Three Apples Fell from the Sky - Narine Abgaryan
Anatolia suddenly grasped that there was no heaven and no hell: happiness was heaven and grief was hell. And their God was everywhere, all over, not just because He was all-powerful but also because He was the unseen threads that connect them with each other.
This book is an incredible work of fiction that takes you on a journey through the life of Anatolia Sevoyants, a woman on her deathbed. The story is set in Maran, a village located in the northeastern region of Armenia, where Abgaryan grew up. This novel is both a brave and an experienced work, with Abgaryan filling the deathbed backstory with action, making you care deeply about Anatolia's world and the way of life that seems to be dying with her.
At 58 years old, Anatolia is the youngest resident of Maran, a town that was once a bustling town with five hundred families, but has since dwindled to only 23 occupied houses. The change took place over just a little over Anatolia's lifetime, and she has seen many tragedies in her life, including the devastation caused by an earthquake, a famine that took many lives, and a war that lasted eight years. She is also a survivor of private horrors, having been married to a man who physically abused her.
Despite all of the losses that Anatolia has experienced, the reader comes to realize that the most tragic loss of all would be her own death. She worked as the town's librarian until the library was destroyed in the war, and as the town's remaining connection to literary culture, she is the main hope to pass on its stories.
The novel is written in Russian but infused with Armenian terms, concepts, and ways of being in the world. Translator Lisa C. Hayden does an excellent job of confidently navigating the linguistic complexities of this book, making it a visual and sensory experience for the reader. The rich descriptions of nature, household animals, and religious and cultural mythology all come together to give Anatolia her reasons for living.
The survival of the town and its cultural history is what's at stake to the author, and this is reflected in the way the story is told. Abgaryan uses an omniscient voice through the eyes of several focal characters, making it clear that the town itself is the book's central preoccupation.
Overall, "Three Apples Fell from the Sky" is a beautifully written, compelling novel that will keep you hooked until the very end. The characters are well-developed, and the descriptions of the setting are so vivid that you can almost feel yourself transported to Maran. It's a must-read for anyone who loves literary fiction and wants to be swept away by a captivating story.
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