false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178238246m/774837.jpg 774837 4 Russian writers tend to gravitate toward either Tolstoyan gravity or Gogol's brand of feather-light fabulism. Victor Pelevin, the author of four previous books, most definitely belongs in the latter camp. His work may be grounded in the grubby realities of contemporary Russia, but the food shortages, decaying apartment blocks, and political chaos serve him as a kind of naturalistic springboard from which he launches into one antic leap after another. Pelevin's latest collection is a case in point. The title story finds a young, Moscow-based slacker visiting the countryside, hoping for a little bucolic enlightenment. Instead, he stumbles across a pack of werewolves deep in the forest, who hastily induct him into their numbers. Pelevin expertly conveys Sasha's brand-new lupine perceptions: the way he can now "distinguish the creaking of a branch in the wind a hundred yards from the clearing and the chirping of a cricket coming from precisely the opposite direction." But as the pack heads into a nearby village, it becomes clear that Sasha has been chosen to purge a treacherous, four-legged comrade. Perestroika notwithstanding, man is <i>still</i> a wolf to man--and vice versa.<p> Elsewhere, in "Sleep," a student discovers that the rest of the world is in a state of slumber, and promptly gets with the program himself. "It was all very confusing, and in order to be able to tell whether he was asleep or not at any particular moment, Nikita began carrying a small pin with a big, round, green head in his pocket, and whenever he was in any doubt, he pricked his thigh, and everything became clear. Then, of course, there was the new fear that he might simply dream that he was pricking himself with the pin, but Nikita drove that thought from his mind as quite unbearable." Political allegory? Existential parable? Arguably these stories are both--but Pelevin's talent is much too large and unpredictable to be jammed into such generic pigeonholes. He's a brilliant original who seems to get better (and funnier) with each book. <i>--James Marcus</i> 95401 book 5 11 1998 A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia and Other Stories total:100|5:21|4:51|3:16|2:11|1:1| 100 380 177 9 774837 0811213943 9780811213943 93 9 3.80 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178238246m/774837.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/774837.A_Werewolf_Problem_in_Central_Russia_and_Other_Stories 4 2 false Thu Aug 21 14:17:16 -0700 2008 Sat Apr 19 16:20:14 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 21 14:17:16 -0700 2008
"We have concluded that the primary export of thi...more...]]> 774837 0811213943 9780811213943 93 9 3.80 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178238246m/774837.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/774837.A_Werewolf_Problem_in_Central_Russia_and_Other_Stories 2 0 false Thu Oct 09 18:32:01 -0700 2008 Sat Nov 22 23:16:12 -0800 2008 more...]]> 774837 0811213943 9780811213943 93 9 3.80 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178238246m/774837.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/774837.A_Werewolf_Problem_in_Central_Russia_and_Other_Stories 4 0 false Mon Feb 09 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 27 16:42:38 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 09 08:44:21 -0800 2009 more...]]> 774837 0811213943 9780811213943 93 9 3.80 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178238246m/774837.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/774837.A_Werewolf_Problem_in_Central_Russia_and_Other_Stories 4 0 false Thu Jun 07 14:23:37 -0700 2007 Thu Jun 07 14:23:44 -0700 2007 more...]]> 774837 0811213943 9780811213943 93 9 3.80 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178238246m/774837.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/774837.A_Werewolf_Problem_in_Central_Russia_and_Other_Stories 2 0 false Wed Jun 18 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Dec 31 06:30:48 -0800 2007 Mon Jun 23 06:20:37 -0700 2008 A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia and Prince of Gosplan. However, I guess I didn’t read as much into any of the stories as other reviewers did.

For those who like satires about current problems (which are the same no matter ...more...]]> 774837 0811213943 9780811213943 93 9 3.80 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178238246m/774837.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/774837.A_Werewolf_Problem_in_Central_Russia_and_Other_Stories 4 0 false Mon Jan 28 12:37:45 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 01 08:50:29 -0800 2008 the titular story is by far the best one of the bunch, the rest are ok at best.
one of the things that really made me enjoy the story was that after the initial discovery of werewolf villagers the phenomenon stops existing as such and is stated so matte...more...]]> 774837 0811213943 9780811213943 93 9 3.80 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178238246m/774837.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/774837.A_Werewolf_Problem_in_Central_Russia_and_Other_Stories 4 0 false Sat Dec 06 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Aug 27 09:27:40 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 28 10:39:46 -0700 2009 more...]]> 774837 0811213943 9780811213943 93 9 3.80 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178238246m/774837.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/774837.A_Werewolf_Problem_in_Central_Russia_and_Other_Stories 2 0 false Thu Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Sat Apr 12 03:46:29 -0700 2008 Sat Apr 12 03:48:32 -0700 2008 The Yellow Arrow by Pelevin which was a great collection of stories.]]> 774837 0811213943 9780811213943 93 9 3.80 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178238246m/774837.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/774837.A_Werewolf_Problem_in_Central_Russia_and_Other_Stories 4 0 false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sun Mar 30 22:19:32 -0700 2008 Sun Mar 30 23:25:29 -0700 2008 98958 0811215431 9780811215435 5 0 3.80 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171430544m/98958.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/98958.A_Werewolf_Problem_in_Central_Russia_and_Other_Stories 0 0 false Fri Nov 27 19:17:29 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 27 19:17:29 -0800 2009 98958 0811215431 9780811215435 5 0 3.80 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171430544m/98958.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/98958.A_Werewolf_Problem_in_Central_Russia_and_Other_Stories 0 0 false Thu Nov 26 09:31:41 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 26 09:31:55 -0800 2009 774837 0811213943 9780811213943 93 9 3.80 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178238246m/774837.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/774837.A_Werewolf_Problem_in_Central_Russia_and_Other_Stories 4 0 false Thu Nov 26 08:02:37 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 26 08:02:37 -0800 2009 98958 0811215431 9780811215435 5 0 3.80 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171430544m/98958.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/98958.A_Werewolf_Problem_in_Central_Russia_and_Other_Stories 0 0 false Thu Nov 19 01:22:46 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 19 01:22:46 -0800 2009 774837 0811213943 9780811213943 93 9 3.80 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178238246m/774837.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/774837.A_Werewolf_Problem_in_Central_Russia_and_Other_Stories 0 0 false Wed Nov 18 14:15:28 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 18 14:15:28 -0800 2009 774837 0811213943 9780811213943 93 9 3.80 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178238246m/774837.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/774837.A_Werewolf_Problem_in_Central_Russia_and_Other_Stories 4 0 false Mon Nov 16 17:08:09 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 16 17:08:09 -0800 2009 774837 0811213943 9780811213943 93 9 3.80 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178238246m/774837.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/774837.A_Werewolf_Problem_in_Central_Russia_and_Other_Stories 0 0 false Thu Nov 12 14:05:20 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 12 14:05:24 -0800 2009 774837 0811213943 9780811213943 93 9 3.80 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178238246m/774837.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/774837.A_Werewolf_Problem_in_Central_Russia_and_Other_Stories 0 0 false Thu Nov 12 06:56:04 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 12 06:56:04 -0800 2009 774837 0811213943 9780811213943 93 9 3.80 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178238246m/774837.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/774837.A_Werewolf_Problem_in_Central_Russia_and_Other_Stories 0 0 false Wed Nov 11 18:07:54 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 11 18:07:54 -0800 2009 774837 0811213943 9780811213943 93 9 3.80 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178238246m/774837.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/774837.A_Werewolf_Problem_in_Central_Russia_and_Other_Stories 3 0 false Mon Nov 09 20:28:59 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 09 20:28:59 -0800 2009 774837 0811213943 9780811213943 93 9 3.80 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178238246m/774837.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/774837.A_Werewolf_Problem_in_Central_Russia_and_Other_Stories 5 0 false Mon Nov 09 11:16:57 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 09 11:16:57 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=774837