Dump-Truck Gruzovik Novel, 96 pp Publisher: LiveBooks, 2007 Reading material in English is available

Synopsys
From the young prize-winning writer comes this funny, blunt and audaciously unsentimental account of a young single father’s misadventures.

The story begins in hospital, as Vladimir Lorinkov, the narrator and protagonist, bon vivant and womanizer, successful journalist and prize-winning writer, stands watching his wife die while  he holds his bawling newborn son in his arms. Before she dies, Vladimir’s wife names the son (Matthew) and makes her husband promise to take a good care of him. So he will, no matter what it takes. It is no surprise that the promise proves hard to keep. Vladimir is forced to battle with his son’s month-long dysbacteriosis, to change his own blithe life style, and even his job - he becomes an interpreter of dreams, as this allows him to work from home. As Vladimir has to face the trials of child-rearing - sometimes dramatic, sometimes absurd, and often funny - he discovers that he does not simply accept the situation, but starts to take pride in his little Matthew - and, ultimately, to love him. It is at this moment, though, that a final challenge emerges: the young widower has to struggle to prove his right to fatherhood against a successful and influential businessman, who appears at the door of his house claiming to be his wife’s lover, and Matthew’s real father!

Fresh, insightful, hilarious and unsettling, Lorchenkov’s Dump-Truck is certainly closer to Nick Hornby’s About a Boy than to a single father’s guide to parenting.

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