Matvei Zhivov

ONE MORE SON is a couple of firsts. It is the first book, a novel, by Matvei Zhivov, a Russian emigrant who lives in Toronto. It is also, I think, the first time a writer has attempted to blend together in one story the two most recent wars in Afghanistan. Because the two main characters in ONE MORE SON are both former combatants from those wars. In 1988, Ivan, a Russian flight mechanic of the Soviet Army is taken prisoner near Kandahar when his MI-8 helicopter is shot down by a stinger missile, provided to the mujahidin resistance fighters by the US government. Ivan subsequently converts to Islam, takes an Afghan wife, becomes a farmer and raises a family. It's a bit more complicated than that, but hey, you gotta read the book, okay? Fast forward twenty years or more to the near-present. US forces are battling the Taliban in the same area. Jack, a USN Medic with the Marines, is part of a vicious firefight with the Taliban in the same region. He rescues a small child, the only survivor of a family massacred during the battle. He engineers an illegal adoption and takes the child back home with him to Ohio. Okay, I know; what are the odds he could do that? But just suspend your disbelief, okay? Because this turns into a real rip-snorter of a story. Terrorists get involved, train the kid's father, who is Ivan, of course, and send him to America to wreak havoc, but the kid's father only wants vengeance, and he gets away from his al Quaeda handlers, see. And goes hunting for Jack. What ensues is a lot of very fast-paced and bloody violence a la Rambo.

Character development plays very little part here, almost none, in fact. But then it doesn't usually figure into films either. And Matvei Zhivov is also - perhaps foremost - a film maker. And this book reads like a rather hastily thrown together story treatment for a film that he has already visualized. Zhivov has also, I think, given considerable thought to the never-ending cyclical nature of war in Afghanistan, which is why he has stitched together this unlikely, but nevertheless altogether believable 'connection' of two of those wars. Indeed, his two main actors, er, 'protagonists' have the same name. Ivan is the Russian equivalent of John. Jack, of course, is a nickname for John. It made me wonder if he did this to show that the names are not really important. What we have here are a couple of hapless, unlucky "John Doe" types being buffeted helplessly about by the random winds of war and circumstance. It's certainly not a very happy tale, but by God it grabs you early on and doesn't let go until it slams you down in a spectacularly violent Cujo-like ending, folowed by a final rather surprising, yet oh so 'correct,' epilogue-like chapter.

Remember that great Joni Mitchell song, "The Circle Game"? Like that. Cycles, circles. Round and round, up and down, and nary a lesson learned from history - the British Empire, the Soviet Empire, the US "Empire." In fact the only 'empire' that ever seemed to win in Afghanistan/Persia - at least for a while - was Greece/Macedonia. Kandahar is, after all, a derivation on the name of Alexander (the Great).

In any case, Zhivov may have been trying to make a point here about history. Or maybe not. Perhaps he just wanted to make a riveting and disturbing movie, er, BOOK, I mean. Other reviewers have noted Zhivov's 'cinematic' writing technique. They were absolutely right. I think anyone who reads this book will be "seeing" it in their mind's eye as a film.

There is only one major problem with ONE MORE SON. I hesitated to mention this at all, but felt it would be almost criminal not to. The book (admittedly, a PROOF copy) is simply riddled throughout with typos, misspellings, inept word choices and grammatical errors. It desperately needs a good editor to fix these things. As a film treatment - five stars. But as a book, because of the aforementioned problems, probably three. So I'm splitting the difference and giving it four. And here is one more suggestion. Should Zhivov decide to clean up the text and reprint it, he might consider adding a subtitle - "A Film in Fictional Form."

This is an action-packed, exciting story, and it also gives the more serious viewer/reader something to think about. ONE MORE SON is an impressive fictional debut. I wish young Mr. Zhivov much success.… (mehr)