Eastern Armenian (Pimsleur Language Program Series) Book

Borders are not just a geopolitical matter - they are also a part of human nature. Our lonely anti-hero found a way to cross the border from an Eastern European country to go seek better luck and more fulfilled life in the West, but he kept the borders within himself and he was never able to abandon those. Oh, there are countries in Eastern Europe where you could easily hear capital W in West when East talked about it and looked up to the West as an example of decent life secure from political whims or purely ideologically driven decisions. Main character leaves his country, but his country remains with him in his memories of his life with grandmother, visits to her half-brother who lived in rural area and earliest love and attraction he felt for same sex. Constantly going through anxiety and remembering life in his native country, he is never able to really leave border territory of his native surroundings within himself.

Border territory is more than area where one country ends and another begins - it's part of us where solitude is heavy and drives us to seek affection, love - and at the same time makes us wish we could have more time for enjoying simple beauties of nature and think about important existential questions all alone, left in peace. But in the end, it's a state of mind equally difficult to bear in any country, no matter the ideology or geopolitical affiliation of particular state.