Brisbane is the story of a man whose sixth sense was music.
Brisbane is a symbol of what is on the other side of the globe, the goal of dreams, efforts, which, of course, is unattainable.
Evgeny Vodolazkin is a laureate of the Big Book and Yasnaya Polyana awards. In the novel «Brisbane» he continues the stories of heroes («Laurel», «Aviator»), whose fate — as in an ancient tragedy — suddenly and immediately changes. Gleb Yanovsky, a virtuoso musician, at the peak of his success loses the opportunity to perform due to illness and tries to find a different meaning of life, a new fulcrum. In this he is helped … by the past — he is trying to put together memories of his Kiev childhood in the seventies, of his youth in Leningrad, the present in Germany and again in Kiev already in the two thousandth. Only Brisbane is not among these journeys through life. And is there really such a city? Or is it just a mirage, dreams, a utopian ideal, the music of the spheres?
“- In your interviews, the city of Brisbane is often mentioned, well, in general — Australia. Why?
— Because when we have winter, they have summer.
— And when is summer here?
— Then they have summer too. Summer by our standards. In our family, this place was considered paradise.
“There’s too specific a population for paradise. Descendants of convicts.
— So what?
— A good biography is required for paradise.
— Have you been there?
— Where, in Australia?
— No, in paradise. How do you know what kind of biography is required there? «
© Vodolazkin E.G., 2018
© AST Publishing House LLC, 2018
© & ℗ Audiobook LLC, 2018
Audio recording producer: Tatiana Plyuta
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