The Snow Melted in August
Aldona Martynenka. Misunderstood, $10.59 e-book (282p) ASIN B0D9DRTG3F
In Martynenka’s passionate if uneven debut, a young woman reflects on her infatuation with a rock star and his untimely death from a drug overdose. As a teen in 2008, Janina travels from Belarus with her rock journalist father to Ukraine, where he’s covering a music festival. After catching a set by Rockets, she falls for keyboardist Raman. They later connect over social media, and in 2015, he invites her backstage at concerts in Belarus with his new band. At one point, Raman even declares his love to her from the stage, but he also keeps her at a distance, typically abandoning her after a show to hook up with another woman or do drugs. Janina’s friends frequently warn her that Raman isn’t good for her, but she persists in obsessing over him and trying to get him help for his addiction to heroin, even as friends start leaving his side. After Raman dies, Janina is plagued by survivor’s guilt. The narrative contains some astute observations about the nature of addiction, though they’re often delivered in unpolished prose (“I needed the constant embrace of alcohol to shield me from the overwhelming emotions”). Still, it’s a convincing depiction of one person’s unhealthy pull on another. (Self-published)
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Reviewed on: 07/08/2025
Genre: Fiction