The Gray House

Shakal is the main author of Blum and regularly writes articles there.
Sphinx wrote an article about the Graveyard* and revealed concepts that are not obvious to those who do not have a close relationship with the site.

Graveyard - hospital on the House territory

*

MARIAM PETROSYAN

For twenty years -most of her life -she had been writing a novel. She wrote it by hand, gave it to her husband Artashes and friends to read, sent fragments of the text by mail to acquaintances and relatives in other cities.

I never planned to publish the book. The manuscript took an amazing 11 years to reach the publisher, through many hands, and was published by chance.

The novel "The Gray House" in manuscript became the winner of the reader’s vote of the "Big Book" award, and after its publication a real literary event. It has won a number of prizes (Russian Prize, Student Booker, Portal, Star Bridge, and others), has been translated into thirteen languages and has been on the bestseller lists for over a decade. For hundreds of thousands of people, "Home" has become a password book by which they recognize "their own".

I am
the person
who wrote
a book

I'm not a writer.

Mariam

Mariam Petrosyan is an artist and housewife who became a star of the first literary magnitude in an instant

Hello to all the miscarriages, prematures, and postmatures... To all the dropped, bumped, and underflewed!
Hello to you, "children of stems"!

957 pages of pure buzz

PACKS

— I'm beautiful, - said the freak and cried...
— And I'm a freak, - said another freak and laughed…

PHEASANTS

Pheasants

Noise is a hotbed of nervous diseases

Keep it clean! If you want to live in cleanliness, start with your pillowcase!

[1]

The first group — Pheasants — are the main outsiders of the House, the favorites of educators and teachers. They are absolute conformists, they always dress the same, behave the same way and meet the requirements of adults in everything.

Pheasants are the only group devoid of a single leader or leader. Instead, all their decisions are made collectively, in a "friendly court."

SHOE DISCUSSION

Rats

RATS

[2]

The second group — Rats — are informal and anarchists, a riot of colours and outbursts of madness. Their leaders change frequently due to internal conflicts. The pupils constantly fight and from time to time kill each other in the struggle for leadership. Knives, sharpened razors, glass shards and other improvised means are used. The leader is a Redhead.

The Vulture

Boys, don’t believe that there are no trees and cones in paradise. Don’t believe that there are only clouds there. Believe me, because I am an old bird and I changed my baby teeth a long time ago. So long ago that I no longer remember their smell.

Birds

Boys, don’t believe that there are no trees and cones in paradise. Don’t believe that there are only clouds there. Believe me, because I am an old bird and I changed my baby teeth a long time ago. So long ago that I no longer remember their smell.

With you in my thoughts ALWAYS
Your daddy Vulture

BIRDS

[3]

The third group — Birds — is the strangest of all. There is a peculiar cult of personality of the leader of the group the Vulture. He has been in mourning for his brother for a year now, and because of this the whole group dresses in mourning colours and behaves quietly and modestly. Outwardly, the Birds seem friendly and serviceable. Room three resembles a jungle.

The fifth group does not exist because the fifth room is uninhabited. Group Six — Dogs. Rigid hierarchy and subordination to the leader. As a symbol of belonging to the pack, they wear collars with spikes. Their patchy hair, pale faces, army boots, and leather jackets are the kind of pack that can make an impressionable person shudder. They consider themselves fun-loving and lovers of pranks. After the sudden death of the former leader Pompey, they got a new leader — Black.

[5]

DOGS

[6]

Dogs

AND JUMPERS AND WALKERS DON'T REALLY EXIST.

FAN ILLUSTRATIONS

FOURTH

[4]

The characters of the fourth group are the central characters of the novel.
This group has no name and no clear "ideology", except that it plays the role of a kind of "family" for its members.

The Blind — is the official leader of the group and is also the "master" of the House. This is the highest title among the students, which Blind Man can lose either voluntarily or after a fight to the death.

Those who live without losing faith in the miracle will find it.

Blind

Sphinx

Tabaki

Lord

Smoker

Leader of the House

Each group has its own leader, its own philosophy, its own music, its own customs and rules. And all of them are united by the House the Universe with the Underside and the Forest.

Makedonsky

Larry

Humpback

Black

Move the mouse over Tabaki's portrait and move it up and down. There are more pictures like this on the website )

FAN ART

The creativity of fans

The fan community around Mariam Petrosyan’s book "The Gray House" is amazing in its scale. The variety of artworks and their countless number reflect the passionate commitment of readers to the House and its inhabitants.

There were no illustrations in the first edition, but the characters in the book are written so vividly and real, with all the illustrators drawing instantly recognisable to the point of goosebumps.

Redhead

Sphinx and Mermaid

Mermaid

Sphinx and Blind

Rat

Blind

Sphinx and Blind

Ralf

Black and Smoker

Lord

Wolf, Sphinx and Blind

Lord

Grey-eyed elf

White dragon

Lord

Makedonsky

Moose
and Blind

Blind

Smoker

A book about a boarding school for disabled children with a complex hierarchical system and informal currents within the community. It would seem that everything is hopeless, you can read it and cry. But no! You read and see endless light. Charismatic characters fall in love with you completely and irrevocably. Cripples? They’re superhumans, supermen. They can do things that ordinary mortals can’t.

The world that Mariam Petrosyan invented and described is huge, complex, with an internal hierarchy and a very thin line between the real and the fantastic. In general, it would be our world if we agreed to allow magic to exist in it.

Never
is too long
is too long a word

OUTSIDE

The Outside is what lies beyond the House, a reality that is scarier than any, the most elaborate nightmare. All the residents of the House want is never to be there, never to know anything about it, which is why they wait with such dread for graduation, which comes once every seven years and remains a terrible wound in the memories of those who witnessed it.

Outside -what lies beyond the boundaries of the House, a reality that is scarier than any, the most elaborate nightmare.

All the inhabitants of the House want is never to appear there, never to know anything about it, that is why they wait with such horror for the graduation, which comes once in seven years and remains a terrible wound in the memories of those who witnessed it.

UNDERSIDE

The Underside is the mystical component of the House. An area that not everyone can enter. Something astral, and at the same time physically perceptible. The laws in the Iznanka are their own, time flows differently here, according to a scheme known only to him. People change on the Other Side.

Not everyone can visit the Underside, some of them do not voluntarily. Pupils are divided according to this principle into Walkers and Jumpers. There are no diseases, strollers and crutches on the inside, and the real essence of a person is exposed.

THE FOREST

Lord,
JUMPER

Blind, WALKER

- How did you find me, Blind?

- Me you?
You found me, you forgetful one!

COSPLEY

Smoker

Vulture

Petrosyan’s work is discussed, serious literary critics dig into it and try to make sense of it, and at the same time, role-playing games are conducted on it, and the Internet is flooded with fanfics and fan drawings.

Lord Sphinx

Vulture

Those who have been taken in by the House begin to see it everywhere: they find its features in abandoned buildings, in graffiti-painted walls, in long corridors... The House does not let go.

Makedonsky

Sphinx

Makedonsky

Tabaki

Contrary to predictions made immediately after the book's release, "The Gray House" has survived the test of time. The book has no screen adaptations (Mariam is strongly against it), no video games or sequels, but continues to attract new readers many years after its release.

Much of this is possible thanks to the efforts of fans spreading the word and compensating for the lack of "official" products with their own creations.

Blind

Redhead

"The House" is not even literature, but rather witchcraft and wizardry: you turn the first page, enter the world invented by the writer and suddenly stop hearing the sounds outside, as if someone had closed the magic door behind you. For me it was a new vivid experience of falling into a book like a mole hole, and at the same time a slightly humiliating experience of my own critical helplessness: seven years have passed since then, and I still haven’t learnt how to explain why Petrosyan’s novel is so wonderful. You’ll just have to take my word for it-it's a true literary miracle, and if you haven’t read "The Grey House" before, I can only envy you.

Galina Yuzefovich, literary critic.

Don't forget to mouse over the pictures

British actor and writer Stephen Fry called Mariam Petrosyan one of the six best contemporary Russian writers who will be read forever.

home

welcome

Good

home

welcome

Good

Mustang

Stinky
(TABAKI)

Designer

My website

The project is entirely non-commercial. The exclusive rights to the images belong to the authors and are used in the creation of the site for informational and cultural purposes on the basis of Article 1274 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. List of sources used HERE.

Contact me

The longgrid was made by web designer Svitlana Gribko. With great love and gratitude for the opportunity to look into the House and disappear forever.

UP

*gram