So that the draughts would not blow what is best 3

Laura Verbickaitė
www.kamane.lt, 2016-04-15

In brief: D. Kalinauskaitė's The Hause of Draughts (Skersvėjų namai, 2015, Tyto alba) speak of real and imaginary, close and strange, physical and spiritual home, about the droughts blowing in them an inside a person. The book of everyday problems, full of imagination and various cultures, forces the reader to think and protect from the draughts "what is best."

The Hause of Draughts consists of nine short stories connected by the topics of family relationships, the infinite flow of time, values and human loneliness.

The topic of family relationships is disclosed in the short story "Passenger." A man, a woman and their teenage kids are swimming in their thoughts and concerns. Although they are one family - everyone is detached from a boring common life.

The title of the book - The Hause of Draughts - quite aptly reflects the topic of volatility of life, feelings, thought change and search for home developed by the author. Home is one's own, close environment, but also closed, in which we sometimes feel like in a cage. The characters of D. Kalinauskaitė's short stories are familiar, real people, perhaps carrying some features of the author's character. But the stories that seem to be about everyday life are entwined into a fictitious fabric, which has no clear demarcation between what is true and what is false.

The Hause of Draughts is full of imagination and unexpected events. The writer's talent to create stories is particularly visible in the short story "The Most Benevolent Archeology" in which she tells about how a person's image is created based on the discovered shopping list. This short story analyzes the issue of accelerating pace of life and people's desire to escape that vicious circle.

While reading the book your attention is captured by author's versatility. D. Kalinauskaitė describes people of different genders and social strata - women, men, rich and poor. Author talks about the domesticity and about distant lands and travels. Her short stories are full of names of geographical places, social phenomena and contemporary realities.


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