Lesha Palkich. The Hopak Equation. A Novel About War Without War

"Gopak's Equation" by Ukrainian writer Lesha Palkich is subtitled "About War Without War." In this parable novel, a southerner, a family man with no malice, is forced to fight the northerners to earn enough to save his son. But what kind of war is this? "The inhabitants of the North and South were one people in ancient times..." The government-initiated massacre is of no use to anyone—it's carried out not for the sake of an idea or to protect loved ones, but under duress or for money. The novel's metaphorical intensity recalls the Strugatsky brothers and speaks of a painful and hopeless choice: what's most precious to you, or your conscience.