Kamenopád – Kononěnko Jevhenija (2024)

The allegorical novel Stone Orgy by Yevhen Kononenko intertwines two symbolic, interrelated stories. Each takes place in a different time period: one tells of the life of the community of early Christians before the Roman Empire embraced Christianity. The second plot unfolds in the present day, in an unspecified location, has a slightly fantastical touch, and simultaneously refers back to that ancient story. The author, with an ironic perspective, depicts the marital drama of a writer and a programmer who come to realize that deciphering the mysteries of their lives is not easy at all – unresolved relationships do not protect them, but rather harm them. The novel raises a number of important questions. Can fate be changed, can reality be influenced? Is everything that happens to a person inevitable? Were people's feelings in ancient times the same as today? And when does a man truly begin to value a woman? And he answers himself that understanding between the sexes is no longer aided by established behavioral patterns, but by the creation of values and self-realization.