Life Went On Anyway: Stories |
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BOOK
REVIEW by Willard Manus Oleg Sentsov
is, like Vasily Grossman, another East European writer who became a hero
in his personal life. Born in the Ukraine, Senstsov, a filmmaker, dramatist
and writer in his thirties, broke off directing a new feature film to
return home to protest the Russian invasion of Crimea. The FSB (formerly
the KGB) arrested him in 2014 and abducted him to Moscow, where he was
tried as a Russian citizen. Accused of being a terrorist in a trumped-up,
farcical trial, he was imprisoned and "interrogated"-- a euphemism
for tortured--in order to make him confess. While in
prison, Sentsov has written several books, one of which is LIFE WENT ON
ANYWAY. A collection of eight brief stories, the book introduces us to
the work of a deeply human writer, one whose subjects--childhood, school,
friends, family--are dramatized in a wry, self-deprecating, ironic way.
Sometimes humorous, sometimes bleakly serious, Sentsov uses simple, direct
language to paint a bitter-sweet portrait of life and death in Soviet
Crimea. As Blacker points out, "Sentsov's tone, which slides from
streetwise informality into moments of poetry, always keeps you on your
toes." |