Alexey Evdokimov: biography and creativity

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Aleksey Evdokimov - winner of the "National Bestseller" - 2003 and the author of the scandalous, ambiguous critically acclaimed "Puzzle". For Alexei and his colleague Alexander Garros (co-author of the book), the novel became a debut. The fact that he caused a controversial reaction did not come as a surprise to the author. According to him, he wanted to write “a provocative book that would be energetic and tough.”

About the author

The writer's mother comes from Ukrainian Nikolaev, where in 1975 Alexey was born. In the passport, Ukraine is indicated as the place of birth. As the writer Alexei Evdokimov says, this fact played a negative role in his biography, and he was able to obtain citizenship through naturalization. In fact, their family has been living in Riga since 1950, since the grandfather, a military pilot, was transferred to this city. Here Alexei graduated from high school and philology at the university. Worked in Latvian publications as a publicist and literary critic.

After debuting in 2001 with Inside Out, together with A. Garros, published:

• “Grey Goo” - novel was released in 2005;
• “The Truck Factor” - in 2006;
• "Juche" - a collection of short stories was published in 2006.

How did it all start?

Aleksey Evdokimov met Alexander Garros, co-author of many books, in the 8th grade. Both were interested in journalism, found a common language and became friends. The school was with a philological bias. Alexey entered the Moscow State University in the correspondence department and took up newspaper business. I had to leave the university, I worked with a lyceum diploma as a “junior editor”. After graduating from the philological faculty, A. Garros came to the publishing house.

They worked together in the Riga newspaper "Hour", after - they were engaged in literature. "Puzzle" was the first serious work. Their plans included writing a hard thriller, something socially provocative. The plot is quite simple - a bank PR man accidentally kills his boss. Then the hero, a completely peaceful citizen, understands that solving problems through violence is both profitable and pleasant, and he gets into the taste.

An office clerk, crazed from his routine life, transforms into a city predator - dangerous and unpredictable. This is the provocative nature of the novel. In addition, the novel ends ambiguously - the reader is free to assume for himself whether everything ended well for the hero or badly. Everything in the book is called by its proper name, the text is perhaps very harsh in places. But this was part of the creators' plans - to draw attention, and remember that black is black.

In the West, literature of this kind has longexists. The creators of the novel simply adapted it “to Russian soil”, and it became a novelty on the Russian market. They did not expect that they would receive national best, where the main bonus is the publication of a book in a large circulation.

Garros - Evdokimov

“The truck factor” is another joint novel by Garros and Alexei Evdokimov. Once they were driving together to St. Petersburg and a huge truck was coming close to their bus. They discussed plans for the future, someone said: “And then the truck rolls over.” Some moment - and the price of all plans is worthless. Here it is - the unpredictability of life, to which they dedicated the second novel. It didn’t take long to think about the name: “The Truck Factor”.

Aleksey was very upset by the death of his friend and co-author, in an interview dedicated to Alexander Garros, he said: “Everything that we write about inconsistency, cruelty, applies to some extent to ourselves. When ruthless illogicality touches a loved one, you wonder: why him?”

A. Garros died in April 2017. He was diagnosed with cancer in September 2015, shortly after the birth of his second child. There was hope that everything worked out. But in February 2017, he got worse - he died on April 6 in an Israeli hospital.

Single Relay

Alexey Evdokimov continued to write books. The debut in “single skating” was the novel “Tick”, published in 2007, which tells about the Secret History of Cinema. It is being restored by people who are completely unfamiliar with each other on a popular site in Runet - they are investigating coincidences in the fates of stars,patterns that connect the most terrible crimes of the century and masterpieces of art. Infatuation seems like a game until they become pawns in it.

In 2008, the thriller “Zero-zero” about the game was released. Schoolchildren and students, managers and fashion models, readers and writers play online and role-playing games. They pretend to be superheroes, kings, elves, aliens. Their lives have become insane - spending money, quitting jobs, leaving families, willing to do anything to keep playing.

In 2010, the book “Thank God they didn’t kill” was published - a mixture of a tough detective story with documentary, a picaresque novel with a parable. One can write about modern Russia only in this genre, the author is sure. The fact that this happened to them cannot but horrify, it can make them laugh, but most importantly, it makes you wonder whose rules we live by. The hero of the book, a poor provincial living in the capital illegally, accidentally becomes a participant in an intrigue where millions of dollars are at stake, and the main player is a security general.

From thriller to guidebook

The book "Riga", published in September 2017, will be useful to everyone who is going to the capital of Latvia or loves this city. The author gives advice on where to go, what to eat and drink, what to see. Those who are considering buying an apartment will find a lot of useful information in the book - about obtaining a visa, about doing business, details about the state of the real estate market.

The provocative novels of the writer Alexei Evdokimov are unusual for the Russian reader. They cause conflicting opinions, but, whatever you say, they are popular. Evdokimovexcellent command of the form of the novel. He is an implacable satirist, and, like a true master of this genre, his view of society is extremely pessimistic.

In fourteen years, from "Puzzle" to "Riga", Alexei Evdokimov has changed markedly: from a budding novelist, he turned into a mature publicist and wise editor.