IT'S TIME: Writing On The Wall

ISBN 9781907832185

This is a book about all the magical new things that you can discover if you’re brave enough to break out of your boring routine and take a fresh look at the world around you. But this is also a story about love. Passionate, selfless love. That may seem ridiculously naive in today’s world… So be it. It’s a book about how, whatever trials life may have in store for you, if at heart you are a romantic, if you know how to love, then everything will work out.

An artist's novel, a journey of life, street art and magic, a story written by the city itself and by the street-artists living there. Our heroes are both ordinary and extraordinary young romantics, they use their life and art to express new ideas. The story follows a group of street artists, not unlike Banksy, Ben Eine, Cityzen Kane, C215, Roa. These characters are secretive. They live in their own world with their own philosophy and outlook on life. But how does one become such urban romantic? We see a freedom seeking artist in Pavel's new novel, we see his journey, his adventures, his dilemmas and his choices. What would you choose? The comfort of daily routine or the free spirit of art? For Pavel's characters this becomes a question of life and death.

From up on the roof, you can see everything. You can see life scurrying below you, and see it with a calm objectivity. No prejudices, no assumptions. That's what Max, the compelling narrator does: even when he is not sitting on a rooftop, he looks at life with intelligent curiosity, amiable openness and good-humoured equanimity. Max is not only a great companion for the reader - a calm presence at the centre of events - but the perfect lens through which to see a hidden world.

Through Max we meet a succession of intriguing characters-artists and dreamers with their own unique perspectives on life and formulas for happiness: Viktor, the photographer who finds beauty in the mundane; inscrutable Tanya, whose mystery attracts Max as much as her smile; Mutt, an artist who lost ability to see people around him and lives in a disappearing tower; Oxana, forever entangled in spontaneous and dangerous affairs; Gray, connoisseur of street-art and magic. And, at the centre of it all, the enigmatic Lady F, who appears out of nowhere to give Max little bits of comfort and advice. Her clairvoyant yet cryptic intimations lead Max, and us, through a procession of coincidences, adventures, and miraculous escapes. Who is she? Guardian angel, Lady Luck, hallucination? Whoever she is, her wry and wise interchanges with Max are one of the novel's real pleasures. Whispers of magic get louder and louder, but, thanks to Kostin's clear and sober prose, with its amused detachment and adroit lyrical touches, we never stray into the world of fantasy or stock-in-trade magic realism.

Table of Contents
1) The Wings of My Angel;
2) The Distant Red Tower;
3) Magic and Monkeys;
4) The Other Side;
5) Discovery;
6) Rock Bottom;
7) The Secret of My City;
8) My Wall;

Selected Quotes

“Everything is unique, every moment in the Universe exists in one copy only and cannot be repeated.”

“You can be an artist even if you’ve never finished a single painting in your whole life.”

“Sometimes I feel that there is such a thing as happiness.  It exists somewhere. It's waiting, burning red like coal, shining in the sky.”

“Art must no longer inhabit only the storerooms and sheds of human genius—the palaces, galleries, salons, libraries and theatres. On behalf of the great advance of cultural equality for all, we demand that the Free Word of the creative individual be written on the intersections of walls, on the fences, roofs and streets of our cities and villages.”

Reviews more reviews >

“This whole novel is about bursting out against a role, against the expectations laid out for us and against surroundings we’ve grown too comfortable in.

Much of the book is a succession of impressions, of ruminations on life, on art, on reality, on our surroundings. The protagonist, Max, is reminiscent of a Fitzgerald type narrator, pulled in every which way and wandering through the conflict of the story. I was deeply impressed by the mood that surrounds it, the simple language combined with deep meaning, the motifs of friendship, love, everyday magic, and probably one of the biggest things – that of the consequences of adulthood, of finding oneself.” — Natalie Meyer, California, USA

“This book is about the new generation of young people, about new ideas, about the fact that everything is possible if one has faith. Very emotional, soulful, and sincere. I read it in one go. The ending both shocked and inspired, made me want to live and explore life.  The book’s spirituality  reminds me of Haruki Murakami (村上 春樹), but I disagree with the final choice of the lead character.” — Yevgeni Topunov, Cambridge, UK

About The Author 

Pavel Kostin is a contemporary romantic writer with passion for magical and mystical side of life.  His heroes are mysterious, often secretive, unusual and yet ordinary young people who want to understand the world around them.  They are often artists and romantics at heart and this unites them in their eternal search for truth, freedom, love and friendship.

About The Translator

James Rann is an award winning young British literary translator and linguistics specialist, an Oxford graduate with first class in classics and distinction in Russian. James lived and studied in Russia where he polished his knowledge of modern Russian and shaped up his unique understanding of both classical tradition of European literature and modern approach and literary innovation of Pushkin, Lermontov and Mayakovskiy. James' commercial experience includes editorial and translation work both in Russia and in the UK. In his doctorate work James explores the complex relationships between the Russian Futurists and the role of Alexander Pushkin in Russian society.

Pavel Kostin About His Novel

"IT’S TIME” is a book which has been written by the city. Not me. Not a man. The book appeared on the walls of the city itself, has grown along with structures and buildings over time. So I can say that the novel is written on the walls of my city. This relates directly to the plot ... but I am not going to spoil the fun for you here, I will just say that the secret is hidden in the urban art, street art, and my book about this partly.

There are many mysteries there, but what is mysticism? Who can reveal, where it ends and begins? Is magic real? I believe that magic exists and always existed, that it is present in each of us, lives in every moment of our lives, and it is is hidden from everyday sight, and only occasionally, sometimes, for one sparkling moment - she shows us her radiant self. I believe everyone experienced those moments at some point in their life. Do you remember one of your magic moments? My book is about this.

The city is inhabited by different people. Strange and funny. Ordinary and extraordinary. By those who make you want to yawn with boredom, and those that capture your imagination. People who cannot imagine how to break free from comfortable, warm and unbearably dull routine, and people who cannot imagine a day in it. People who repeat only what has been taught to them, and people who are always doing something new and want to build for themselves another life. Ordinary people and ... not so ordinary. Where would you place yourself? My book is about this, too.

The city has a surface and a bottom. The city has a day and a night. Bright day, tense, full of dust and bustle; night - dark and mysterious, full of beauty and charm. Day comes with work, rush and routine – it is time for business people.  Nigh brings opportunities for creation and the unknown – it is time to discover the unknown, time for artists and explorers. But beware, the seeker! At the depths of the night, there at the bottom, unchartered waters await with surprises and danger. Is it worth risking the dusty bustle of the day for the sake of coolness and beauty of the night? What would you personally choose? Predictability and comfort of routine or dangers of discovering the unknown? My book is about this.

There is noise and there is peace in the city. A continuous struggle and the romantic beauty, there is boredom and there is magic in the city. It’s a place to escape and a place where danger awaits. There is endless traffic and eternal peace. There are enemies and friends there. The city is you and there is street art in the city. That's what my book is all about.

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