Culture. Eat it
10 November 2015
There is no doubt that the best way to measure “reading happiness ” is empathy, the ability that allows you to enter into the emotions of others and be wrapped in them. And if you, dear reader, decide to trust me this time, you are gonna be Leo Stepanovich Demidov, a respectable MGB official from the Soviet Union in 1953.
Child 44 is the tale of the hunt for a serial murderer. Tom Rob Smith brings to light, mixing reality and fantasy, the story of Andrei Chikatilo – butcher of Rostov – one of the most brutal serial killer in history. From the first pages you will see however that the strength of this novel is not the police investigation, but the ability of getting involved.
In Stalin’s Russia the crime does not exist. Apparently it shouldn’t be so difficult for the secret police to face the death of several children and to bring to justice the murderer. This is the certainty of Leo, at least initially. What definitely fascinates, in addition to the cultural and historical background, is the awakening of the main character: he will go from agent inquisitive to public enemy and the fuse will be the love of his wife Raisa, struck by the system, whose strength will soon be in doubt. “When you lose power, the problem is that people begin to tell you the truth.”. Read it if you want to find out what is the real truth.
Time of reading: in one breath
Photography: Sara Cartelli.
© The Eat Culture.
Author
Bio:
She is an art historian, optimistic and empathic by nature. She imagines a world where sow kindness enjoying the little things. She's in love with stories since she was a child, for the Eat Culture she eats books and arts. Per aspera ad astra says the only tattoo on her skin. It reminds her that the road that leads to her dreams is not always easy but that she never gives up.
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