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Title: Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov, George Bird ISBN: 1-86046-835-7 Publisher: Harvill Press Pub. Date: 17 November, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.23 (13 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Poignant, Melancholy, and Darkly Humorous
Comment: Andrey Kurkov has written a book of morbid reality full of melancholy feelings laced with dark humor. His style is rather similar to Murakami, with its inner dialogue of quiet discontent and the questioning of unsatisfying decisions. Kurkov uses a soft touch to present hard reality in a disturbingly poignant manner and easily engrosses the reader in this dark comedy. The tale feels personal with characters who become intimate, ending in an expected, yet unforeseen manner, provoking disconsolate emotions. The power of Kurkov's evocative writing is felt throughout the book as he describes people, places, and events. He shades them all in an oddly comical, yet mournful fashion that never ceases to pull at the proverbial heartstrings.
The milieu of the main character, Viktor, is the turbulence of the new Common of Independent States (CIS) where, at first, he plays an unwitting role in the many odd twists and turns of the political drama that is modern Kiev where he lives with his pet penguin Misha-adopted from the financially ailing zoo. A down on his luck writer, he serendipitously obtains a job writing obituaries, or obelisks, of notable powerbrokers and political figures ahead of time to have on hand for their eventual demise. From there, his life takes an unruly path fraught with a seemingly impressive streak of good fortune that is a curse as well. Though blessed with job that seems to be the result of good luck, he ends up in an untenable position as the political figures begin an untimely die off. As the story progresses, a family of sorts springs up around Viktor and Misha: the young daughter of a murdered contact left in his care, his best friends niece whom he hires to keep watch over the girl and becomes his live-in lover. As Viktor puzzles over the odd family in combination with the premature deaths of those whom he has eulogized, he realizes it all has an attending price, which pushes him to question the path his life is taking. Commiseration is deftly invoked for Viktor who seems deliberately disaffected, yet, sympathetically inclined at once, which coincides with his rather tangled ethics; exemplifying the conflict between the need to survive versus what he is doing to survive. Ultimately, this is resolved when he simply decides to enjoy the present and puts to rest the questions of whether his job is ethical as Somebody Else's Problem.
However, that only keeps the reality of the situation at bay temporarily. His life starts to take on a surrealistic flavor: meetings at odd times of the evening, the locks on his door might as well not be there as packages arrive in the night, his boss taking a "vacation" to the refuge of Italy, and, offers he can't refuse when Viktor and Misha become mascots for the powerbroker and political bosses who decide the obituary writer and penguin are necessary for funerals of their assassinated comrades. When the penguin falls ill from the funerary visits, mysterious benefactors take care the veterinary cost, which creates a vague discomfort in Viktor. Further his boss makes a stray comment, which coupled with an odd character asking questions about Viktor, compels him to reexamine his decision to remain blissfully ignorant. Putting the remark together with the seemingly random series of events, he eventually realizes his deliberate obliviousness is leading him down a road not to his liking. Finally, Viktor tracks down and questions the person conducting an inquiry into his life, and confirms his suspicions of dread.
The ending is appropriate, but tough to enjoy. The fundamental character of Viktor's detachment is preserved, thus, avoiding the saccharine pitfall of a character finding redemption; yet, it leaves the reader wishing for a tad more humanity in the man no matter how impossible the nature of the wish.
Though the translation is a bit odd in places and the occasional publishing typos are a tad jarring, it should not detract from the fairly easy read (I read it cover to cover in about 3 hours).
All told, the gritty feel, the melancholy reality, the dark wit, all combine to form a novel of subtle flavor and moving depth. I liked it, and I think anyone who likes Haruki Murakami should too--poignant, melancholy, and darkly humorous.
Rating: 4
Summary: Absurdist Satire from Ukraine
Comment: Ukrainian author Kurkov's slim novel combines modern political and social commentary with traditional Russian absurdist satire in a story about a writer whose pen is literally mightier than the sword. Set in contemporary Kiev, the tale revolves around Viktor, a friendless and familyless 40ish writer who lives alone in a dreary apartment with Misha, an emperor penguin. Apparently Viktor grew lonely after his girlfriend left him, and got Misha a week later when the zoo could no longer afford to keep him. The penguin lives in his apartment, with occasionally cold baths drawn for him to topple into, and plenty of frozen fish to munch on. This is presented so matter-of-factly that, like the best absurdism, it seems entirely reasonable.
Viktor's life consists of sitting in his apartment struggling on short stories, until one day he is offered a job writing obituaries of public figures for a newspaper. These are not to be written upon the subject's death, but are for the paper to have on file and ready to go when the person dies (this is common practice in the news world). The work is steady and the pay quite generous, as long as Viktor is sure to include veiled innuendoes and subtle moral commentary on the person, as directed by the editor. This is all well and fine, until Viktor's subjects start suddenly meeting their end with alarming regularity... Meanwhile, a mysterious mafioso shows up at Viktor's apartment and leaves his little girl and a huge wad of cash with Viktor for safekeeping.
Kurkov appears to be satirizing the society that has risen from the ashes of the USSR, a society where corruption and organized crime have hijacked the "democratic free market" that replaced communism. For example, one of the funnier little threads has the penguin becoming a "celebrity" mourner at mafia funerals. However, Viktor is too detached to be a truly compelling protagonist. He takes care of Misha, but rarely displays any affection for him-nor any of the other characters who come to rely on him. The book is a darkly amusing tale, but with such a cipher at the center, it's hard to really connect with it. Still, for a glimpse at post-Soviet life and
sensibilities and a taste of Gogolesque humor, it's not bad.
Rating: 4
Summary: Satire charged with air of menace.
Comment: A black comedy delivered in an emotionless, deadpan manner, "Death and the Penguin" is a sinister satirical take on life in post-Soviet, modern-day Ukraine. Things take a turn for the better for Viktor, a struggling writer of short stories living alone with only a king penguin for company, when he is taken on by Capital News editor Igor Lvovich to compose obituaries of the various big shots and political big-wigs pulling the strings in post-Soviet Kiev society, these to be kept on file for future use as and when the subjects die. Victor is instructed to incorporate into his compositions, certain loaded material, underlined in the file notes provided him, designed to undermine reputations through insidious innuendo.
Shortly after expressing his frustration to a visitor, Misha-non-penguin, (a Mafia-linked figure who wishes Viktor to write an obituary) that none of his work ever appears in print because none of his selected subjects to-date has died, Viktor is shocked to find that in no time at all, the subject of his best obituary is - lo and behold! - suddenly dead. Thereafter, deaths of Viktor's subjects proliferate with such alarming rapidity that Victor fears his penning of an obituary is tantamount to passing a death sentence, his obituaries of the still living having become in effect, requisitions for future death, each obituary providing per se more than sufficient cause for the snuffing out of a life.
The unwitting dupe of State Security conspiracy, at least initially, Victor has become enmeshed in the violent underworld of Mafia dealings and political machinations where his own life may end being written up in an obituary. Around Victor, the very air seems charged with menace, an air of menace that pervades the novel. Viktor is at the mercy of dark and dangerous forces swirling around him that he can't exactly get a fix on but knows are there, lurking ominously in the background. Entertaining and original!
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Title: Natasha's Dance : A Cultural History of Russia by Orlando Figes ISBN: 0312421958 Publisher: Picador Pub. Date: 17 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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