It's Raining In Moscow is a transporting novel about a Hungarian family in Romania. István Beczásy and his family are dispossessed of their national identities, and are robbed of their properties, and deported time and again, but they still endure to recount the history of survival. The novel spreads out in time and space, which links the fate of the family with Romanian-Hungarian politics under the communist regime – mostly after WWII. The author has magically used the narratives and voices: 1st person, 3rd person, Blackbird, Barn Owl, Dog, Bedbug, Cat, and Hemlock fir – all are compelling and give a unique perspective to look at the story and the world. If we ever fancy, how the plant and animal kingdom would remember our story, or recount it, perhaps this novel has fulfilled one such wish.
The novel starts with a Chapter
called Hunt 1947. The characters from
this chapter will later be charged with treason by their own comrades. Then we
move back in time to when István's great-grandfather acquires a vast
stretch of forest from Prince Stirbey. Moulin Rouge (Cabaret); Counterfeit
Francs; People's Court where István is tried; Domiciliu Obligatoriu (DO)
forced on the family; Episode of Deportation; István's torture; A cat recounting
the History; Iron Gate, and the Circus Finale – almost written in a stream of consciousness,
all the chapters connect the dots of Beczásy's life – a representation of
minorities living in Romania, 'many of whom were deported to labor camps in the
Danube Delta.' (Dénes Sályi, hungarytoday.hu)
All I want is to eat, like everyone else. That's all. I completely
subordinate my whereabouts to this life program: after all, life is too short
to be anything but happy. – Bedbug
Wealth, glitz, money: these are not everything, because they are
ephemeral, they come and go. True feelings, timeless human values, are far more
important, for they last for ever and ever. – Bedbug
The Holocene came to an end when humans developed the potential to
exterminate themselves, and went so far that they couldn't come up with any
other means of preventing their own extinction butte extermination of the whole
planet. – Cat
The story is also built around
the tension of Transylvania – where minorities have always struggled throughout history. The novel is a Historical tour of minority lives in Romania under the communist regime, and a state suffering its own complexities of the power
struggle, where people were treated not for their virtues and values but for
being elites or traitors to the state – and the judgements were often morally
corrupt.
Zsuzsa Selyem's novel is unique in narration, is almost a plotless historical, family, and personal adventure, and has voices, that can be overlooked, but what it has achieved cannot be forgotten. The first reading was not enough for me, in the second reading the puzzle was solved, and in the third reading, I recognized the art and immediately cherished it.
Publisher: Contra Mundum Press (https://www.contramundumpress.com)
