About Music (Okolo Muzyki)

Arkady Kalina is in love with the violin, but more so with the sea. He might not even love the violin at all: love is complicated when you're fourteen. This 'complicated' is well known to the sullen 'valenok' Anton, whom his classmates (and, alas, female classmates) seem to ignore. They also don't hear him gloomily belting out 'Oh, it's not evening' in music school—oh well, otherwise it would be shameful! Lyolka, with her bald head, also feels like an outsider in the new neighborhood; she doesn't like the people here. The only cool one is a guy nicknamed John—but he, a skater, couldn't care less about her stupid piano.
The teenagers in Nina Dashevskaya's stories have something to share. Their thoughts, as if accidentally overheard, are like the piano playing of a neighbor next door: the music is familiar, but performed in its own unique way, and therefore captivating. After a few pages of text, you don't want to part with the characters.