The exciting novel immediately after its publication has attracted the attention of both readers and critics, won the second prize in the competition The Bolshevik king, as well as entered the prestigious awards Jasnaja Poļana shortlisted and received a reader’s sympathy award. The competition jury notes that this literary work is “a bright and voluminous landscape of modern city life from an unusual point of view – it is viewed through the eyes of an ironic and clever cat. The novel tells the story of a Moscow cat, nine lives, and the author uses a new, most unexpected turn of events in each chapter of the novel (there are as many as ten), resulting in a wide and colorful collage of the modern city, in which readers are captivated by the four-legged character and the sometimes ironic intonation of bitter humor. Surprisingly fresh and crisp prose “.
Grigorijs Služiteļs can thank his experienced, internationally acclaimed colleagues for his successful entry into writing – he was the first to read the manuscript Lazarus women a Bezdievju Street author, writer Marina Stepnova, but on her recommendation – also a novel Laurs a Aviators author, the outstanding Russian writer Yevgeny Vodolazkin. His preface says: “Sometimes it happens that a talented actor and a talented writer incarnate in one person. And the two talents begin to interact, brightening and multiplying each other. This is what happened to Grigory Služiteļ.
Cats are not a fresh, innovative topic in the literature. I will not list everyone who has written about these ancient and inviolable animals, although I am silently making such a list. Nor will I remind you that from time to time, human features pass through the shape of a cat. All I can say is that Služiteļ’s characters – be they cats or humans – are real. Lonely, tormented, laughing and loving. Lasot Savelija’s days, I caught myself thinking that in this novel the author has really turned into a cat. Such an activity is uncharacteristic for a resident of the capital, one could even say exotic, but it is extremely important for a writer. “
Grigory Služiteļs (1983) studied acting with director Sergei Genovač, works at the Moscow Theater Art Studio under his direction, is a group O’Kasey soloist.
The novel was translated from Russian by Renāte Punka, who also gave Latvian readers the opportunity to get acquainted with Anna Starobiņeca’s book. Look at him The life story of Rūdolfs Baršajs written by Oleg Dorman Nots, as well as translated from English novels by Emma Hilija, Karen Giles, Frederick Bakman and many reference books on art history and perception. The author of the book’s cover design is Andrei Bondarenko, and illustrations by Alexander Nikolayenko have been used for the artistic design.
The book was published with the financial support of the Russian Literary Translation Institute.
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