Laurus

by Eugene Vodolazkin

I have often regretted the things I have said, but I have never regretted my silence.

Cool statement but i have that regret of silence

And then there is the fish with many legs. No matter what color stone it swims up to, it takes on that color: if it is white, it turns white, if it is green, it turns green. Some people, child, are the same: they are Christians with Christians and infidels with infidels.

Why are there no names on the graves? Arseny once asked. Because they are already known to the Lord, responded Christofer. And their descendants have no need of the names. In one hundred years nobody will remember who they belonged to. Sometimes that even happens after fifty. Or maybe even after thirty.

The list of sins of medium gravity included tardiness in arriving at a church service, or its opposite, leaving the service prematurely. Or—during the aforementioned service—wandering around the church, and having extraneous thoughts. Improper observation of a fast, laughing to the point of tears, coarse language, idle talk, winking, dancing with devilish minstrels, using false measurements and false weights with a customer, stealing hay, spitting in someone’s face, striking with a scabbard, starting rumors, condemning a monk, gluttony, drunkenness, and spying on bathers.

Do not die, Grandfather, for I will be left alone on this earth. And therfore, child, mortal fear took hold upon me. My heart is breaking and I am crushed to leave you, but I cast my sorrow on the Lord, as the prophet says. From this time on, He will be your grandfather.

A week hath seven dayes and serves as a prototype for human lyfe: the first day is a childe’s birth, the second day is for a yonge man, on the third day he is a growne man, the fourth day is for the middle of the lyfe, fifth is the day of graying, the sixth day is for old age, and the seventh day is for the ende.

I know you are dreaming about death. You are thinking death now possesses everything you held dear. But you are wrong. Death does not possess Ustina. Death is only carrying her to Him Who will administer justice over her.

God will forgive you, said Kseniya. You serve your memory and display boundless devotion, but know, O Arseny, that you are destroying the living in the name of the dead.

from his hair with her long tongue. Arseny observed the sway of her udder for hours and sometimes pressed his lips upon it. The cow (how shall I udder your name?)

What the?

The sisters were displeased by the arrival of the rat but they dared not object to Foma. And their anger ceased when they saw Arseny’s smile. This was his first smile in many months. He sneezed when holy fool Foma tickled his nostrils with the tip of the rat’s tail.

This book is disgusting

it’s as stale in here as inside the Devil’s ass.

The ensuing winter was dreadful. Neither the Pskovians nor, even more so, Arseny could remember a winter like it. Admittedly, Arseny did not remember how many winters had passed since his arrival in Pskov. Maybe one. Or maybe all the winters had blended into one and no longer had anything to do with time. They just become winter.

since there was no Orthodox church in Vienna anyway. He wanted to see a huge cathedral from within. Beyond that—and this was likely the most important thing—he had never been to a Catholic mass. It makes a twofold impression, Arseny reported to Ustina from St. Stephen’s Cathedral. On the one hand, there is the sense of something kindred because we have common roots. On the other hand, I do not feel at home here: after all, our paths diverged. Our God is closer and warmer, theirs is higher and grander. Perhaps, my love, this impression is superficial and caused by my ignorance of Latin. But throughout the entire service I just could not determine if the Austrians themselves know it.

Yeah after all our God is all about making us suffer

My name is Laura and I do not understand your language. I see you are somehow dispirited but I do not know the reason for your sorrow.

This book reviewing itself here

But what death is not stupid?

My love, Arseny said to Ustina in the port, it is very possible that my journey—but not my love for you—will come to an end right here.

Please. Let it end here

Everyone who seeks the Promised Land resembles Moses,

Arseny slept for two or three hours each day but could not free himself from the sorrow around him, even when he slept.

How i feel about your fictional life as well Arsney

Spring differed from the other seasons because its onset was the most noticeable and strident.

Do not seek me among the living under the name Arseny, but seek me under the name Amvrosy. That is what Amvrosy told Ustina.

Stop changing your name

Laurus is a good name, for the plants that carry this name, laurus, are medicinal. Being evergreen, they signify eternal life.

but not descriptive of this book in the slightest... bad marketing

I no longer sense unity in my life, said Laurus. I was Arseny, Ustin, Amvrosy, and I have just now become Laurus. My life was lived by four people who do not resemble one another and they have various bodies and various names. What do I have in common with the light-haired little boy from Rukina Quarter? A memory? But the longer I live, the more my reminiscences seem like an invention.

No, not everything will be as it was before, answered Laurus, since nothing in the world recurs. I do not think you want that anyway.