The Barrack

Alžběta Bublanová's psychological novel Barák offers an unusual insight into the soul of an ageing woman. What happens when unexpected personal events disrupt our life routine? Are we capable of influencing our own destiny, or do we just have to fulfill the role expected of us by our environment? How much do we know our loved ones? We meet them every day, we live under the same roof with them, and we think we know everything about them. "The Barrack" is narrated by an aging widow who observes her neighbors who, unlike her, are living their own lives. He looks like a ghost, slinking from house to shop and back, sitting by the open window of an apartment building. Her stereotype is shattered by an event that affects her directly, and she herself undergoes a transformation and finds herself a woman again. Fate also shuffles the lives of her alcoholic daughter and one of the tenants. How much can we actually know or understand others?