Within the framework of the Russian Booker literary prize, the jury is assembled as a whole three times. At the first meeting, the experts draw up a “long list” of authors admitted to the competition. Then six of the best are selected from them - short list. And already at the third meeting, the winner is announced. The long list of "Russian Booker" -2012 was published on July 12 and includes 24 authors.
The list is opened by Marina Akhmedova, a special correspondent of the Russian Reporter, with the book “The Diary of a Suicide Bomber. Khadija . This is the story of a girl becoming a suicide bomber growing up. The novel is based on real facts gathered by a journalist.
The work of another award nominee, Yuri Buida, is based on real events. In "Blue Blood" he takes as a basis the life story of the actress Valentina Karavaeva, giving the heroine of the novel a different name, but a similar, very intense and tragic fate.
Dmitry Bykov claims the prize with his book "Ostromov, or the Sorcerer's Apprentice." This is the final novel of the trilogy, in which the writer returns to the eternal theme of the "superfluous person".
The story of a man who has reached a dead end is shown in the novel of the next nominee, Valery Bylinsky. "Adaptation" is a book that critics have hardly inscribed in the genre characteristics of the novel, but the theme of the narrative is quite consistent with this large form. The author examines the psychology of a person in an existential crisis.
Andrey Volos was nominated for the second part of the trilogy about the end of the Soviet era - the novel "The Chairman". The study of history can be called the work of another author on the list - Yakov Gordin. In the book "The Soldier and His Empire" he tells about the fate of the hero of the Napoleonic wars A. P. Ermolova.
Returns to recent history Georgy Davydov, who in the novel "Pied Piper" writes about a man who saw rats in the Bolshevik leaders. The hero sees his mission in the extermination of these "animals".
The essence of Andrei Dmitriev's novel "The Peasant and the Teenager" is reflected in the title itself. This is a novel about the interaction of people from different worlds, different and at the same time somewhat similar.
Oleg Zayonchkovsky has already been shortlisted by Russian Booker. This time he is presented with the novel "Spree" - about a man who went on spree and suddenly became a real hero of a detective story.
Alexander Ilichevsky has also already been nominated for the prize, became its laureate with the book "Matisse". In 2012, the author was included in the long-list with the novel "Anarchists" about a successful businessman who decided to down-shift and left for the village to devote himself to painting.
Two nominees for the Russian Booker address traditional themes. N. Kryshchuk in "Your Life Is No Longer Beautiful" writes about death, and A. Melikhov in his book "And There Is No Retribution for Them" - about the son's revenge for the death of his father.
A. Kurchatkin and E. Limonov talk about the fate of the writer in our country. Kurchatkin in the novel "Flight of the Bumblebee" writes about a fictional character, and Limonov - about his fate.
The works of the next three nominees are united by color and richness (eventful and imaginative). S. Nosov in his book "Françoise, or the Path to the Glacier" writes about the heroes who went to India to meet with a brahmana. E. Popov in "Arbayt, or Wide Canvas" demonstrates the genre of the Internet novel. In Popov in "Dance to Death" intertwines themes of fear, tragedy, humor.
The next four novels share the theme of madness, chaos, and complex relationships. Z. Prilepin in "Black Monkey" shows this on the example of one person. O. Slavnikova in "Easy Head" - a person and society. A. Slapovsky in "The Big Book of Changes" and M. Stepnov in "Women of Lazarus" write about the complex interweaving of the fate of several heroes.
At the end of the list are the novels of three nominees - A. Terekhov ("The Germans"), A. Chepelov ("Before Europe"), V. Yagovarov ("The First Brick Project"). The authors explore various topics, but there is a general approach in these works. Writers in the context of current events talk about eternal moral values.
