The novel "Sugar Child," a summary of which is given in this article, is a work by the writer Gromova. In fact, this is a documentary book written from the words of a real character, the little girl Stella. Her childhood fell on hard times in the Soviet Union - the 30-40s. The book, written in early 2010, immediately became a bestseller, winning the love of readers and the respect of literary critics.
A novel about a girl
Sugar Child, a brief summary of which makes it possible to understand the essence of the work, is a very sincere novel. Readers admit that he takes for the soul and fascinates from the first pages. At the center of the story is little Ale. She grows up in a strong family where love and respect for each other reign. A happy idyll collapses at one point when it turns out that her father was recognized as an "enemy of the people." What is this, she still does not fully understand. But her life is changing dramatically. Quiet family evenings are replaced by experiences, daily stress.
Alya finds herself in a terrible, unpleasant world where everyone is not happy with her. Father is being arrested. He is taken away from home, nothing is known about his fate. All attempts by the girl’s mother to break through the bureaucratic wall end in practically nothing. "Enemy of the people" is in the dungeons of the NKVD.
Elea and her mother are also treated inappropriately. They are sent to a camp for family members of traitors to the motherland. For them, there is even a special unpleasant abbreviation - CHSR. Socially dangerous elements (ESR) are also brought here.
The camp is located away from their home - in Kyrgyzstan. Unfamiliar and difficult climate, severity of moving, difficult living conditions. All this negatively affects the condition of the girl.
Teenage Romance
Despite all the trials that fall to their lot, Ale and her mother do not despair, do not lose heart. Olga Gromova writes a classic teenage novel in which she shows how a parent, even in critical circumstances, should and can help a child transfer the most terrible moments in life.
Eli's mother constantly jokes, sings songs, reads verses of her daughter. They are trying in every possible way to take care of each other. They will face illness and hunger, but nothing will make them part. “Sugar child”, whose protagonists have to literally survive in the circumstances, is also a parenting novel. A very fascinating book about true love, as well as what is internal freedom and human dignity. The freedom that can be in every person even during the years of repression, the most accurate definition is given by Eli's mother. In her opinion, slavery is only a state of mind. If a person is internally free, then it is impossible to make him a slave.
The novel "Sugar Child", a brief summary of which is in this article, was awarded prizes and awards. In particular, the book was included in the long list of the prestigious literary prize "Book", received a diploma in honor of the famous science fiction writer Krapivin.
Summary of the novel
Next, we will try to dwell in more detail on the plot of the work in order to better understand the ideas that the author laid down. Almost everyone will find something in their "Sugar Child". Summary is an excellent proof of this.
At the center of the story is a mother who has had bone tuberculosis and has received disability because of this, and her 6-year-old daughter. Due to the arrest of the head of the family, they find themselves simply in the inhuman conditions of the camp for elements undesirable in Soviet society. But even here they do not despair, in every possible way trying to cheer up each other, most of all fearing not for themselves, but for the fact that they might injure a loved one.
The inner world created by them resists external horror. Only he helps them survive. At times, author Olga Gromova describes simply terrible episodes. Little Ele warden smashes his nose with a rifle butt for wanting to pluck a tulip in a flowerbed. But even this does not allow the heroes to become hardened and give up.
Life after the camp
Then Gromova in “Sugar Child” describes the life of the heroes after the camp. True, they are not allowed to return to their hometown, but are sent to distant Kyrgyz villages. Here they meet good and kind people who are sympathetic to the situation in which the mother and daughter find themselves.
Settled Kyrgyz live here, dispossessed Ukrainian families. Everyone respects the Kyrgyz culture and language, which even more locals have for them.
The meaning of the name of the novel
In this part of the novel we learn the meaning of its name. Kyrgyz begin to call Elya "Kant Ball", which is translated from their language means "sugar child." An analysis of this work is best based on its brightest chapter, The Great Reading.
It tells how almost every evening all exiles, including Russians, Ukrainians, as well as local residents, get together in one of the barracks. They tell each other stories about their lives, retell famous works related to their culture, read poems, stories and novels. For example, Gogol and Pushkin. Moreover, it is often translated into Kyrgyz.
These evenings, readings at one table unite everyone living in this village, in difficult, sometimes simply unbearable conditions.
The novel describes 10 years, and all subsequent events of the life of the main characters are summarized in the epilogue.
Who is this book for?
Sugar Baby is a family reading book on quiet evenings. A great opportunity to establish an internal dialogue in the family, to tell children about the unpleasant and scary pages of the country's history, which you still need to remember.
In addition, this is a wonderful novel that can demonstrate to all modern people how to stay human and not lose one's dignity, even in the most difficult conditions. Those who were not lucky enough to get into the millstones of history manage to maintain faith in good people, as well as love for their land and their homeland.
In fact, this is an eternal story based on new material for children's domestic literature. This is the story of a girl from the last century, which is also brilliantly illustrated by the artist Maria Pasternak. Throughout her work, she was in close contact with the author. Therefore, she managed to depict everything as close as possible to the way the writer imagined it when she created her work.
The writer Gromova
The author of the novel "Sugar Child", the theme of which can be defined as love for loved ones and the preservation of human dignity, in ordinary life works as the chief editor of the journal "Library at school". Therefore, she knows very well what works of children's literature today students face, what modern children's literature appears on store shelves and bookshelves in libraries.
Moreover, in order to create such a work, she needed a certain courage. After all, the topic of Stalin’s bans was practically never raised on the pages of children's literature, and a taboo was secretly imposed on it.
Parenting novel
At the same time, Gromova’s book continues the Russian and Soviet tradition of parenting novels. They must be present in each teenager’s home library. After all, such books allow you to understand internal problems, find out the details of the history of your country, if not the most pleasant ones, to realize the basic moral rules that you should adhere to all your life.
Previously, such compulsory reading was Dostoevsky’s Netochka Nezvanova, Leo Tolstoy’s trilogy about growing up, and the novels by Kataev and Oseeva. Today they are being replaced by books by contemporary authors. Sugar Baby is one of the most successful reading examples for the new modern generation.
Prototypes of the main characters
Another advantage of this novel is that everything that is said on the pages of “Sugar Child” is not fiction. The book is biographical. It is based on the memoirs of Stella Nudolskaya. It is she who is the prototype of the main character - the girl Eli.
As the author ironically notes on the pages of the novel, her parents really were socially dangerous elements. At least, at that time, facts from the biography that Eli's parents had were often evaluated at that time. And at Stella, mom and dad had a higher education, knew several foreign languages ​​at once, in their free time they painted, played musical instruments. They had an enviable pedigree. Grandfather Eli is a pillar noble who worked at the Tula arms factory.
Thus, it turns out that this book is the only one that tells about the Stalinist repressions and at the same time is addressed to children.
Nudolskaya, who became the prototype for this novel, also wrote her own documentary biography. She got the name "Do not let yourself be afraid." However, for a children's work such a name, of course, did not fit. Therefore, the novel was decided to be called "Sugar Child".
For Thundering, the publication of this book was a matter of principle. She promised to do this to her friend Nudolskaya, who died long before this work was released.
Acquaintance of Thunder with Nudolskaya
Gromova met Nudolskaya when they were neighbors in a communal apartment, back in the Soviet Union. The writer describes the woman who became the prototype for her future work as a lonely but strong man. When they met, Nudolskaya lived alone. Her husband died, and her son worked far from Moscow. Despite all the everyday and life difficulties, she found the strength to lead an active lifestyle. She read a lot, specially went to the club of veterans, where she introduced old people to literary novelties. She created a group for young mothers, in which she taught everyone to sew and embroider.
Gromova in her memoirs describes a talkative woman with a sharp mind and a delicate sense of humor. She constantly told her about her life in Central Asia, work on the Chukchi Peninsula, about schools near Moscow where she studied after the war, when she and her mother were finally allowed to return from Kyrgyzstan. In her stories, Nudolskaya very accurately and in detail described the characters, situations that she faced in life, and the world around her.
Political Prisoners Day
It was from Nudolskaya Gromova that she learned that every year on October 30 the day of political prisoners is celebrated in the Soviet Union. At that time, this topic itself was banned. The new girlfriend of the writer was just one of those who suffered from political repression.
However, freer times soon came. Perestroika began, and Gromov and Nudolskaya began to process these memories and publish them in the form of essays in newspapers and magazines.
Soon her son returned from the North. He was terminally ill and could not work as before. The main goal of Nudolskaya’s life was taking care of him, visiting hospitals and clinics, it was necessary to get the necessary medicines.
She did not break even at that moment, she became a model of stamina and vitality. And for Thunder herself, and for her readers. Because the image of the heroine is recreated in the novel is very realistic.