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[Alexandr Korol]

work, of course wants to convey something deep, but after that, they can’t be thinking about or controlling each reader, whether they understood the book “correctly” or not. Some people might not like the book at all, just like not everyone likes the same movie or chocolate bar — but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. That’s also an important point. So when it comes to “change” — sure, I might watch a film, but the fairy tale won’t write itself afterward. If I get inspired and the idea to write a fairy tale about bogatyrs comes — then I’ll write it. If I don’t write it, there won’t be any fairy tale. Where would it come from? It’s not going to fall from the sky just because I watched a movie. Same with my book — even if you read all 10 volumes of “Alternative History” or any of my other books, why should your life change if you just sit at home and do nothing? That’s not how it works. Just like me — if I didn’t write the books, they wouldn’t exist. So we feel inspiration — to live somewhere, to do something, to give something up, to abstain from something — and from those various choices, our future is shaped. So, is my book capable of changing your life? No. Is my book capable of changing your perspective on life — for a while, showing you a view from the outside, from a different angle? Yes. That’s why, as I wrote a long time ago, my books are kind of like consciousness-changing books. But again, I wrote that when I was 18, and back then I didn’t have a great vocabulary — I couldn’t express myself well. If I were expressing myself now, I wouldn’t write that... You know, there are those lists — “books that change your consciousness,” “movies that change your consciousness.” No, not changing consciousness — just giving you an opportunity to look at life in an alternative way, from a different perspective. An alternative view. That after that everything flips upside down in people’s heads — you can call that whatever you like, using loud or modest words: consciousness, mind, soul — it doesn’t matter. Most people don’t know the exact meanings of those words, but it’s clear that you can use grand terms or be more restrained. For example, my positioning has always been, if I’m not mistaken, for the past 10 years: these are books about how people live, what drives them, what drives me and others. That’s all. It’s simply about cause-and-effect relationships, an observation of how the world is built: why did that girl deceive, why did that boy betray, why does this boy have a conscience and that one doesn’t? What’s the difference? Why do they react differently to the same thing — that’s interesting too. That’s what I reflect on. And that a person, after reading the book, might