Any bones

Katrina Ziyla's novel "Lovely Bones" is the life story of a woman who keeps the bones of two men in a furniture unit in her home. In this atmospheric work, permeated with magical realism, the everyday life of Vilnius's residential districts intertwines with Lithuanian folklore. The novel's timeframe is indeterminate and conventional. Life is encountered and seen off here in the sauna of an apartment building, shepherds ride trolleybuses to the pasture, animals are kept in apartments, bread is baked on the landing by the mailboxes; rituals are performed and miracles occur in the house. The narrative style resembles a ritual shroud in which key events, feelings, memories, flashes of black humor, and coarse language are wrapped, exploring themes of relationships, fidelity, superstition, and humanity.