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The Milkman in the Night
Semyon is disturbed. He has woken up in the living room with blood on his shirt, an angry wife and no idea where he was the night before. After waking to find his boots and overcoat damp on several mornings in a row, Semyon realises his excursions are a nightly occurrence. Concerned for his own safety and for the security of his marriage, he asks his friend and business partner Volodka to follow him on his nocturnal wanderings.
The next morning, Volodka gives Semyon a full report. He left the apartment a little after 2 a.m. and walked several blocks until he encountered a tall blonde, whom he kissed and accompanied to her door. But when he visits the address in the daytime, the bemused Semyon doesn't recognise the location. And stranger yet, someone has been watching Volodka watching Semyon.
As the adventure unfurls, an unemployed sniffer-dog handler makes a dangerous discovery, a single mother provides breast milk for an unusual recipient, and a vengeful cat is on the loose. All in all, there are some very strange goings-on in Kiev.
The next morning, Volodka gives Semyon a full report. He left the apartment a little after 2 a.m. and walked several blocks until he encountered a tall blonde, whom he kissed and accompanied to her door. But when he visits the address in the daytime, the bemused Semyon doesn't recognise the location. And stranger yet, someone has been watching Volodka watching Semyon.
As the adventure unfurls, an unemployed sniffer-dog handler makes a dangerous discovery, a single mother provides breast milk for an unusual recipient, and a vengeful cat is on the loose. All in all, there are some very strange goings-on in Kiev.
474 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
22 people are currently reading
716 people want to read
About the author
Andrey Kurkov
77 books817 followersAndrey Kurkov is a Russian and Ukrainian writer who writes in Russian (fiction) and Ukrainian (non-fiction).
Kurkov was born in the small town of Budogoszcz, Russia, on April 23, 1961. When he was young, his family moved to Kyiv, Ukraine. In 1983 Kurkov graduated from the Kyiv Pedagogical Academy of Foreign Languages and later also completed a training in Japanese translation.
Among Kurkov's most famous Russian novels are 'Smert postoronnego' (1996, translated into English in 2001 under the title 'Death and the Penguin') and 'Zakon ulitki' (2002, translated into English in 2005 as 'Penguin lost)'. Kurkov's only Ukrainian non-fiction book is 'Ruh "Emanus": istoriya solidarnosti' (2017).
Kurkov was born in the small town of Budogoszcz, Russia, on April 23, 1961. When he was young, his family moved to Kyiv, Ukraine. In 1983 Kurkov graduated from the Kyiv Pedagogical Academy of Foreign Languages and later also completed a training in Japanese translation.
Among Kurkov's most famous Russian novels are 'Smert postoronnego' (1996, translated into English in 2001 under the title 'Death and the Penguin') and 'Zakon ulitki' (2002, translated into English in 2005 as 'Penguin lost)'. Kurkov's only Ukrainian non-fiction book is 'Ruh "Emanus": istoriya solidarnosti' (2017).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
February 18, 2016
Semyon walked past several houses and huts with their lights on. He had a strange feeling that he was in some kind of imaginary parallel world.
Hey, me too!
But I don't mean in a sci-fy kind of way. So don't let the opening paragraph scare you off.
For all of you who read and loved Kurkov's cult classic Death and the Penguin ..... (Wait! What?) ....
Think a funnier, more hopeful Bulgakov, with a cat less satanic, more archangel of justice. Think Murakami wearing a ushanka, drinking vodka with breakfast. Come on, you can do it.
I read (and like) so much that is bleak: people lie, people hit; men are selfish and women emotionally waste away. Double shots of realism all around, bartender. This, a story set in Putin's Russia, would seem to offer more of the same wretchedness, only bleaker. Oh, there's plenty murder, and bribery, and some failure to communicate. Black Mercedes pull slowly up driveways; men in long, black leather coats get out. Something bad is going to happen. Something bad is going to happen. Something bad is going to happen. Isn't it?
This is not light; but it's not dark, either.
P.S.: No penguins were killed in the writing of this review. I can not say the same for Scruffy the cat.
Hey, me too!
But I don't mean in a sci-fy kind of way. So don't let the opening paragraph scare you off.
For all of you who read and loved Kurkov's cult classic Death and the Penguin ..... (Wait! What?) ....
Think a funnier, more hopeful Bulgakov, with a cat less satanic, more archangel of justice. Think Murakami wearing a ushanka, drinking vodka with breakfast. Come on, you can do it.
I read (and like) so much that is bleak: people lie, people hit; men are selfish and women emotionally waste away. Double shots of realism all around, bartender. This, a story set in Putin's Russia, would seem to offer more of the same wretchedness, only bleaker. Oh, there's plenty murder, and bribery, and some failure to communicate. Black Mercedes pull slowly up driveways; men in long, black leather coats get out. Something bad is going to happen. Something bad is going to happen. Something bad is going to happen. Isn't it?
This is not light; but it's not dark, either.
P.S.: No penguins were killed in the writing of this review. I can not say the same for Scruffy the cat.
August 4, 2013
I think I have read everything available by this gentleman.
There is a sardonic playfulness in his writing that seems unique - to me anyhow
The opening line of this book - "Deprived of human attention, the Milky Way was languishing in the winter sky" - besides being very funny is quite unlike anything I can recall.
Here he is talking about a sniffer dog at Kiev Airport, bored and disappointed at having found nothing interesting on bis shift: "As if to spite him, that morning's air passengers were unusually law-abiding. Not the slightest whiff of drugs in their bags."
Sheer pleasure.
I believe he is a great writer in the tradition of Bulgakov, whose Master and Margarita is surely one of the books everyone should read.
There is a sardonic playfulness in his writing that seems unique - to me anyhow
The opening line of this book - "Deprived of human attention, the Milky Way was languishing in the winter sky" - besides being very funny is quite unlike anything I can recall.
Here he is talking about a sniffer dog at Kiev Airport, bored and disappointed at having found nothing interesting on bis shift: "As if to spite him, that morning's air passengers were unusually law-abiding. Not the slightest whiff of drugs in their bags."
Sheer pleasure.
I believe he is a great writer in the tradition of Bulgakov, whose Master and Margarita is surely one of the books everyone should read.
July 3, 2025
Subtil, amuzant și emoționant. Din păcate, traducerea românească e insuficient revizuită, atfel i-as fi dat 5 stele.
October 24, 2024
I dived in head first and didn't know what to expect. I ended up enjoying this a lot for the same reasons it also frustrated me: I have so many questions! This book was a window into the lives of very different but seemingly normal people living parallel existences that only barely touch at the end, however, during the book the weird and unsettling started creeping up on you. Kurkov blends bleak normality with the shocking and disturbing seamlessly, which is impressive and at times funny. Additionally, it comments on post-Soviet Ukraine's political climate in a satirical way, which I wish I knew more about before reading!
Absurdism typically isn't my genre but this one perturbed me in the best way possible. I'm absolutely going to pick up Kurkov's Death and the Penguin, which has even better reviews.
(The female characters were very WrittenByAMan™ at some points... but I still recommend this)
Absurdism typically isn't my genre but this one perturbed me in the best way possible. I'm absolutely going to pick up Kurkov's Death and the Penguin, which has even better reviews.
(The female characters were very WrittenByAMan™ at some points... but I still recommend this)
December 15, 2014
A promising start, quite funny in places, but by the time I got to the end I was relieved that I'd finished it just because it meant I could start on something else.
February 19, 2016
I really enjoyed reading this book and revelled in the weirdness of it all. I thought the characters were well written and well rounded. However, considering all the things that were going on throughout the book, why was none of it explained? it just kind of had a happy ending and that was that as though the author had just got fed up with it all!
November 1, 2013
After his last outing,
The Good Angel of Death
, with its absurdist expedition across the Ukrainian east and further afield, Kurkov returns to his more conventional stomping ground – an equally absurdist contemporary Kiev with its dislocated people, scrambling politicians, corrupt(ish) militiamen and craving for success while not seeming to recognise what that success might be. There are few I’ve encountered who are better at satirising the aspirational but the deeply conservative post-Soviet world than Kurkov.
In this marvellous outing we meet Irina Koval, a young single mother and wet nurse from Lipovka, a village about 60km west of Kiev, her mother and Egon, her suitor (but not the child’s father); Semyon, a body guard from the city, Veronika, his wife, Volodka, his friend and workmate, Gennady Ilych, a Parliamentary deputy and Semyon’s employer and Darya Ivanovna Zarvazina, Veronkia’s friend; Dima, a security dog handler at the airport and Valya, his wife, an amusement arcade cashier, both from Boryspil, about 30km east of Kiev. This diverse cast is supplemented by, among others, a manic and justice seeking indestructible cat, cheese making orphans, a sect of star gazers out to save the nation from its corrupt torpor and an orthodox priest with a congregation of one (but who is available for house spiritual cleansing). That is, we have Kurkov’s conventionally absurd cast of characters.
Kurkov’s skill is in taking this disparate group with their stories – Semyon’s somnambulism, Gennady Ilych’s (misdirected) sense of self-worth, Irina’s village life, Dima’s desire to break the constraints of working class life – and weaving them into an urban tale of tangentially interconnecting lives. Even at this level of the pathways of urban existence where multiply connected strangers who have no way of knowing their connections interweave, this is a fine novel – but Kurkov is a satirist of the first order. That means this is packed with sardonic nationalist asides and digs, ironic tales of get-rich-quick schemes, parodic depictions of national self-doubt and regional rivalry and subtle (and not so subtle) tales of misplaced big city arrogance and self-importance.
Amid all its satire and scathing depictions of hope against the odds, this is a profoundly optimistic novel – not in its suggestion of redemptive new age politics, but in Kurkov’s faith in the goodness of ordinary people: Semyon’s distress at the content of his somnambulist life; Egon’s profound sense of decency; Dima’s desperate desire to protect his place and fear of harming others – these are ordinary people caught up in the surreal lives they’ve been dealt, often without even realising just how banal/bizarre these lives are. At the same time, Kurkov presents us with absurd and at times harsh depictions of desperation – there are more babies abandoned overnight on the steps of Parliament in March, because the Deputies’ picnics are in May…..
Kurkov has a spectacularly sparse style and bleakly comic vision that draws us into the lives of a barely connected group of citizens who lives are rich and complex, and richness that emerges slowly and the networks of daily life are woven. He also has a sharp political mind and vision that manages to be both surrealistic and utterly of the real world. In this tale he has drawn us a delightful set of rounded characters whose very ordinariness makes them the characters we need more of and allows him to satirise the aspirational, the vacuously entrepreneurial and the millennial.
And what’s more, as anyone who has read his work before will know, there are many happy endings – Kurkov is an optimistic satirist, not a tragedian. It is also very bleakly funny.
In this marvellous outing we meet Irina Koval, a young single mother and wet nurse from Lipovka, a village about 60km west of Kiev, her mother and Egon, her suitor (but not the child’s father); Semyon, a body guard from the city, Veronika, his wife, Volodka, his friend and workmate, Gennady Ilych, a Parliamentary deputy and Semyon’s employer and Darya Ivanovna Zarvazina, Veronkia’s friend; Dima, a security dog handler at the airport and Valya, his wife, an amusement arcade cashier, both from Boryspil, about 30km east of Kiev. This diverse cast is supplemented by, among others, a manic and justice seeking indestructible cat, cheese making orphans, a sect of star gazers out to save the nation from its corrupt torpor and an orthodox priest with a congregation of one (but who is available for house spiritual cleansing). That is, we have Kurkov’s conventionally absurd cast of characters.
Kurkov’s skill is in taking this disparate group with their stories – Semyon’s somnambulism, Gennady Ilych’s (misdirected) sense of self-worth, Irina’s village life, Dima’s desire to break the constraints of working class life – and weaving them into an urban tale of tangentially interconnecting lives. Even at this level of the pathways of urban existence where multiply connected strangers who have no way of knowing their connections interweave, this is a fine novel – but Kurkov is a satirist of the first order. That means this is packed with sardonic nationalist asides and digs, ironic tales of get-rich-quick schemes, parodic depictions of national self-doubt and regional rivalry and subtle (and not so subtle) tales of misplaced big city arrogance and self-importance.
Amid all its satire and scathing depictions of hope against the odds, this is a profoundly optimistic novel – not in its suggestion of redemptive new age politics, but in Kurkov’s faith in the goodness of ordinary people: Semyon’s distress at the content of his somnambulist life; Egon’s profound sense of decency; Dima’s desperate desire to protect his place and fear of harming others – these are ordinary people caught up in the surreal lives they’ve been dealt, often without even realising just how banal/bizarre these lives are. At the same time, Kurkov presents us with absurd and at times harsh depictions of desperation – there are more babies abandoned overnight on the steps of Parliament in March, because the Deputies’ picnics are in May…..
Kurkov has a spectacularly sparse style and bleakly comic vision that draws us into the lives of a barely connected group of citizens who lives are rich and complex, and richness that emerges slowly and the networks of daily life are woven. He also has a sharp political mind and vision that manages to be both surrealistic and utterly of the real world. In this tale he has drawn us a delightful set of rounded characters whose very ordinariness makes them the characters we need more of and allows him to satirise the aspirational, the vacuously entrepreneurial and the millennial.
And what’s more, as anyone who has read his work before will know, there are many happy endings – Kurkov is an optimistic satirist, not a tragedian. It is also very bleakly funny.
November 23, 2019
A curious and entirely original novel. I mean who would think that there could be such a thing as a clandestine political network that feeds on cheese made from human breast milk and a night time warrior for justice that's actually a drug-fueled fluffy cat.
If I pitched this novel I'd get dismissed out of hand but then it's unlikely this could have been set anywhere but Ukraine. Nelson is crazy and sexy, well, sexy, but nowhere near as crazy and sexy as Ukraine.
I'm not sure what fountain of initiative where this chap gets his ideas from but when he paddles in it he probably involves lots of wodka, recreational drug use and Pink Floyd. His stories are also believable (yes, believable because it is Ukraine after all), cleverly woven and expand the reader's horizon and capability to digest literature. I was up until 4.30am, stuck to this book before I conked out in my armchair.
I hope he keeps paddling in that fountain.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
If I pitched this novel I'd get dismissed out of hand but then it's unlikely this could have been set anywhere but Ukraine. Nelson is crazy and sexy, well, sexy, but nowhere near as crazy and sexy as Ukraine.
I'm not sure what fountain of initiative where this chap gets his ideas from but when he paddles in it he probably involves lots of wodka, recreational drug use and Pink Floyd. His stories are also believable (yes, believable because it is Ukraine after all), cleverly woven and expand the reader's horizon and capability to digest literature. I was up until 4.30am, stuck to this book before I conked out in my armchair.
I hope he keeps paddling in that fountain.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
March 21, 2018
Herrlich skurril, mit einem ordentlichen Schuss schwarzem Humor.
Andrej Kurkow gewährt dem Leser hier auf subtil hurmorvolle und verrückte Art und Weise, Einblicke in die ukrainische Seele.
Er erzählt vom unterschiedlichen Alltag verschiedener Ukrainer und von nicht ganz so alltäglichen Erfahrungen und Begegnungen die sie machen, von denen eine schräger ist als die andere.
Andrej Kurkow gewährt dem Leser hier auf subtil hurmorvolle und verrückte Art und Weise, Einblicke in die ukrainische Seele.
Er erzählt vom unterschiedlichen Alltag verschiedener Ukrainer und von nicht ganz so alltäglichen Erfahrungen und Begegnungen die sie machen, von denen eine schräger ist als die andere.
October 22, 2020
A charming little satire about life in Kyiv. Loved it mostly for the nostalgia it gave me for walking those streets and working with the wry, superstitious, resilient Ukrainians. Really loved having the chance to meet the author, who is the neighbor of someone in my Kyiv book club. An interesting and engaging author.
August 11, 2024
Loufoque. Quasi synonyme de Kourkov. Plusieurs histoires parallèles. Egalement la marque de Kourkov. Et, comme toujours, des histoires insignifiantes -il y a quand même toujours des assassinats, mais on est en Ukraine, train-train habituel de ce côté- contées comme des épopées. Bien sûr, la critique du pouvoir politique et religieux, véreux, profiteurs, ridiculisés par la plume du fantasque écrivain. Au travers d'un étrange trafic de lait, de nourrice notamment! Et, pas habituel, une touche de conte de fée? Ou non? A lire pour savoir.
November 11, 2015
KURKOW, Andrej: „Der Milchmann in der Nacht“, Zürich 2011
Zu Beginn treten sehr unterschiedliche Personen auf, sodass man sich als Leser nur schwer vorstellen kann, wie die zusammen passen sollen. Langsamen finden sie aber zueinander, auch wenn sie aus ganz unterschiedlichen Milieus kommen.
Ob es typisch für die Ukraine ist, dass bei jeder Gelegenheit harter Alkohol getrunken wird oder ob es eine Marotte des Dichters ist?
Auch scheint es bei den heutigen Erfolgsdichtern üblich zu sein ihre Städte zu beschreiben. In detaillierter Form mit Straßennamen. Eine Stadtführung im Roman verpackt.
Über 500 Seiten, die Entspannung bringen, aber keine hochwertige Literatur. Ein Märchenerzähler der Moderne.
In der korrupten Welt der Ukraine scheint manchmal auch so etwas wie Happy End möglich – auch wenn es in einer russischen Stadt stattfindet.
Zu Beginn treten sehr unterschiedliche Personen auf, sodass man sich als Leser nur schwer vorstellen kann, wie die zusammen passen sollen. Langsamen finden sie aber zueinander, auch wenn sie aus ganz unterschiedlichen Milieus kommen.
Ob es typisch für die Ukraine ist, dass bei jeder Gelegenheit harter Alkohol getrunken wird oder ob es eine Marotte des Dichters ist?
Auch scheint es bei den heutigen Erfolgsdichtern üblich zu sein ihre Städte zu beschreiben. In detaillierter Form mit Straßennamen. Eine Stadtführung im Roman verpackt.
Über 500 Seiten, die Entspannung bringen, aber keine hochwertige Literatur. Ein Märchenerzähler der Moderne.
In der korrupten Welt der Ukraine scheint manchmal auch so etwas wie Happy End möglich – auch wenn es in einer russischen Stadt stattfindet.
January 2, 2016
This is only the second of Kurkov's books that I've read but I do agree that he could be the Ukrainian Murakami, and I love Murakami. As well as enjoying the occasional marvellous sentence, especially the opening line, I also appreciated the insight into Ukrainian society. Looking forward to reading more Kurkov.
January 5, 2025
This is a highly absurd tale set in post-soviet Ukraine with a wide range of characters that experience bizarre events and end up entangled in a plot that verges on unbelievability most of the time. One of the main characters is Irina, a poor village girl who ends up pregnant after a brief relationship with one of her teachers and, when abandoned by the father of her child, sees herself forced to sell her breast milk in order to survive. She is supposed to stand for Ukraine and the fact that she is regarded throughout the plot as a cow to be milked for the good of others while her child is fed with cheap formula milk is a metaphor that does not go any further. She eventually ends up feeding four babies, only one of which is truly her own, and most of the scenes involving her are related to breast milking, this apparently being her only major trait. Irina lives a solitary life, and she is actually on the sidelines when it comes to the other events in the book. There is the figure of the newly made politician who is utterly corrupt and apparently likes to bathe in Irina’s milk (I am not certain about this fact, he might also be making cheese out of breast milk, as I already mentioned, this story is bizarre). This politician also organizes lavish get-togethers with both those in power as well as the opposition and he discusses at some point the purpose of politics which is to have a direct impact on the livelihoods of the people (he does this while he hands out gold crosses to a bunch of orphaned children alongside a certificate which guarantees their free entry into a state university). There is also the politician’s bodyguard who is a somnambule and discovers he has a secret night life including an affair with a woman he doesn’t know when he is awake. There is also the figure of the mad scientist, in this case a pharmacist who invents and anti-wimp serum that makes one courageous and adamant at acting in a rightful manner. The serum appears to be sold to politicians, but one bag of it gets stolen by three individuals and a tomcat, Fluffy, gets served the serum, ends up a sort of night vigilante. Fluffy is my favorite character in the entire novel, Fluffy protects its owner two time, saving him from death, Fluffy dies at least two times and is somehow resurrected by the serum and by the end of the book Fluffy makes the news as it ends up killing a man who attacked a woman on the street. There are also other characters, embalmed husbands, a crazy religious group which only add to the absurdity of the tale. Was this book completely coherent? Certainly not. Are there loose plot points? Of course, they abound, do not hope for a clear resolution by the end of the 500 pages. Was this fun to read? Absolutely. From what I’ve read, other of Kurkov’s books are better written, so if you are unfamiliar with this author I would suggest starting with Death and the Pinguin and then giving this one a try.
September 12, 2025
Ah, what a journey! I enjoyed every page, every paragraph, every description. It was a delicious portion absurd with a vivid Ukrainian flavour of 2000s. Some things were very specific (like the political background), others were universal satire (with the theme of power and even religion). The style is hilarious, sharp and tender in the same time. The characters felt like simple living people, looking for their own peace of mind in the changing society and young country (especially, Irynka!). Of course, after more than 20 years some things in Ukraine have changed (and thanks God). It was interesting to compare and reflect on this precise portret of society 20+ years ago. Nevertheless I gave it 3 ⭐️ because of the ending: it felt a bit abrupt. I expected the story lines to cross over each other a bit more, or at least that the novel brings us to a sharper point thematically. I think that with all that material it was perfectly possible. And it felt even unfair to give us (and characters) that kind of ending, especially for Semen.
Some things triggered me, of course. Reading it today, that atmosphere feels like an unsettling premonition of our present reality. But maybe the strength of «The Milkman» is in how it captures the atmosphere of its time without ideology, just as a slice of life.
Some things triggered me, of course. Reading it today, that atmosphere feels like an unsettling premonition of our present reality. But maybe the strength of «The Milkman» is in how it captures the atmosphere of its time without ideology, just as a slice of life.
November 6, 2021
I love Kurkov, and Death & the Penguin is in my top twenty favourites of all time. However I found this a little bit long and meandering. Whereas DATP is clipped and staccato in its style, with lots of dark humour, I thought The Milkman in the Night was about 200 pages too long without necessarily really exploring the main topics of the book. I think I also had an expectation that the various strands and storylines would all come together a little more succinctly towards the end but it never really materialised as I’d hoped.
(For a little context though, I read this with a new born baby in the house, which meant it took me quite a while to finish. I found myself nodding off a lot as soon as I started reading, which is more of a reflection of my tiredness, not necessarily the book). Perhaps this had an impact on my enjoyment of the story….
(For a little context though, I read this with a new born baby in the house, which meant it took me quite a while to finish. I found myself nodding off a lot as soon as I started reading, which is more of a reflection of my tiredness, not necessarily the book). Perhaps this had an impact on my enjoyment of the story….
September 20, 2025
What a wonderful book. Nearly 500 pages but I could have read another 500. Kurkov is such an incredible author. He cuts the book up into easily readable chunks and the pace keeps moving. There is no unnecessary pages of words where he is just trying to impress the whole book is just meant to entertain the reader. Also, there are no obvious stereotypes, it is all uniquely twists and turns and relatable characters even though they are from a different part of the world to me in times that are not that far back are very different from now. I would put him in my top five authors of old time.
April 30, 2020
Beetje meer van hetzelfde na het lezen van The Gardner from Ochakov: leuke verstrooiing, ik had iets nodig om niet teveel bij na te denken, af en toe een keer te grinniken, en hier en daar achter m'n oren te krabben. Dat is allemaal gelukt. Personages blijven helaas erg koud waardoor sommige plot ontwikkelingen niet echt gemotiveerd voelen.
April 11, 2022
Was ist überhaupt passiert??? Ich musste eine Namensliste mit den Einzelnen Beziehungen anlegen um überhaupt zu verstehen wer wer ist und wie die Figuren verknüpft sind. Ich habe das Buch zu Ende gelesen und weiß es immer noch nicht. Die Charaktere sind shallow und man fühlt überhaupt nicht mit. Slow read. Leider nichts für mich.
August 8, 2023
Strange one this: highly engaging (read in 5 days) and with interesting characters, and Kurkov's usual authentic portrayal of Ukrainian/Russian life/society, but proceeding v.slowly and not really amounting to much. I guess the idea was to show how the ordinary people can still navigate their way to happiness if they're patient/stick at it. Solid 3.5 stars, and want to round up... but can't.
February 8, 2019
A weird journey, lots of twists and turns, some very funny parts.... ending felt a bit tacked on, like, "quick, wrap it up, make it happy. "
Some parts, like Egor killing some people is weirdly glossed over like it's all good
Some parts, like Egor killing some people is weirdly glossed over like it's all good
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 25, 2022
Another hit for Andrey Kurkov.Ithoroughly enjoyed the novel - a surreal political novel which explores a corrupt society both in a profound and whimiscal manner
The novel is based around Semyon who is a security businessman, Dima who makes a dangerous but lucrative society and Irina a wet nurseA pleasant and humouress novel which can be savage at times
An excellent read
The novel is based around Semyon who is a security businessman, Dima who makes a dangerous but lucrative society and Irina a wet nurseA pleasant and humouress novel which can be savage at times
An excellent read
February 3, 2024
IMO Very interesting with plenty of characters and potential but didn’t have to be so complex.
Feels like it could have been an awesome short story in the vein of Gogol.
Still good! Left wanting to know more about individual stories.
Feels like it could have been an awesome short story in the vein of Gogol.
Still good! Left wanting to know more about individual stories.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 1, 2018
What an amazing book.
So recognizable and yet at times very strange. Not a very difficult read, but the many (pairs of) characters didn't leave any room to let my mind wander while reading.
So recognizable and yet at times very strange. Not a very difficult read, but the many (pairs of) characters didn't leave any room to let my mind wander while reading.
July 2, 2019
Nu m-am putut hotari intre 3 si 4 stele.
December 26, 2023
Le cinquième Kurkov que je lis depuis deux ans et c’est toujours aussi bien. On peut commencer par celui-ci.
August 31, 2025
Too much of a shaggy dog story in the end for me.
June 29, 2013
Kurkov writes a wonderful satire of corruption among politicians, priests, militia and security services in the Ukraine.
Dima, a sniffer dog-handler at the airport conspires with 2 bag-handlers to steal a suitcase, but they're not sure what to make of the contents when they finally get the suitcase open. Semyon, a security officer to a politician, realizes that he's been sleepwalking in the night but he can't remember where he goes or what he does during his nocturnal journeys. He's worried he may have murdered someone during one of his wanderings, and asks his friend to follow him if he sees him leaving his house at night. Irina is a wet nurse at a milk kitchen even as her own daughter is raised on formula at home. A woman whose pharmacist husband was murdered one night, is reluctant to let him go, and, together with a friend whose husband had also recently passed away, decide to have their deceased husbands embalmed so they can bring them home and have them sit in their armchairs. But how are the soles of the slippers of her dead husband getting dirty and why are there footprints in the carpet in her living room?
All these seemingly different stories are told in short segments very vividly, allowing the reader to follow along with their individual adventures, sorrows, frustration at life's challenges and also their joyous moments. There's a great deal of gentle humor with which the author sympathetically shares his characters with us, and it is this gentle telling of their stories that kept me riveted to the book.
Oh and by the way, there's also a vigilante seemingly immortal cat on the loose.
Dima, a sniffer dog-handler at the airport conspires with 2 bag-handlers to steal a suitcase, but they're not sure what to make of the contents when they finally get the suitcase open. Semyon, a security officer to a politician, realizes that he's been sleepwalking in the night but he can't remember where he goes or what he does during his nocturnal journeys. He's worried he may have murdered someone during one of his wanderings, and asks his friend to follow him if he sees him leaving his house at night. Irina is a wet nurse at a milk kitchen even as her own daughter is raised on formula at home. A woman whose pharmacist husband was murdered one night, is reluctant to let him go, and, together with a friend whose husband had also recently passed away, decide to have their deceased husbands embalmed so they can bring them home and have them sit in their armchairs. But how are the soles of the slippers of her dead husband getting dirty and why are there footprints in the carpet in her living room?
All these seemingly different stories are told in short segments very vividly, allowing the reader to follow along with their individual adventures, sorrows, frustration at life's challenges and also their joyous moments. There's a great deal of gentle humor with which the author sympathetically shares his characters with us, and it is this gentle telling of their stories that kept me riveted to the book.
Oh and by the way, there's also a vigilante seemingly immortal cat on the loose.
October 4, 2011
Ten years on from the English-language publication of his debut, Death and the Penguin, comes Andrey Kurkov’s ninth book. The Milkman in the Night (translated from the Russian by Amanda Love Darragh) tells of three main characters whose lives intertwine in contemporary Kiev: Dmitry, the airport sniffer-dog handler who finds a case of ampoules containing a substance which has a remarkable effect on those who consume it; Irina, the single mother who sells her breast milk for a living; and Semyon, who finds that he has been out walking at night with no memory of doing so – and his business partner’s report from monitoring those journeys only leaves Semyon with more questions.
For all the strangeness in its pages (and it’s by no means confined to the three protagonists), The Milkman in the Night has a strongly deadpan quality, both in the reactions of its characters to events, and in Kurkov’s prose. This turns out to be both a strength and a weakness of the novel: on the one hand, it creates an effective contrast which draws the reader in by making one want to know just where the book’s going next; on the other, it puts a certain distance between reader and characters which makes engaging emotionally that bit more difficult. But the structure works well, a series of short chapters that shift between viewpoints, creating a narrative skein that gradually reveals the connections between characters, and a truth that may or may not be fully uncovered.
This review first appeared at We Love This Book.
For all the strangeness in its pages (and it’s by no means confined to the three protagonists), The Milkman in the Night has a strongly deadpan quality, both in the reactions of its characters to events, and in Kurkov’s prose. This turns out to be both a strength and a weakness of the novel: on the one hand, it creates an effective contrast which draws the reader in by making one want to know just where the book’s going next; on the other, it puts a certain distance between reader and characters which makes engaging emotionally that bit more difficult. But the structure works well, a series of short chapters that shift between viewpoints, creating a narrative skein that gradually reveals the connections between characters, and a truth that may or may not be fully uncovered.
This review first appeared at We Love This Book.
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