I received this book as a gift for my birthday from a good friend, with a taste in books I really admire.  She read a review in an urban magazine and said to her self that the subject would actually fit me just fine. So right she was as I finished reading Pismovnik, almost devouring it, in about 5 days.

Being in a long distance relationship for almost a year now, I related very well with him and her, two young people in love writing letters to each other while he is at war. I think there is a right time in your life to read a certain book. There are feelings you empathize with, there are thoughts you find a meaning for.

At first, I thought to myself that it would be a cheesy book, but like my friend, Andreea, told me : ‘Russians have never written cheesy books’. Now, after reading the book, I have to give her the credit for that.

Sasha and Volodia manage to grow a relation even if they are not one near the other through the letters they send to each other. They get to know themselves better, by telling stories about their childhood, about their parents, about experiences from their lives. They keep asking questions about what things happen in a certain way, about why people need to go at war and they try to find answers together.

I haven’t found to much information on this book on the internet, I don’t think it has been translated in too many languages. I wouldn’t consider it an important and relevant book for the international literature, but it does have a certain charm which is sometimes reason enough to read it.