Тополиный пух

"Ėmigrat͡sii͡a - ėto smertʹ", - govorit odin iz personazheĭ geroi͡u ėtoĭ knigi - molodomu cheloveku, vyrosshemu v semʹe moskovskikh uchenykh i pereekhavshemu v Ameriku. Ne prizhivshisʹ tam ni v provint͡sialʹnom i͡uzhnom gorodke v dome svoego ott͡sa - chernokozhego voennogo v otstavke, ni v evreĭskoĭ ėmigrantskoĭ srede na Braĭton-Bich, on pytaetsi͡a naĭti oporu dli͡a nachala novoĭ zhizni, ustroivshisʹ na rabotu v pansion dli͡a prestarelykh vykhodt͡sev iz SSSR.Po khodu deĭstvii͡a, dinamizma kotoromu pridai͡ut semeĭno-istoricheskoe rassledovanie i dazhe ėlementy polit͡seĭskogo detektiva, molodoĭ chelovek uznaet o trudnom moralʹnom vybore dorogikh emu li͡udeĭ v gody sovetskoĭ vlasti i ob ikh posledui͡ushcheĭ popytke vernutʹsi͡a k zabytym nravstvennym korni͡am. Nadezhda na obretenie tverdoĭ pochvy pod nogami poi͡avli͡aetsi͡a, kogda v zhiznʹ geroi͡a vozvrashchaetsi͡a, kazalosʹ, navsegda uteri͡annai͡a li͡ubovʹ.

"Emigration is death," says one of the characters to the hero of this book, a young man who grew up in a family of Moscow scientists and moved to America. Having failed to take root there either in a provincial southern town in the house of his father, a retired black military man, or in the Jewish emigrant environment on Brighton Beach, he is trying to find a foothold to start a new life by getting a job at a boarding school for the elderly from the USSR.In the course of the action, which is given dynamism by a family-historical investigation and even elements of a police detective, a young man learns about the difficult moral choices of people dear to him during the years of Soviet power and their subsequent attempt to return to forgotten moral roots. The hope of finding solid ground underfoot appears when a seemingly lost love returns to the hero's life.