Why do critics and bloggers criticize Guzel Yakhina's new book "Echelon to Samarkand" (video)

Yakhina only smiles, she thinks that criticism also helps the book to have more readers. But she does not hide that it was unpleasant. "It's sad to hear all that. I wish there were no such scandals. But everything passes. I have great hope that the reader will formulate an opinion by reading the book and not listening to what is being said about the book on social networks".

Historian Grigory Sedenkov, who lived in Samara, accused Yakhina of plagiarism immediately after the presentation of the book. According to the historian, the source was his blog, where he wrote about those same events. 

"Yakhina used my LiveJournal. Made only two changes. For example, Samara became Kazan. I have not read the book, but the writer's arguments do not satisfy me. For some reason, the writer chose the city of Samarkand, when there was no direct railway line going there. That’s why she invented an illogical route that does not exist. If she had used historical sources, she would not have written such nonsense. For example, the events take place in 1923 in the book, when the children have returned from the evacuation. But in reality, they were not returned from evacuation, they were simply brought back. If Yakhina had read the historical facts, she would have known that they returned from evacuation in 1921-22. 

He adds that he spent days in the archives and libraries of Samara. He assures that Guzel Yakhina was not there. So, what sources did she use? Meanwhile, Guzel Yakhina claims that she was in libraries. “It's humiliating for me to talk about when I was in the library. But if it is so important, I was there in December 2015. It was right after the publication of “Zuleikha opens her eyes”. I didn't have a historian-consultant. I used scientific works and memoirs. I wrote a story that had a historical basis, and a lot of truth. But the plot is of course mythical. The echelon going from Kazan to Samarkand is as mythical as Noah's ark".

Guzel Yakhina admits that she expected there would be criticism, but she repeats that she wrote a fictional text in "Echelon to Samarkand". "My father's grandfather, Zagrei, grew up in an orphanage. He had a family, but after 1917, when the famine started, he was sent there. The family could not feed. My grandfather ran away from the orphanage, and in the 1920s he was also sent on the Derzhinsky train".

Yakhina was even accused of softening or hiding the harsh reality. Yakhina did not want to show the reality of children, particularly drug addiction and criminal behavior. Although the attentive reader will understand it under the lines. "I don't describe some topics: cannibalism of children, prostitution. Moreover, originally two children were supposed to die, but after describing the death of one child, I realized that I could no longer. I didn't want the novel to be dismissed because of the horrible descriptions. But you forget that 500 children boarded the train, 400 arrived in the narrative. 100 children died. 100 children remained near the railway; they were buried by the conductors. I think that 100 deaths are already too much, and it should not be thrown in people's faces".

Yakhina tells about her preliminary research. She read dozens of real stories about how people starved to death, how people killed their children to eat, and how small children killed each other. After reading all those horrors, she realized that she was starting to stop being surprised and scared. That's how she decided not to shock his reader.