new publication
English translation published by Glagoslav
We follow a small, puny man who begins to take his life into his own hands. Separated from his tribe as a child, despised and tormented for his weakness, Ilget later leads his own tribe and takes them on a path of revenge. Revenge for his lost childhood, the loss of his twin brother and the loss of the love of his life.
In ILGET, as in its companion novel MEBET, the author Aleksandr Grigorenko does not treat the Siberian Taiga in the high north of Russia merely as an exotic background, his interest lies in exploring the rituals of the northern people and their mystical beliefs, asking the old questions about existence, happiness and the loneliness of man. But not as a classical saga, instead with a modern novel of magical realism. Like on a movie screen we witness gods and demons, pledges and profanity, love and blood bonds, supplications and rituals. And at the end we realize that there is only a small step separating us from those savages – for, after all, we are all human beings.
„Braving the commercially suicidal subject of „northern ethnicity“ for a second time and even though he uses the same material, Grigorenko successfully manages to produce a completely new novel that in no way resembles MEBET. And which has a moral message.“ GALINA YUZEFOVICH