For me, this was a bit of a miss (when compared with Vodolazkin's previous work, Laurus).

The narrative style (journal entries rather than chapters) is engaging. The themes of love, justice, memory, and exploring the relative evils of totalitarianism and late-modern capitalism are robust. Somehow, though, the story flags, and the characters are less endearing than the motley medieval assortment of Laurus.

Even so, the thread between Laurus, and The Aviator is an emerging minority report critiquing the "success" of liberal modernity and consumer-driven concepts of flourishing. I do hope Vodolazkin continues to think and write, and I'll keep reading.

It's very...russian. Not a fan of the solipsist style.

Sen nebija lasīts tik labs krievu autora romāns. Lasot, pieķēru sevi pie domas, ka man ir pietrūkusi krievu literatūra. Tai tomēr ir cits stāsta un sajūtu dziļums.

"Aviatorā" galvenais varonis, Inokentijs Petrovičs Platonovs, ir cilvēks, kas ir pazaudējis laiku. Viņa dzīve sākās 20.gs. pašā sākumā, bet grāmatas tagadnes notikumi norisinās tā paša gadsimta pašās beigās. Un nē, Inokentijam nav ap 100 gadu... vispār ir, bet bioloģiskais vecums viņam ir ap 30. Sākumā viņš neatceras neko, bet pakāpeniski sāk atgriezties atmiņas par dažādiem dzīves mirkļiem, pārsvarā ikdienišķām lietām. Tās Inokentijs pieraksta kopā ar savu jaunās tagadnes ikdienu tādā kā dienasgrāmatas formātā (viņa ārsta Geigera ideja), ko tad arī mēs lasām romāna veidā. Kad Inokentija veselība uzlabojas, viņam ir ļauts sākt integrēties jaunajā laikā ārpus slimnīcas telpām. Šī saskarsme ar jauno, kamēr vēl joprojām tiek mēģināts atcerēties veco un ievietot sevi kaut kur laikā un telpā, ir šī stāsta skaistums.

Negaidiet vieglu lasāmvielu, bet esiet gatavi labi uzrakstītam un interesantam stāstam. Kad likās, ka grāmatas iznākums jau tik un tā ir skaidrs, izpildījums tomēr iemanījās pārsteigt nesagatavotu. Šī nebūs tā grāmata, kas ātri aizmirsīsies.

Great premise. Great writing.

I really wanted to like this one more than I did. The literary devices bothered me, as did the shift in voices half-way through.

I’m willing to be persuaded, but I left disappointed.

A wonderful novel about a man who wakes up in 1999 under mysterious circumstances and has to begin putting his life together in a series of notes. He comes to remember that he lived in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, witnessed the fall of the Empire and advent of the Soviet Union, and then suffered under that regime in a way that led to his missing most of the 20th century and reawakening at the start of the new century. The novel is composed of daily notes, first from Innokenty, the patient, and then later from his doctor and one other character as well. It is a study on what we remember as significant in history and time - most people want him to talk about the political and social upheavals he remembers, but he wants to talk about the significance of sounds, smells, relationships, more seemingly mundane things.

"Descrierile trebuie să fie legate de ceea ce nu ocupă un loc în istorie, dar rămâne în inimă pentru totdeanua."