Escapism is an escape, salvation from reality. The escapist novel “Do What You Want” takes the reader to a land without a name, to a romantic place where the troubled border is guarded by courageous militias. What era? The militias ride horses and shoot from carbines. This is where the hero of the novel, Alex, a young lawyer from the capital, escapes from his reality. He runs away from idleness and from the dictates of his parents... Here's what's surprising: in Elena Ivanitskaya's novel, escapism turns out to be the best way to plunge headlong into reality. This will happen to both the heroes of the novel and the reader. Apparently, in order to penetrate modern reality and human nature, it is necessary to “escape from reality” and look at it from the outside.