"Lilienblum" is a very short book, one that can be read in a single evening. Yet, beneath its cover lies much:
a white city by the warm sea
a long-ago winter in Moscow
youth, death, old age
love, loss, memory
happiness, bitterness
secret
— and an unexpected twist, a reversal at the end, after which the entire narrative takes on a new meaning.
"Lilienblum" is a bold, touching, brazen, and tender book. It smells of both young lilies and autumn leaves. It makes you want to place it on a shelf between Nabokov's "Ada" and Lawrence Durrell's "The Alexandria Quartet."