Sin () is a 2007 short story cycle (sometimes regarded as a novel) by the Russian writer Zakhar Prilepin. Like many of his books, it explores the disturbing connection between sex and violence, between killing and sexual awakening, in an endless loop.
Sin is a cycle of interlinked stories that, taken together, trace the life of a man named Zakhar. The reader follows his growth from early childhood, when, as the youngest among the neighborhood boys, he experiences a traumatic event â the death of a friend. With the exception of two pieces, the stories are all told in the first person.
ZakharâÂÂs youth is marked by a powerful yet forbidden feeling â his infatuation with a cousin â which ultimately leads him to an important moral realization: the need to avoid sin. As an adult, his life becomes harsh and unsettled. He scrapes by on odd jobs, working as a bar bouncer, a loader, even a gravedigger, while drinking heavily. At one point, he nearly resolves to take a desperate step and join the French Foreign Legion, but abandons the idea in the end.
ZakharâÂÂs life takes a dramatic turn once he starts a family. At first, he lives with the woman he loves; later, he raises two sons. Yet the weight of financial responsibility forces him, despite his deep aversion, back into the job of a bouncer. His story ends tragically: he is sent on an assignment to Chechnya, where he is killed.