I liked it. It鈥檚 not something genius, of course, but it鈥檚 a good book with some fun and some thought-provoking aspects.
From the annotation, you get an impression that this will be a kind of social satire based on a light fantastical premise (a cloned Neanderthal man is living in today鈥檚 Ukraine and judging our society) 鈥� and it looks like this from the beginning. However, near the end, you understand that there is no fantasy here, and satire becomes more like a regular social drama. (A similar approach was in Fredrik Backman鈥檚 鈥淢y Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She鈥檚 Sorry,鈥� although 鈥溞斝感残窖� 谢褞写懈鈥� is much simpler and way less pretentious/adventurous.) And this little trick is probably a good thing because I would have never picked up a book about such unpleasant stuff as child abuse, etc. by default while "the Neanderthal storyline" intrigued and amused me.
Well, although the main subject is unpleasant, the story handles it very kindly and softly. It鈥檚 one of those books that fills you with love and faith in people more than anything. The main character is a tender soul, and he manages to infect other people around him with this tenderness and vulnerability. I feel sorry that I will not see this guy again; I would gladly read more about his further life (especially if it would be not so 鈥渆xotic鈥� as here, where his first and main real-life experiences were work in a traveling circus and in pornography) and his relationships with people. We do not have many kind and simple role models like him in our literature (and in society in general).
The book has a very interesting language: as in our society in real life, language is a marker of internal maturity and people鈥檚 relationships with their own identities. Most of the time, the main character speaks to us in 鈥溠佈冄€卸懈泻鈥� (and the author is playing with it very funny sometimes, including quite refreshed 鈥渋nternal鈥� jokes about 鈥溠€褍褋褋泻芯褟蟹褘褔薪邪褟 褔械谢褞褋褌褜鈥�), but when he is in love with something, really inspired and enchanted by something beautiful, he thinks and talks in perfect and exquisite Ukrainian. This makes the book very special from this point of view (very specific for us, Ukrainians, today).
There are some very cool secondary characters in the book, especially the intellectual pornographer 袘芯谐写邪薪 ))). Seriously, I want to know more about this man )). And 鈥溞⑿拘谎栃�-邪谢泻芯谐芯谢褨泻鈥�! And 鈥溞啃拘惭栄傃€褟薪邪 袨谢褟鈥�! And 鈥溞葱笛€卸褋谢褍卸斜芯胁械褑褜 袧邪写褨褟 袩邪胁谢褨胁薪邪鈥�!
However, in general, it鈥檚 this simplistic and kind charisma of the main character, 小褌褜芯锌邪, that makes all the regular people (who look not very appealing from the beginning) shine and become dear to you. At the end of the book, you somehow see a cool team of good friends, each one of them is a separate fascinating story.
Overall, I liked the author鈥檚 style and want to try something else from his books. I felt that he is a good combo with 小械褉谐褨泄 袞邪写邪薪 and his non-judgmental, lyrical, and thoughtful prose about Donbas people. (I automatically thought about 小械褉谐褨泄 袞邪写邪薪 every time when the book mentioned 鈥渁 famous poet 袗薪邪褌芯谢褨泄 袨屑械谢褟薪械薪泻芯,鈥� although I suppose 鈥溞愋叫把傂拘谎栃� 袨屑械谢褟薪械薪泻芯鈥� was not based on 小械褉谐褨泄 袞邪写邪薪 鈥� at least directly.)