Joël Dicker – The Book of Baltimore

Family influences the way our personalities develop. Grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and parents are modifier factors for the relationships we will have with other grown-ups. The new book of Joël Dicker centers upon this aspect, presenting childhood in a brutally sincere way. That conglomerate of feelings we could not have explained, observing rules, behavior approved in society, brutality and cruelty of the children of the same age with us, are minutely analyzed. From this point of view, The Book of Baltimore is for me an extraordinary novel. The same style, just like in his previous book, making you sit tight and keep reading ceaselessly until the end of the story.

With feeble unskillfulness, I would say that Joël Dicker is the magnificent writer of these last six years.

Lyudmila Ulitskaya – Childhood and other stories

They say a good book is when one escapes from the tactile present. One reads, and with every word the connection with the narrative becomes so strong that one can feel the breeze going through the character’s hair. Moreover, a good book is like a good actor. Every page may be suspected of ‘having played’ its part in a believable way if one understands even characters’ uncomprehensive uneasiness. Lyudmila Ulitskaya’s stories are believable actors. And not because they went to a fancy school. On the contrary, they talk in a simple, open and sincere way about recurrent issues and ideas. It is the mirage of that universality to which we all have access, whether we realize it or not. 

Smile, please!

Illustration by Cristi Vecerdea-Criv

Take a shot, dear ...Maybe you get lucky...

(At ease! Let's laugh! by Cristi Vecerdea-Criv, published in 1990 at the Military Publishing House)