(Book review)

This book is one of the most popular novels of the current Ukrainian literature and the fourth book in the author’s bibliography.Are you looking for a book to be addicted to from the first page till the end? ‘To have everything’ by Lyuko Dashvar is exactly this one!

It’s a fantastic novel about the intricate relationship of a family, that seems to be happy and carefree. However, this is not entirely true.

There is a family of Verbytsky. The main plot line of the novel is the life of the professor’s daughter Lida. She has everything: money, favorite work, a husband, a loving mother and younger brother who is ill. But is everything good as we can conclude from the first impression?

You know, the world of everybody of this family was managed by the mother, Ivetta Andriivna. She manipulated her daughter and husband as puppets; she bought a rubber doll for her ill son Platon for ‘entertainment’ etc. Everything she had done for the happiness of her family turned into evil. She couldn’t understand that the world is not ideal as she is not as well.

The book is like a scream about how you can destroy the future of your child, it demonstrates that maternal love is too strong and infinite.

The name of the book is very interesting too. It means that having everything for you doesn’t mean having everything for your child. It can also be understood like the power of one person in family, who doesn’t let others to live their own lives. It is the game of words.

Most of all I liked the realness of the book. We don’t have any fantastic subjects or fairy tales, only the depiction of people, actions and situations we can face and deal with in real life.

Moreover, there are some pictures on the book pages, where you can see the most eloquent scenes. For example, the one where Platon is in the dark room and his mother Ivetta who holds him in such conditions because of her ‘love.’

About some cons. While reading we get a big number of impressive scenes, for instance the loss of child by pregnant Lida or the betrayal of Ivetta’s husband.

To sum up, I consider this book is the best variant for people who prefer poetic and melodramatic literature, but I’m sure it would be interesting to everyone.
My rating is 10/10.