Through the narrator, Vardiashvili tells a tale about the value of family and one’s homeland. After spending much of his life with his father and brother in London, Saba, the protagonist, leaves on a journey to find his father and brother, who had gone back to their homeland, Georgia. He soon finds out that Irakli, his father, and Sandro, his brother, have ceased to contact him because they are wanted by the police in Tbilisi, the capital of this worn-torn country.
The cab driver that Saba meets at the airport, Nodar, becomes his companion and friend throughout the book since he agrees to drive him to various places to search for relatives. There are lots of physical and emotional roadblocks. Animals escaping from a zoo was one of the first issues Saba experienced, and the animals’ trauma and discomfort are echoed in Saba’s desire to survive and the disruptions in his internal and external searches.
Saba’s passport is seized at the airport, and numerous events upon his arrival in Georgia foreshadow the dangers he will face. It becomes apparent that Sandro, Saba’s brother, has left graffiti clues for him throughout the disorderly and lawless country. So, he begins a scavenger hunt seemingly set up by his brother to help him locate his family members. Additionally, his father has left pages of a play to decipher. He is haunted by the people he knew as a child in the Soviet-occupied country and then during the Civil War.
The ghosts of his past acquaintances are guides to Saba’s search. The voices he hears provide insight into the Saba’s secrets and inner turmoil. Some of the attributes of the people gnawing at his soul are exaggerated in Saba’s mind, and some characters are not exactly what he imagines them to be. So, the author forces the reader to consider what memories tell us and how perceptions sometimes distort reality.
There are also multiple allusions to commonly known stories such as Noah’s Ark, Hansel and Gretel, and The Wizard of Oz. There’s also The Jungle Book, Romeo and Juliet, and so many more, and it almost became trite. The author also overuses commonly recognized expressions to move the story along
It’s too bad because I think Saba’s story of painful sensory memories and his desire to be reunited with his family members was a good story. It did not need the embellishment of so many seemingly learned and erudite references.
Vardiashvili explores many vital themes through Saba’s journey. In addition to devastation, grief, hope, friendship, and family, there are many references to motherhood and the deep voids in the spirit of a human being who has been separated from a mother. The detachment from mother and motherland is poignant in Saba’s struggles, thoughts, memories, and secrets.
