Anyone who can type on a keyboard can publish their own book nowadays. To find a truly good book, a reader sometimes has to wade through a heap of graphomaniac opuses. About hooligan children who misbehave in some unnatural way. About daydreaming children who dream as if they and the author were stuck in the 1970s. About the children of some fools who do very strange things, as if they have no idea about the world around them at all. Imitations of Soviet authors, carbon-copy detective stories, simple-minded tales about kittens and puppies, and the like... And then, when among this fast food of children's literature you finally get your hands on a book by a truly talented author - that is a celebration!
"Willy" by Nina Dashevskaya is such a celebration. This is light, elegant, transparent prose, written in fine language, absolutely original and innovative. It is magical realism in genre; fantastic events take place here, but it is not entirely clear whether they are really happening or if the main character's imagination is so closely intertwined with reality.
The main character is a boy named Seva, an ordinary schoolboy. He is not unhappy, but somewhat lost; he has his head in the clouds and doesn't experience strong feelings or ambitions. Seva's world is transformed when, unexpectedly, he finds himself with a talking bicycle. Maybe it doesn't talk—maybe Seva himself speaks for it, we don't know—but the bike becomes a true friend, taking the boy to various unusual places and introducing him to interesting people.
On a gray street, a wonderful green garden is suddenly discovered in a courtyard, tended by an unusually tall girl. Her name is Augustina Blum; she bakes fragrant pies and dreams of opening her own bakery. And not far from home, it turns out, there is an amazing bookstore whose owner is fond of old maps. Wonderful friends appear at school: one is the smartest student in the class, the other a talented violinist. And, by the way, music plays in the background throughout the story—after all, Nina Dashevskaya is a musician. Seva is a diminutive; the character's full name is Sebastian, in honor of Bach. Seva's mother loves Bach and listens to his music on vinyl records. And Seva's father is an architect and builder, constructing either castles in the air or solid and comfortable stone houses. And Augustina's parents are actors; they seem to be constantly away on tour with the theater, but maybe not—perhaps they just are never around.
At the end of the book, everything falls into place: the Bach, the theater, the castle in the air, and the talking bicycle. All the threads lead back to the real world. Masterfully done. If the higher powers of literature haven't generously sprinkled you with magic dust, you couldn't dream this up.
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