First published 1976
A man watches the sun set over his changing world in the opening tale of this collection. Chorb returns to retrace a painful journey. A passenger observes fellow travelers with sharp attention. Someone writes a letter destined never to reach Russia. A narrator creates his own guide to Berlin's hidden corners. A doorbell rings with unexpected consequences. Thunder rolls across the sky as characters face their moments of truth. Old friends meet again after years apart. Daily life reveals its small dramas. Christmas arrives with its particular mixture of joy and melancholy. A businessman rushes through his crowded schedule. Nabokov presents thirteen separate worlds, each containing its own complete emotional universe. These stories capture the displacement of exile, the weight of memory, and the strange beauty found in ordinary moments.
Genres: fiction, short-stories, literary-fiction, 20th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: displacement, exile, ordinary-moments
Setting: Berlin, Russia
Period: 20th-century
179 pages · Hardcover · McGraw-Hill