What is freedom? Is it the ability to choose your own thorny path, or the skill to "play by the rules" and get everything out of life?
Carl sincerely tried to fit into the rotten and social norms of the society he had the misfortune to live in. And almost lost himself. The false care of family, doctors and police led him to a nuthouse from which there seemed to be no way out.
Alikhan Zhaksylyk's book vividly depicts all the complexities of the struggle between the outdated values of long-rotten systems and the new values of a young generation striving for freedom. And despite the deep and colourful description of hard, terrible and sometimes disgusting problems of society, the book has a tremendous motivational effect and allows to open new sides of human existence in sophisticated philosophical dialogue.
In this novel, the author describes the conflict between old values and new values. He writes about the difficulties faced by the hero who wants to escape from his prison society to the other free one. Police, doctors, and relatives take care of him. Nevertheless, he begins to get lost in their thoughts. They reduce him to a slave. He tries to overcome all difficulties to achieve freedom. Yet they send him to a psychiatric hospital because he does not meet social standards. Yet his mind remains strong. Although the works of Alikhan Zhaksylyk raise large, complex, unsettling problems, their motivational nature is also visible. He always redeems his characters in his works, and rescues them from dirty, old values, and putrid rotten systems. This must help young people and readers' outlook on life and values.