!!!! Fresh review on Tulubaikaporia by Jason Arias on Reedsy Discovery:

❤️

Another beautifully strange and impressive foray into the void, from up-and-coming Russian-British author Vanya Bagaev.

Tulubaikaporia (subtitled: a ritual) is the newest literary creature birthed from the multidimensional mind of author Vanya Bagaev. The best current taxonomy for the genre of this book is probably “experimental novel” but that doesn’t quite capture the true essence of the laboratory I believe Bagaev to be composing his alchemy in, nor the appropriate mindset helpful for a reader to get the full impact of this book. Structurally, Tulubaikaporia is comprised of twenty-six “episodes” (that read like specific moments that sometimes bleed into each other, other times evaporate out of the other) via an array of viewpoints and characters with the one shared commonality of a vanishing village named Tulubaika (or is it an essence, a nostalgia, a dropping through a helix-shaped wormhole[?]). Most characters are trying to get back to (or discover) the fabled Tulubaika (e.g. waiting with strangers for a bus that may never come, making their way alone through frozen lands with only a flask). The “episodes” seem to vary from feeling very contemporary to very old creating both a simultaneously immediate and surrealistic space.

I always enjoy the journeys that Bagaev creates for us. He appears to be playing with the evolution of literary craftsmanship, and Tulubaikaporiais no exception. There is always the quality of well-handled inside joke within the prose. But, this is not your typical story that is going to do all the work for you. It’s necessarily ephemeral. A town is vanishing, after all. And, as Bagaev states in an introduction to this book, “To save it will require a ritual, and we need you.” While this could be written off as a promotional guise in lesser hands, here it is in your best interest to accept the task and fully engage. To give yourself over to these episodes and question where they are within you. What is vanishing may already be a part of you. What is it? And why is it vanishing? One passage that I feel is a kind of Rosetta Stone from this book reads: “Tulubaika might be a point containing all points of the universe, a kind of singularity in this multidimensional space.” Another divulges, ““This novel,” he says, “is really ‘bout t’structure of t’universe and how it works, and t’village is a framing device,” was what he said, I remember this nonsense word for word, still got a sharp memory, I do.”” As the above reflects, while Tulubaikaporiamay be a difficult book to classify, it is nonetheless chocked full of intellectual appeal and esthetic stimulus, even if you decide to only be a passive participant.

So, maybe this is just a novel pushing the boundaries of our current literary plains. Or, maybe it’s an invitation to consider how conversational and profound a piece of writing (even fiction, especially fiction) can be when we are tasked with giving more of ourselves to the experience.