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Death And The Penguin (Пикник на льду #1)

3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 · rating details · 2,653 ratings · 334 reviews

Viktor is an aspiring writer with only Misha, his pet penguin, for company. Although he would prefer to write short stories, he earns a living composing obituaries for a newspaper. He longs to see his work published, yet the subjects of his obituaries continue to cling to life. But when he opens the newspaper to see his work in print for the first time, his pride swiftly t...more

Paperback, 228 pages

Published May 29th 2003 by Vintage (first published 1996)

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Ukrainian Literature

2nd out of 102 books — 18 voters

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Best Post WWII Soviet Lit

7th out of 41 books — 42 voters

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Jan 04, 2012 Mariel rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Hugh Jackman

Recommended to Mariel by: my usual method. Russian authors list. I'm unoriginal

Death and the Penguin is a sweet and strange little book. It won't admit it is sweet. Don't call me sweet! I'm so sad. Can't you see that I'm sad? It might say. I'm not sure how to review it without sounding like a weirdo. I liked it a lot and almost loved it. It was almost warm and it almost made me happy. I almost belonged there. It is bittersweet feeling like going to a funeral and looking around to see if anyone else showed up, like that would make a difference. If you were the sort to show...more Death and the Penguin is a sweet and strange little book. It won't admit it is sweet. Don't call me sweet! I'm so sad. Can't you see that I'm sad? It might say. I'm not sure how to review it without sounding like a weirdo. I liked it a lot and almost loved it. It was almost warm and it almost made me happy. I almost belonged there. It is bittersweet feeling like going to a funeral and looking around to see if anyone else showed up, like that would make a difference. If you were the sort to show up to other kids parties (kids you didn't know very well, or at all) just in case no one else showed up. Why are there no black veiled women in the back? What else is the measure of success? 'Penguin' reads like reading about strangers who you are worried for in case no one else is. Kind of. At least, until I wore out my welcome like those kids parties. This girl told me that she had her "real" party the next day and this was the one for me to go to. I began to feel a bit like that. Why can't I just say it dragged a bit, like a normal person?

Or it is an obituary. Did Ashton Kutcher tweet about it or did he delegate to his missus? I'm not crazy. Viktor's job is writing obits. (He also goes to funerals. Not crazy.) Viktor is a forty something year old writer living in post soviet Ukraine. Okay, Viktor reminded me of my ex boyfriend in some not too comfortable ways (it was eerie. Right down to the pissing and moaning about how it wasn't sunny one day, as if that was something anyone else had control over). He's a writer too and he whines a whole lot about not having time to write when he doesn't write much when he does have time. Like it is anyone else's fault or you are stopping them from writing. Viktor whines about having to have a day job to pay the bills. Okay, I may be projecting the high level of douchiness onto Viktor. He was not as bad as my ex boyfriend. But still! I didn't warm to Viktor at all because of this similarity. Don't they know that everyone has to work and it isn't always something that makes us feel fulfilled? Suck it up, Vik! It was a weird place to want to tell Viktor that he was lucky to have a job and have food to put on the table when I had the feeling it was meant to be a situation for the reader to sympathize with him. He was sad. He was afraid to feel happy for what he had. I started to worry about the other people in his life, in case he wasn't appreciating them. There's only so much you can do if he's willfully blind, you know.

Should I spoil the plot? There's mafia reasons behind the obits and missing bodies. I didn't care as much about this stuff. I didn't care at all about the forced penguin performances at funerals except to want to cry for Misha when he collapses after all of those funerals in the rain. Viktor should have stood up for him.
Misha was a penguin in the zoo until he was a penguin in Viktor's apartment. I love Misha so much. I worried about him. I felt like I knew how he felt. He stared at the wall. I wanted to listen for his foot falls. I wanted to keep him company. Viktor was a tool whining about his sunny days. Misha was too hot! It was pretty brilliant the way that Kurkov wrote the worry here. Viktor was alone and Misha was alone. They had each other to notice they were there (at least on good days). Yet there had to be a push pull for Misha belonged in the cold and Viktor wanted the warmth. They weren't of a kind. They really are the terminal whiners dream couple. Who do you want to be with when you can't stand to declare yourself? When you don't know what you want? I admire Kurkov for writing this so well. Viktor and Misha have other friends of a kind in their lives. The kinds of friends who cannot step on your toes. Can you stop looking at your feet to see that they are unstepped on? Okay, I admit that Viktor would chase me away. I would leave the party. I don't want to step on his feet and I would hate for anyone to think I wanted to step on their feet. It was neat that Death and the Penguin made me feel like I could be there to do that.

It was really too bad about the boring mafia plot that took over towards the end. There's a second book. I'm nervous about reading it. What if it makes me too worried about Misha that I can't stand it? I want to have hope that he'll get to swim in ice cold water and come back for a pat on the head, if he wants it.

Fuck. I did that review thing where I only thought about the interpersonal relationships again. So the obits were pretty good and Viktor got a bit of an ego about them. (The obits are another way of trying to make amends for what they or someone else did. Worrying. In case something is too late.) They were about some pretty terrible people and he wrote about them in a humanistic way with some philosophy thrown in (all better than I make it sound. I'm not a writer). I was wondering how he would have written about some of the famous people who have recently died. For example, a certain dictator. (I bet he wouldn't have credited Steve Jobs with pixar either. Or painted Christopher Hitchens as a saint.)

I also liked a whole lot that the former USSR was this bizarre world you couldn't figure out and so they don't try to. That was pretty good for not attempting to explain away why they would want to have someone write obits for people they wanted dead. Or give away penguins to civilians. Or any of it. It felt like the wall that Misha is always staring at. He doesn't look at the wall, really. What is there to see? It's there to lean towards and ignore. Pretty perfect for when you're trapped in some place that doesn't make sense and you know you don't belong there. Misha staring at the wall is the image from the book that stands out in my mind the most. I (less)

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Jul 04, 2011 Maja rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people with a weird sense of humor

Shelves: netgalley, contemporary-fiction, favorites, male-pov, books-for-rainy-days, reviewed-in-2011

3.5 stars

There's a reason why satire isn't among the most popular literary genres. It has to be extremely well written and you need to be open to that type of humor for it to work. But if you do like that sort of thing, and if the author is someone you can trust to be funny without being (too) offensive, you’re probably in for a great reading experience.

When the Kiev zoo suffers yet another budget cut, they start looking for people willing to take zoo animals as pets. Viktor, being a solitary a...more 3.5 stars

There's a reason why satire isn't among the most popular literary genres. It has to be extremely well written and you need to be open to that type of humor for it to work. But if you do like that sort of thing, and if the author is someone you can trust to be funny without being (too) offensive, you’re probably in for a great reading experience.

When the Kiev zoo suffers yet another budget cut, they start looking for people willing to take zoo animals as pets. Viktor, being a solitary and somewhat eccentric writer, chooses to adopt a penguin named Misha. Together, he and Misha move into a small apartment where they spend the next year struggling to make ends meet. Viktor occasionally sells a story to the newspaper, but there are months when they barely scrape by. So when the newspaper editor offers Viktor a strange, but intriguing and well paid job, he is quick to accept. What the editor needs is someone to write obituaries in advance, seeing as he was caught unprepared on more than one occasion. When someone famous dies, the newspaper needs to have a touching obituary ready for print. It is now Viktor’s job to make a list of the most influential people, gather information about their lives, write an obituary and sign it with a vague ‘A group of friends’.

”What we’re after is a gifted obituarist, master of the succinct. Snappy, pithy, way-out stuff’s the idea. You with me?” He looked hopefully at Viktor.
“Sit in an office, you mean, and wait for deaths?” Viktor asked warily, as if fearing to hear as much confirmed.
“No, of course not! Far more interesting and responsible than that. What you’d have to do is create, from scratch, an index of obelisk jobs – as we call obituaries – to include deputies and gangsters, down to the cultural scene – that sort of person – while they’re still alive.”

His job may not be something to write home about, but Viktor soon discovers that he excels at it. He is so good, in fact, that he starts getting requests from other clients as well. His only problem is that his works are not getting published since no one has actually died. But that is something a friend and client of his, Misha-non-penguin, might be willing to fix - even without Viktor’s knowledge!

What could be the favorite pastime of a bored writer and his pet penguin with a depressive syndrome? That’s easy – ice fishing! This entire novel is an orgy of absurdity. Nothing in it makes any sense at all! The only thing that makes sense is how much I enjoyed reading it and how much I’m looking forward to reading Penguin Lost.(less)

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Aug 14, 2010 Katie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, mystery, russian, translation, 1990s

'Death and the Penguin' is one of those books which shouldn't work, but somehow it does. It's a novel which address serious themes of death, loneliness and the casually oppressive nature of post-Soviet society in Ukraine, and yet it does so with humour. And a penguin.

The story of Viktor, a struggling writer who gets a job writing obituaries for people while they are alive who then strangely start dying off, is enjoyable and written in such a way that it seems perfectly logical rather than as unb...more

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Mar 03, 2009 Christina Stind rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, fiction

Did you ever think about writing a book with a penguin being one of the main characters?
- then don't bother. Andrey Kurkov has done it and done it very well.

Death and the Penguin is the story of Viktor and his pet penguin Misha. Viktor saved Misha when the zoo gave away hungry animals to anyone willing to give them food. And Viktor got Misha and his life changed.
Well, not right away, but when he got a new job writing obelisks - obituaries for people not yet dead - things seriously changed. Not o...more

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Jul 11, 2007 Jim Coughenour rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: darkandfunny, russianliterature

I picked up this book on a whim in City Lights back in 2001 and fell in love with it almost immediately. It's a minor classic, an absurdist tale of Victor, a Ukrainian writer of obituaries who gets saddled with Misha, a pet penguin. When he discovers that someone is writing his obituary, things start to get scary. This isn't laugh-out-loud funny, it's more white-knuckled humor — but the denouement is masterful. Worth hunting down.

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Aug 12, 2010 R. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Victor est un écrivain qui partage un T2 avec un animal de compagnie original prénommé Micha. Victor a recueilli ce pingouin lorsque le zoo de Kiev a rencontré quelques difficultés pour nourrir ces pensionnaires. Micha a donc trouvé asile dans le T2 exiguë de Victor. Si celui est plutôt modeste, il bénéficie tout de même d'une baignoire permettant au pingouin de prendre des bains d'eau froide salvateurs. Car un pingouin n'est pas habitué à subir la chaleur ukrainienne - mettre chaleur et Ukraine...more Victor est un écrivain qui partage un T2 avec un animal de compagnie original prénommé Micha. Victor a recueilli ce pingouin lorsque le zoo de Kiev a rencontré quelques difficultés pour nourrir ces pensionnaires. Micha a donc trouvé asile dans le T2 exiguë de Victor. Si celui est plutôt modeste, il bénéficie tout de même d'une baignoire permettant au pingouin de prendre des bains d'eau froide salvateurs. Car un pingouin n'est pas habitué à subir la chaleur ukrainienne - mettre chaleur et Ukraine dans la même phrase c'est quand même étrange -. Le Pingouin attire tous les regards mais n'est pas devenu pour autant le porte bonheur de son maître en matière d'écriture, sa carrière ne décolle toujours pas. Pour se nourrir, Victor accepte une proposition d'un genre particulier du journal la Stolitchnaïa. Le travail qui lui est demandé est surprenant mais plutôt bien payé et pas très compliqué. Il s'agit de rédiger des nécrologies qu'il appelle ses "petites croix". Ce n'est pas très passionnant ni valorisant mais ce travail ne le dérangerait vraiment pas si ce n'était un petit détail qui lui trotte dans la tête. Les personnes qu'il honore de sa prose ne sont pas encore mortes ...
C'est la seconde fois que je lis ce roman. Il est parfois rangé dans la catégorie des polars mais je ne suis pas d'accord avec cette classification. S'il partage certains codes avec les canons du genre et notamment le milieu dans lequel évolue le personnage, il n'y a pas ici d'enquête et de rôle principal tenu par un policier. Au contraire, il se dégage de ce livre quelque chose de très particulier. C'est dans le domaine du ressenti, une ambiance. Est-ce lié à la personnalité de Victor, à la présence du pingouin ou plus certainement à tous ces petits moments du quotidien ? Ces plaisirs simples qui font aimer la vie: se rendre au centre de Kiev en trolleybus, passer le nouvel an dans une Datcha, partager une bouteille et des rondelles de saucisson avec un ami, boire une tasse de thé en regardant par la fenêtre, offrir un cadeau à une petite fille. Je serai heureux de partager une tasse de thé ou de café bien au chaud dans le petit appartement de Victor avant de partir en balade au bord du Dniepr gelé, regarder Micha plonger joyeusement dans les trous d'eau en rinçant nos tasses de café au cognac.
Ces moments magiques s'étiolent au fil du livre pour s'évanouir complètement vers la fin qui est moins réussie et ne fait plus qu'introduire la suite du livre: Les pingouins n'ont jamais froid. Je rédige moi aussi de petits textes, des billets sans prétention. Ils ne concernent pas des personnes vivantes mais des livres, c'est moins dangereux. http://www.aubonroman.com/2010/02/le-...(less)

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Aug 11, 2008 Dan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Dan by: Nick Hornby, by way of his Believer column.

Shelves: 2008

This book has the distinction of being the first work translated from Russian I've ever read (suck it, Dostoyevsky!) Technically, it's from the Ukraine. It follows the story of a struggling writer who takes work writing obelisks, obituaries of those not yet dead in order to pay the bills. It's when these people, dignitaries, VIPs, and so on, start showing up dead that he starts asking questions.
The penguin in the title is an actual penguin, Misha, who is rescued from a failing zoo by the writer...more

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Jul 09, 2011 Nicki Markus rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I absolutely whizzed through this wonderful satire of one man and his penguin. This was a really easy read with some great black humour and enough pace and action to keep you interested.

Viktor is an engaging character and I was hooked straightaway, keen to find out what would happen to him and Misha. Although he doesn’t do much, Misha the Penguin plays a pivotal role in the plot, which had plenty of fun twists and turns along the way.

This is a great piece that will appeal to fans of lighter Russ...more

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Dec 20, 2010 Eugenia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Потрясающая книга, удивительно органичный сплав Достоевского с Флемингом. Классический русский лишний человек, тонкая, рефлексирующая натура, в условиях лихой современности оказывается в эпицентре бурных криминальных событий. Душа-птица, личное счастье ценой слезинки ребенка, женшина со свечой, мрачных Харон — в романе есть все литературные штампы, но как изящно с ними разделывается автор!

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Mar 08, 2009 Pierce rated it 2 of 5 stars

The embarrassing part of electing to review all novels (and other books) read is that gaps in the timetable are very apparent. I actually finished this weeks ago but had no energy to write about it. And started some books since and abandoned them, which is rare and maybe signifies something deeper. And am now battling my way through a novel that's taking me a good few weeks.

So my friend handed me this and said "See what you think of this. I didn't like it very much." Which is a strange yardstick...more

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Apr 27, 2013 M M rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is an absolute smasher of a book, about a down-and-out wannabe novelist who is hired by a newspaper to write up obituaries to be kept ready when important people die. Viktor is a loner, an introspective hack, with very little to tie him to his compatriots. His only source of comfort and affection is an Emperor Penguin named Misha that he picks up from Kiev zoo, which is too broke to feed its animals. The penguin spends much of the time standing quietly in the bedroom and staring at the wall...more

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Mar 28, 2013 Venuskitten rated it 2 of 5 stars

Viktor lives with Misha, his pet penguin with a larger than life personality and who seems depressed. Their life together is uneventful until Viktor is commissioned by a newspaper to write obituaries in advance of the death of the subjects; at first all goes well and Viktor is well paid, but gradually it becomes clear that the obituaries are part of a process for disposing of certain individuals. Viktor and Misha are invited, or rather ordered, to attend the funerals and paid handsomely. In the...more

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Mar 05, 2013 Kate rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-books, tbr-pile

I had downloaded this after hearing about it on a podcast a while ago, but started it the other day when I was picking up and putting down every book in the house. It was a great choice. It is translated from Russian and tells the story of Viktor who lives with Misha which is an actual penguin who was downsized from the zoo. Viktor is a writer looking for work and submits a short story to the newspaper in Kiev where he lives. His story is rejected, but he is hired to write obituaries of living p...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Allan Dyen-shapiro rated it 4 of 5 stars

I picked up this book because of the great review on NPR. It might have rated a five had I spoke Russian and read it in the original--the translation is serviceable prose, but I imagine there's lots I'm missing. The author is Russian, living in Ukraine--this came out in the mid-90s. Think post-Communism collapse into chaos fueled by Reaganite American advice giving way to organized crime and disorganized everything else.

In that backdrop, the penguin is a metaphor. When the zoo can't afford to fe...more

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Aug 24, 2012 Nathan rated it 4 of 5 stars

I will admit I have not read much Russian literature, in fact my experience probably starts and ends with "Crime and Punishment", which this book really reminded me of.

It is always interesting to read a book steeped in another culture's, well, culture.. and this book did a wonderful job of highlighting 'this is not America or an American writing about another country'.. from start to finish it had an alien feel to it that was rather refreshing. It makes me think sci-fi authors trying to create f...more

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Jul 15, 2012 Johann Guenther rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

KURKOW, Andrej: „Picknick auf dem Eis“, Zürich 2000
Nach einem Radiointerview mit dem deutsch sprechenden Dichter aus der Ukraine las ich das erste Buch von ihm. Es ist sehr amüsant und leicht zu lesen. Ein unbekannter Schriftsteller bekommt einen Job als „Nachrufschreiber“. Er muss Texte über Menschen schreiben, die noch leben. Sozusagen auf Vorrat. Wenn sie dann sterben ist sofort ein Text für die Redaktion vorhanden. Die Lebensverhältnisse dieses „Nachrufjournalisten“ sind ausgefallen: er wohn...more

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Jun 25, 2012 D. Scott rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

Utterly lovely! Andrey Kurkov, one of the most popular writers in the history of the Ukraine and a former prison guard, gives us a totally lovely little story about a down-on-his-luck writer living with a depressed penguin.

When the Kiev zoo could no longer feed its animals, our protagonist Viktor adopted Misha. A few years later, unable to produce even a short story, our writer tries his hand at an obelisk (an obituary) and sells it to the local paper. This simple effort lands him in the middle...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Eyehavenofilter rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: scan-nor-rus-crime, laugh-out-loud

Post Soviet isolation at its best. Written in deadpan third person, a black comedy of pet love gone amok. How DOES one properly care for a pet penguin anyway?
Being a penguin lover I was concerned at the outset, but was won over by Viktor's love for his rescued penguin.
Kiev has shut down that part of the zoo so Misha the penguin had no where to go but home with Viktor, who is currently unemployed, and depressed beyond belief. Misha seems to be his only friend.
Viktor finally gets a job writing "...more

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May 08, 2012 Tiffany rated it 3 of 5 stars

If I could give an additional 1/2 star, I would.

Viktor is a struggling writer, living in Kiev, Ukraine in 1995. He has a pet penguin that he picked up from the zoo when the zoo could no longer take care of many of its animals. Viktor is hired by a local newspaper to write obituaries for people who aren't dead yet. As the story progresses, Viktor finds himself the caretaker of a little girl whose father is killed, falls into a relationship with a young woman, and is hired with his penguin, Misha,...more

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Oct 12, 2011 Lakis Fourouklas rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is one of those special novels that one just feels happy to read. The truth is that I didn’t even know the name of its author, until I watched a show about him on Greek TV, and that was it; I’ve decided to dive into his world and, according to those who know best, there’s no better way to start than by reading Death and the Penguin.
This story could be described as a kind of satire. It’s not laugh-out-loud funny, but funny it is, even though it describes a world more or less bleak, where th...more This is one of those special novels that one just feels happy to read. The truth is that I didn’t even know the name of its author, until I watched a show about him on Greek TV, and that was it; I’ve decided to dive into his world and, according to those who know best, there’s no better way to start than by reading Death and the Penguin.
This story could be described as a kind of satire. It’s not laugh-out-loud funny, but funny it is, even though it describes a world more or less bleak, where the most outrageous and serious things can happen; one after the other, or at once.
It all begins when Viktor, a short-story writer and journalist, who has a penguin as a pet, is offered a job to write obituaries for a newspaper. He never thought he could do that, but since the money is good he decides to give it a go. Besides, he can work from home and that’s a bonus.
Before too long he comes to realize that he’s really good in this field of writing and his boss seems to be more than happy with his work. So, as the time passes, more and more requests will start coming his way, and along with them more money. And thus all his financial worries will vanish. However, some day, by pure chance, he’ll find out that all those people whose obituaries he’s asked to write, die shortly afterwards, and most of them under suspicious circumstances. Something stinks and he knows it, but he’s not inclined to dig deeper into this matter, since he can sense danger all around him.
In the meantime he, who until now used to be very lonely, spending more or less all his time in his house in Kiev, starts to make some new friends: Militiaman Sergey, little Sonya, who suddenly invaded his home and his heart, and her nanny, Nina, all of sudden come to claim a part in his life. So in a building that used to house only him and Misha the penguin, now come to live two, or at times three, more people. What the hell is going on; one would ask, but the truth is that in this story anything goes. And that’s why, soon enough we’ll see Misha becoming a kind of minor celebrity himself, as some rich people more than happy to pay a lot of money in order to have him present at one funeral or another, will start hiring him. However, fame, as usual, brings trouble, and Misha will one day find himself in the sights of a man, who has some dark plans for him.
The author has created a unique crime novel parody, in which black humor sets the pace, and where the most unlikely things are likely to happen; things even stranger than the ones we’ve already mentioned. So, somebody breaks into Viktor’s house and instead of stealing leaves some money for him on the table, a man dies with his last request being of his house to be burned, and a young attractive woman falls in love with a much older and graceless man, but not for his money.
Viktor is not only an animal lover and a philanthropist, but also a kind of everyday philosopher and a poet. So, he considers his job “death as planned economy”, while he thinks that the best season for one to write obituaries is, “autumn, season of dying nature, of melancholy, of seeking the past”. Finally, somewhere he claims that, “the pure and sinless (people) did not exist, or else died unnoticed and with no obituary”.
(less)

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Aug 22, 2011 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Viktor has adopted a penguin from the Kiev zoo, which is no longer able to feed all the animals. Misha the penguin is no fluffy cutie. He plops along the halls of his apartment banging into things, staring with beady eyes at his master when (Viktor imagines) he’s feeling neglected. Misha is depressed; he stands still (penguins don’t sit or lie) in a dark corner or stares at himself in a mirror. Kurkov offers no insights into the penguin psyche, but Viktor is attached to him as to no one else, an...more

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Aug 05, 2011 Aaron Mcquiston rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Death and the Penguin" is something of a breath of fresh air. Sure the words "breath of fresh air" constitutes a lame-o description of anything, but this is how I felt when I couldn't sleep (again) and finished it at 4 in the morning. Most of the weight I have put on this cliche is due to the fact that I was expecting a mystery and it is not a mystery, just mysterious, mostly because the main charactors, Viktor and Misha, his penguin, are being used for their talents in ways that are unknown to...more

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Jul 29, 2011 Eric Barber added it

I love Post-Soviet writers, and Kurkov does not disappoint.

The story is excellent, set in post independence Ukraine, about a writer who finds employment writing obituaries of people still living, for some sort of mysterious cabal. The main character Viktor, lives with a Penguin, Misha, and life starts to get more complicated as the stakes in his employment begin to be raised, and his situation changes, as he is left a little girl to look after, and must employ a nanny to look after her. Viktor a...more

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May 19, 2011 Ronya rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: humor, mysteries

Kurkov is a genius. Translated from Russian by George Bird (coincidence?) this quiet, existentialist black comedy follows down-on-his-luck journalist Viktor and his pet penguin Misha in 1990s post-Soviet Kiev. Viktor lands a job writing obelisks, or obituaries for famous people who aren't dead yet--something every news outlet does to keep up with timely printing. After he befriends a Mafia operative (also named Misha and referred to in the book as "non-penguin-Misha"), the subjects of his obelis...more

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Jul 21, 2009 Michael Scott rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, politics, humor

Death and the Penguin is part of the new wave of satirical, semi-political books that aim to characterize the emerging culture of former Soviet and other corruption-ridden countries. Like many of the others, this book is about corruption, underground and political power, and communist culture (albeit, former communist). Viktor, the writer without real talent, is hired by a reputable newspaper to write obituaries of people who are not only high up in the new Ukrainian society, but also still aliv...more

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Oct 25, 2011 Maggie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Technically a 3.5 star rating.

I've been on a string of books, where I finish the book, go online to learn more about it and then realize I'm reading the prequel, or the first in a trilogy.
I like it.

(Only because the books have been good so far, and it's a nice surprise that the reading experience get to continue. Although honestly, I'm sure it's just as nice even if the books were bad, because then I wouldn't read them and would be thankful that I'm missing additional crappy reading experience...more

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Aug 30, 2010 Peter Chandler rated it 4 of 5 stars

Though admittedly I have no real basis for judging its accuracy, who would have thought that life in the post-Soviet Ukraine could be evoked so engagingly, political and criminal conspiracies, the cruel unfairness of economic transition and the joyful warmth of friendship when seen through the eyes of a penguin? (and his human owner) A darkly comic tale, bleak and yet touching as penguin Misha's writer owner is drawn unwittingly into a dangerous plot and whilst much larger forces are at work al...more

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Oct 30, 2012 Girl with her Head in a Book rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, translation, crime, plots-whispers-secrets, conspiracy, 2012-challenge

I love penguins. They are awesome. I have very early happy childhood memories watching the Penguin Parade at Edinburgh Zoo, sadly the penguins got poorly about ten years ago and got out of the habit of parading so it has faded into one of those things that you remember from childhood as being way better than they are now. Still, I was there again at the enclosure earlier this year and penguins just make me happy. And you may also be able to imagine that it is very rare to find a book for adults...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Charles rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, kindle

This review is a bit of a challenge to write — not because I did not like Death and the Penguin, but because I am not really sure why I loved it. It is not in my comfort zone as far as fiction genres go (fantasy, science fiction, and/or humor), but rather is a sort of mystery dealing with post-Soviet era life, crime, politics, and relationships. However, for some fortuitous reason it caught my eye, and I decided to sample it — and it was on sale for $3.19.

Death and the Penguin was written by Ukr...more This review is a bit of a challenge to write — not because I did not like Death and the Penguin, but because I am not really sure why I loved it. It is not in my comfort zone as far as fiction genres go (fantasy, science fiction, and/or humor), but rather is a sort of mystery dealing with post-Soviet era life, crime, politics, and relationships. However, for some fortuitous reason it caught my eye, and I decided to sample it — and it was on sale for $3.19.

Death and the Penguin was written by Ukrainian author Andrey Kurkov (translated to English by George Bird). I think one part of the attraction of this book for me is the view of post-Soviet life in Kiev, told by someone who lived it. Other attractions were the clever, original plot along with the understated yet interesting characters. Many of those characters, including the protagonist, were essentially common people, caught up in the tangled web of events that brought them together and generally reacting in what would seem the almost stereotypical Slavic attitude of simply coping as best they could.

Then there is Misha the penguin (not to be confused with Misha-Not-a-Penguin) who at first seems a curious affectation within the story, and eventually becomes an important plot element. As the story went on, I started to feel at times that Misha was also an avatar of the reader: watching the other characters join the dance around Viktor, the aspiring writer and protagonist, and sometimes exiting stage left or right, often under mysterious circumstances.

Ultimately, I suspect I was pulled into this book so effectively due to something in the tone and underlying (and understated) themes resonating with me to a large extent. That sense of alienation many of us feel when trying to understand how we fit into the world at large, the temptation to just get by and not think too deeply about what we may be sacrificing to do so, feeling helpless at the hands of those in greater power — in other words: most of us “average people.”

Kurkov’s prose was generally terse yet effective, presenting Viktor’s story with efficient imagery and a minimum of sentimentality, yet sprinkled here and there with slightly more extended musings that made me pause to think.

The past believed in dates. And everyone’s life consisted of dates, giving life a rhythm and sense of gradation, as if from the eminence of a date one could look back and down, and see the past itself. A clear, comprehensible past, divided up into squares of events, lines of paths taken.

(Location 2432 of the Kindle edition)

I’m not sure if Death and the Penguin should be classified as a dark, somewhat satirical mystery or perhaps a surrealistic character study; but I am pretty sure it can be classified as something you ought to at least sample. I suppose I’ll be downloading the sample for Penguin Lost soon and see if I want to put it on my birthday wish-list.(less)

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Jun 26, 2011 Sam rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those who like black, bleak comedy

Recommended to Sam by: asked to read by publisher

I was given the opportunity to read Death and the Penguin by Melville House Publishing (thank you!), who offered me an eBook. Reading about this book had me hooked from the first couple of sentences – set in Kiev, Ukraine, this book is about Vik who falls into a mysterious job of writing obituaries from home in the company of his penguin, Misha. Although Kurkov is Ukrainian, the book is translated from the Russian (I can hear my ancestors complaining about this!) but has studied many languages,...more I was given the opportunity to read Death and the Penguin by Melville House Publishing (thank you!), who offered me an eBook. Reading about this book had me hooked from the first couple of sentences – set in Kiev, Ukraine, this book is about Vik who falls into a mysterious job of writing obituaries from home in the company of his penguin, Misha. Although Kurkov is Ukrainian, the book is translated from the Russian (I can hear my ancestors complaining about this!) but has studied many languages, working as a prison warder before turning to writing. According to Goodreads, he has a hobby of collecting cacti.

Does that sound odd? Not to me, I find the former Soviet bloc countries and their people fascinating - so many juxtapositions between the old and new, irony and enthusiasm. If the above sounds plausible to you, you’ll enjoy Death and the Penguin. This was the first Ukrainian fiction book I’ve read and I’ll certainly read more of Kurkov’s works. Eastern European literature is much more than just War and Peace! (Which coincidentally, I’ve been thinking about reading of late).

My first worry, that the prose would be difficult to understand after the translation of Russian to English was unfounded. This was based on my grandfather’s translation of jokes from Ukrainian to English – often falling very flat. No problems with this book though, George Bird has translated this book perfectly. The subtle irony and humour have made a successful translation to English, including the joke on the first page.

Now that I’ve told you that this book works well, what is it actually about? Our protagonist is Viktor, a single man living in a Kiev apartment with the penguin he took from the zoo last year when they were reducing their animal numbers. (Was this common post-Soviet times?) Viktor tries to write short stories, unsuccessfully in between feeding Misha the penguin and being lonely. Then Viktor is offered the opportunity to write obituaries – for people who are not yet dead. He takes to this task with fervour, but then odd things start to happen…he meets Misha-non-penguin and his daughter, Sonya (eventually taking over her care when Misha goes missing) and Misha (penguin) is asked to attend funerals for money. Viktor’s obituary topics keep turning up dead and things keep appearing in his kitchen table, even though the door is locked – from the inside. While all this happens, Viktor gets a girlfriend, friends and a surrogate daughter.

This is brilliantly, subtly written. The crime tends to take place in the background and the characters seem to accept some of these things as ‘normal’ (e.g. gunshots, having to ‘go to ground’) - which perhaps was more likely in the Ukraine of the 1990s. Organised crime and political problems seem to be rampant in this book. The characters are quite likeable with all their quirks, and Misha the penguin is written brilliantly – he is a character, rather than just a quirky type of pet. Cognac and vodka also feature quite prominently as well as the weather, which seems to range from freezing to just plain cold. Kurkov has the ability to weave all the drama into Viktor’s everyday life and make it seem – almost normal. So we know that when Viktor starts to get worried, it’s time for us to be really worried. The ending is quite emotional (and unexpected to me), but I hear that there’s a sequel which I must try to hunt down…
(less)

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About Andrey Kurkov

Ukrainian writer writing in Russian. He was born in small town Budogoszcz in Leningrad area. In 1983 in Kiev he graduated Kiev Pedagogical Academy of Foreign Languages. He started writing in age of six and he had a hobby of collecting cactuses - he collected nearly 1,500 of them. Ambitiously he wanted to learn their latin names. Thanks to that he had learned such languages such as English, French,...more

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