Wake in Winter (2014/ 2016)

Wake in Winter is a Russian novel initially published in 2014 in its original language and then in 2016 in English by AmazonCrossing. The novel was written by Nadezha Belenkaya and then translated by Andrea Gregovich. It's 368 pages long in my Kindle edition. This is Belenkaya's first novel, although she has written a variety of other shorter pieces of literature previously.

Before beginning the novel I naturally read the "About the Book" section, which is ultimately the blurb in digital format. I was thus prepared for a mysterious novel with rather threatening elements and almost a crime novel. That's not exactly what I got when I read the book itself. The novel is technically one single chapter, "These events actually happened", which is then divided into parts by diamond symbols.

The grim sense of foreboding and corruption is present from the very outset of the novel. At first the descriptive style felt superficial and forced but it improved soon enough and became a more natural read. Nina, the Russian Spanish-speaking doctoral student, is the central protagonist who embarks on a journey far removed from her academic bubble to that of independent international adoptions. Her interpreting jobs and especially her trips to Rogozhin are associated with risks and danger, underlined by the fact that the road itself is dangerous as it is accident prone. The risks go beyond this, in her approach to work where she ventures to bend and recreate some new rules. I was able to identify with the descriptions of the foreign language department in the university having already been part of a language department during my Bachelors degree.

Overall I found the characterisation in the novel to be good. Nina was relatable in many ways and appeared to be a fairly typical dreamy language student while clearly having her own marked, traits peculiar to her. She is well-developed and generally convincing. The dilemma of being interested in academia and research while not necessarily being financially successful is quite a real issue. Ksenia appears to be an opposing personality and yet her words and style are convincing and highly realistic. For me it wasn't very difficult to conjure up this sort of person in my mind as you can quickly identify her attitude, or at least elements of it, in a whole array of people that you may have come across. The background stories relating to the children up for adoption were particularly well-crafted and touching.

I found that in the majority of the novel Nina wasn't facing any real physical threat, which is what I was expecting, however she risks losing rather her integrity, her moral and ethical dignity and her surrounding relationships. The novel is more a story questioning the risks of the soul and more specifically evaluating the power of money and how it can affect even an 'unsuspecting', innocent soul. In some ways it reminded me of A Picture of Dorian Gray in terms of the development of a seedy character which is masked by the accumulation of wealth.

Belenkaya brings attention to the nature of literature and what is or can be credible. She also uses her novel to open up the discussion as to the role and nature of literature, where it may be a means to convey incredible depth and meaning or simply provide a fleeting experience that is quickly forgotten. Being the only contemporary Russian literature I have read and only having read a few of the classics, I feel I can only compare her to the greats, the likes of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, who wrote immense works about the human soul, and I'm not quite sure Belenkaya has acquired that depth yet, although she shares some similar themes.

On several occasions we are forced to ask ourselves whether the situation described in the novel is true or not. For example the name of the chapter already wants us to believe the events were real, and a discussion between Nina and Dina brings up the idea of writing a story of these adoption events with the given chapter name. However the proposed name of the novel is different to the one we're reading and we're given a disclaimer at the beginning of the book, before the novel, noting that this piece is entirely fictional. Again this attempts to blur the line between fiction and reality and the desire to believe or not believe in certain events actually taking place.

My overall opinion of this novel improved with the case studies of certain children and the plot twist at the end. I feel they really did do the author credit and embellished the novel. I was disappointed because I was expecting something far more captivating and engaging but it was more of a slow read and not full of the drama (or as much drama) as I had expected. My disappointment was rooted rather in that it wasn't the type of story I was expecting, but on its own merit, it was a good first novel.