First published:
2016
ISBN: 978-608-4770-56-5
Pages: 167
Format:
Cover: Paperback
Language: Macedonian
Translations: Russian and Bulgarian
Genre: Fiction, novel
Synopsis
Jakov unexpectedly runs into Sylvia, his old acquaintance now living in France. They bond with each other, and for the first time in a while, Jakov is intimate with someone, although on a friendly basis. Jakov is surprised that Sylvia suggests he should move in with her in Paris. Believing that nothing is keeping him in Skopje, Jakov accepts her offer.
The night before his departure, however, he notices a familiar face in the obituaries of the newspaper. It’s a photo of a girl he once used to date. Although they never shared anything meaningful, something urges him to attend her funeral the following morning. Confronted with the death of the almost unknown girl, Jakov re-evaluates his own actions and revisits his own past, reflecting upon his life with Beatrice, his former fiancé from Brittany, and recalling his childhood and the tragic loss of his cousin.
Finally, some light is shed on his motivation to leave his hometown and cut off all contact with his family. Suddenly, nothing seems so simple, neither leaving Skopje with Sylvia nor remaining there without her.
Excerpts:
translation in Slovenian (словенечки превод)
https://lektira.mk/izvadok/sobiraci-na-pepel-izvadok/ )Macedonian)
Reviews
Gathering Ashes is a modern-day work on existentialism (...) adrift in the city and in the realm of his memories, Jakov resembles Sartre’s Antoine Roquentin (...) The novel touches on the themes of belonging and being an outcast, as well as the themes of absence and loneliness in the company of people. It’s a novel about the fear of closeness and the need to distance oneself from both strangers and acquaintances (...) Its ending is marvelous!
Vesna Mojsova-Chepishevska
Subtle and with ease, the writer successfully combines the mimetic component – the realistic description of contemporary Skopje – with the symbolism of personal experience. The narrator paints a picture of the exterior with precise and lively contours and afterward dwells on a psycho-emotional interpretation of what he witnesses (...) Gathering Ashes makes use of some beautiful metaphorical passages referring to the social condition of the outcasts (...) Exactly because of the nuanced representation of its generation, I consider this work of fiction to have the capacity to be read and respected by a great number of readers.
Robert Alagjozovski
Highlighting the imperative to shed light on the period of his character’s childhood (...) Stojanovski ends the novel Gathering Ashes in the manner of a brilliant anecdote, hinting that there couldn’t have been any other conclusion or final exit from the darkness that persists in oblivion and in taking one’s eyes off the family album.
Natasha Avramovska
