Another book by the author of Death and the Penguin.
A crazy funny dark look at Ukranian society pre-recent revolution through a cast of unusual characters. Kurkov manages to run the stream of characters on separate tracks right until the last pages of the book, which is quite an accomplishment.
The book encompasses the rich mafia elite that passes for government, the myriad security/criminal forces both public and private, the poor run-of-the-mill citizens, the corrupt church officials who bless anything for a drink and a few dollars, everyone on the make for every little advantage they hold, and a main character who wanders through all three worlds.
There is the member of parliament who stays young by drinking the expressed breast milk of one of the less fortunate characters (great image for sucking on the teat of the country's poor), the somnambulist who leads a double life as a member of a secret nocturnal society, a strange new medicine that makes you a champion of morality and social good... Simple portraits of the poor and narrow life many people lead on the margins.
Brilliant social criticism - funny, yet at the same time depressing, sobering. Images from a world where you would not want to live.
No comments:
Post a Comment