"Okkervil River": a summary of the work of Tatiana Tolstoy

The unbearable grayness of being. Where to run? How to hide from her? And maybe, dispel with the help of a colorful dream? Everyone has his own recipe, which, however, does not guarantee complete healing and is accompanied by a mass of side effects, such as an even more viscous, deep disappointment. As they say, we treat one thing, but another appears, no less severe. About such grief-treatment and is in the story of the contemporary writer Tatiana Tolstoy "The River Okkervil" (The summary of the work follows).

Storybook

1999 year. The publishing house Podkova publishes a new collection of short stories by Tatyana Tolstoy under the rather unusual name "The Okkervil River", a summary of which is given in this article. Needless to say, the book was a great success for a wide range of readers. Why? As they say, the reason does not like to walk alone and takes with him a myriad of girlfriends. Therefore, the reasons why the book so quickly found its reader and fell in love with it for many years, and one of them is the author's undoubted talent, Tatyana Tolstoy, her poetic style, a little self-willed, full of epithets, metaphors, and unexpected comparisons, her peculiar humor, Her mysterious, romantic-sad, magical world, which then enters into a fierce confrontation with the world of a transitory, somewhere meaningless, oozing anguish, then gets along with it quite amicably and peacefully, suggesting philosophical reflections.

Summary: The Okkerville River, Tolstaya Tatiana

The collection includes the eponymous story The River Okkervil. In short, the plot of the story is simple. Lives in a large, "wet, streaming, beating wind in the glass" city of St. Petersburg someone named Simeonov - a nosy, aging, balding bachelor. His life is simple and lonely: a small apartment, translations of boring books from some rare language, and for dinner - fused raw cheese and sweet tea from the interculture. But is it really so alone and joyless, how can it seem at first sight? Not at all. After all, he has Vera Vasilyevna ....

In the story "The Okkervil River", the brief content of which can not convey the beauty of the work, its radiant, eclipsing half-sky voice radiating from the old gramophone every evening told him the words of love, or rather not to him, not to him she was so ardently in love, but in essence , Only him, only his one, and her feelings were mutual. Loneliness Simeonova with Vera Vasilievna was the most blissful, most long-awaited, most deceased. With him, no one and nothing could be compared: neither the family, nor the home comfort, which lies in wait for him here and there Tamara with her matrimonial syllables. He needs only disembodied Vera Vasilievna, a beautiful, young, pulling a long glove, in a small hat with a veil, mysteriously and leisurely strolling along the quay of the Ockerville River.

The Okkerville River (a short summary of the work you are currently reading) is the final stop of the tram. The name beckoning, but Simeonov was never there, did not know its surroundings, landscapes and did not want to know. Maybe it's "quiet, picturesque, slow as a dream in the world," or maybe ... That's exactly what "can", probably gray, "marginal, vulgar", once seen, freeze and poison it with its hopelessness.

One autumn

The summary of the work The River Okkervil does not end here. Once in the autumn, when she bought another rare record with Vera Vasilyevna's charming romances from the crocodile speculator, Simeonov learned that the singer was alive and well, despite her advanced years, and lives somewhere in Leningrad, albeit in poverty. The brightness of her talent, as often happens, quickly faded and soon faded, and along with her, diamonds, husband, son, apartment and two lovers flew into oblivion. After this heart-rending story, two demons started a serious argument in Simeonov's head. One preferred to leave the old woman alone, lock the door, occasionally opening it for Tamara, and continue to live "at no extra cost": love in moderation, languor in moderation, work in moderation. The other, on the contrary, demanded immediately to find the poor old woman and make her happy with her love, attention, care, but not free of charge; in return, he finally looks into her full eyes with tears and sees in them only immense joy and long-awaited love.

Long-awaited meeting

No sooner said than done. The street address bureau prompted the address you sought, albeit, everyday and even somehow offensive - for only five cents. The market helped with flowers - small, yellow chrysanthemums wrapped in cellophane. The bakery offered a fruity cake, decent, though with a thumbprint on the jelly surface: well, nothing, the old lady sees badly and surely will not notice ... He called. The door flew open. Noise, singing, laughter, a table littered with salads, cucumbers, fish, bottles, fifteen laughing and white, a huge, bruised Vera Vasilievna, telling an anecdote. Her birthday is today. Simeonov unceremoniously squeezed the table, took away flowers, cake and forced to drink for the health of the birthday girl. He ate, drank, smiled mechanically: his life was crushed, his "magic diva" was stolen, or rather, she gladly steals herself. To whom did she, the beautiful, sad, albeit bald, but prince, exchange? Fifteen mortals.

Life goes on

It turns out that on the first day of each month, fans-lovers of Vera Vasilyevna gather in her communal apartment, listen to old records and help what they can. They asked if Simeonov had his own bathtub, and if so, they would bring him a "magic diva" to swim, because there is a common bath, and she loves to wash as she likes. And Simeonov sat and thought: Vera Vasilevna died, we must return home, marry Tamara and eat every day hot.

The next day, Vera Vasilievna was brought home to Simeon - to swim. After long ablutions, she went out all red, steamed, barefoot in her dressing gown, and Simeonov, smiling and slowed down, went to rinse the bath, wash off the gray pellets and pull out his gray hair from the drain hole ...

Conclusion

Have read the summary of "The River Okkervil" (Tolstaya T.)? Good. And now we advise you to open the first page of the story and start reading the text itself. About a dark, cold city, about a bachelor feast on a newspaper spread, about ham scraps, about precious meetings with Vera Vasilyevna, who so brazenly and unceremoniously tried to destroy Tamara .... The author does not regret paints, does smear strokes, sometimes even too much, drawing every detail, catching the smallest details, full and convex. Do not admire it!