“The Rebinder Effect” is a novel published in 2014. The book has collected several prestigious awards and many positive reviews. The author of the novel is Elena Minkina-Tycher.
The Rebinder Effect is a book whose author says of himself: “I am more a doctor than a writer.” The writer was born in Moscow, graduated from a medical institute. At the moment, the author of the book “The Rebinder Effect” is a medical practitioner.
Minkina-Tycher lives in Israel, works a lot. When it finds time to write works of art is unknown. Nevertheless, the works of the Israeli writer of the reviews are completely enthusiastic. So, what is the book that Elena Minkina recently published?
The Rebinder Effect: Features
This novel is a collection of chapters, each of which is called a line from the work of Pushkin. The book contains a wide variety of characters: from a gifted musician to a plain, dreamy schoolgirl. The author called the work “The Rebinder Effect” a family saga.
Why does the book have such a title? The Rebinder effect is a change in the strength of a material, as a result of which its ability to deform increases. Minkina-Tycher writes about people who survived Stalin's time, the thaw. Over these difficult years, their characters acquired flexibility and the ability to adapt to life circumstances.
Other books by the writer:
- "Where milk and honey flow."
- "Woman on a given topic."
"A storm is covering the sky with darkness ..."
This story is about a boy who grew up in an ordinary Moscow communal apartment. Father died at the front in 1942. He was raised by his mother and grandmother. Once a woman came to their house. She cried sobbing. Later, when the boy grew up, he found out that the stranger was involved in the “doctors' case”.
Leva was only five years old when he was brought to a music school. The audition was attended by a well-known teacher who noticed a gifted child and took to his class for playing the violin. Since then, Leva has been studying music for four hours a day.
Mother and grandmother constantly fought for his love. This continued until a new person appeared in the house. He was bald, plump, but extremely positive. Mom’s groom offered her a hand and a heart. And then he took with him to the distant city of Khabarovsk. Soon both grandmother and beloved teacher died.
"Her sister was called Tatyana ..."
They were neither sisters nor even distant relatives. Olya and Tanya were friends from elementary school. Tanya’s mother was the same woman who once came to Leva’s grandmother. The woman was suspected of sabotage. Tanya’s mother was fired. And her daughter almost lost her friend. Oli's father had nothing against the Jews and admitted that there could be mistakes in this high-profile case. However, his daughter forbade friends with Tanya. But Stalin soon died. Suspect suspects were released and reinstated.
When grandmother died at Leva Krasnopolsky, Tanya volunteered to help this young genius. She took care of him until her parents arrived. And then Leva left with his mother in the Far East, without even saying goodbye.
“Not everyone will love happiness ...”
The fate of the heroes of the book are intertwined. Tanya and Olya are school friends. One of their classmates is an unusual girl named Kira. She is completely different from her peers. And the manner of dressing, and appearance, and family. An unusual atmosphere reigns in her house. Grandmother turns to her granddaughter exclusively in French. Kira’s room has a lot of amazing and beautiful things. And most importantly, there is a secret in this family.
In one of the short stories, the author talks about the sister of mother Kira. The girl was convicted under article 58. In prison, she gave birth to a girl, but soon died. The daughter of Kira (a friend of Olya and Tanya was named after a relative) was adopted by a simple and uneducated Evdokia. A woman raised the daughter of an enemy of the people in a deep province. And no one ever found out that Kira was not her native.
“Not that fate has been assigned to me by fate ...”
Olga’s father did not in vain convince her of the need to stop friendship with her only friend. He knew firsthand what a punitive state machine was. Ivan's parents were dispossessed at a time when he was educated in the city. Neither mother nor father reached Siberia: they died along the way. Since then, Ivan lived quietly, fearing unnecessary conversations, trying to attract as little attention as possible. And in the same spirit brought up his children.
The fate broken by the revolution is discussed in the book “The Rebinder Effect”. Elena Minkina-Tycher does not divide her characters into positive and negative. It tells about the tragedy of the victims of dispossession, and the sad fate of children, whose parents once stood at the origins of the so-called war communism.
Life spared no one. But the heroes of Minkina-Tycher, despite the betrayal and death of their parents, continue to live. The protagonists of the novel are an outstanding physicist, a talented musician, and doctors who fulfill their duty selflessly, despite adversity and poverty. The heroes of the book “The Rebinder Effect” are people who have dedicated their lives to the profession.