. I can relate to that. Making plans is always a great thing.
Plans turn to shit
Kirill went to several agencies trying to get some documents that help him reclaim his lost apartment. As he does, he finds out that Natalya and whoever she is working together with in this bizarre case of depth are very thorough in their work. All documents that should be supporting Kirills cause are actually in Natalyas favor. Somehow, this apparently isn't because of recent change or forgery, everything hints towards it always having been that way. Talk about a bad day getting worse.
Well, it's getting worse. Wanting to get some time to settle all of these things, Kirill calls in his working place. He wants a free day so that he can take care of things. The phone call ended up being highly bizarre because neither his boss nor his close coworker seemed to recognize him. Which of course reminded him of Cashews strange behavior early on as well. Feeling odd about this, Kirill tried to call in some other friends of his. Almost all of them have forgotten everything there is about him aside from a very few who managed to re-remember him after being reminded about past exploits enough. Even his parents who were sitting pretty having a vacation in Turkey were close to forgetting about him.
Being highly alarmed, Kirill consoles his friend Kotja who also was close to forgetting all about him. The two of them are clueless about everything that is going on and understandably scared. I don't know what train of logic they followed here, it was a very far reach, but out of options, they asked a fantasy author Kotja knows about his opinions on the matter. Needless to say that he didn't have anything helpful to say about the matter either. To top it off, Kotja and Kirill made the mistake of going down from the authors apartment by different means, one of them taking the stairs, the other the elevator.
By the time they meet again, Kotja already has forgotten about Kirill.
Feeling desperate
Out of options, the only thing Kirill can come up with is confronting Natalya because everything seemed to started by the time she somehow stepped into his life. He goes back to his former apartment, actually threatening her with a knife, feeling suspicious about her and her behaviour. As she offers him to talk things through calmly and in detail, she actually jumps into his knife, killing herself in the process.
The commotion puts both Kirills former neighbors and the police on the spot. With his former neighbors not only recognizing him but swearing that Natalya has been their neighbor for years, Kirill seems to be in a bad spot. Murder is a heavy charge after all. Being beaten and put into a police car waiting to be transported t the police station, the effect of whatever makes people forget all about him is still active. The policeman soon forgot everything about Kirill or why he was in the car in the first place, manufacturing a story about him being nothing but a drunkard they picked up along the way while the murder has escaped. Kirill uses this to escape.
Well, I guess there is a silver lining even to having your life taken away from you, right?
Kirill called his father one last time, finding out that he as well has forgotten about him. Feeling hopeless and ruined, he decides to go to their place and stay there for the night, not knowing how to proceed after that. Even all of his papers seem to start to just turn to dust and god knows where this may end.
The End?
No, these were actually just the first 100 or so pages. The entire book is about 600 pages long and it actually has a sequel that I also read in the past. The story get's even more bizarre and interesting from that point onward. If you are into bizarre present time stories, I can highly suggest buying this book. Especially if you like the taste of a foreign culture while reading.
Pictures taken from an offer from Ebay Kleinanzeigen. Could have just photographed my own two copies, but these two look a lot less messy than mine