Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv

by Andrey Kurkov, Reuben Wooley (Translator)

A hugely entertaining romp through the beautiful city of Lviv, by the author of Death and the Penguin and Grey Bees, now reporting widely on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, his home country.

Strange things are afoot in the cosmopolitan city of Lviv, western Ukraine. Seagulls are circling and the air smells salty, though Lviv is a long way from the sea . . .

A ragtag group gathers round a mysterious grave in Lychakiv Cemetery - among them an ex-KGB officer and an ageing hippy he used to spy on. Before long, Captain Ryabtsev and Alik Olisevych are teaming up to discover the source of the "anomalies".
Meanwhile, Taras - who makes a living driving kidney-stone patients over cobblestones in his ancient Opel Vectra - is courting Darka, who works nights at a bureau de change despite being allergic to money.
They young lovers don't know it, but their fate depends on two lonely old men, relics of another era, who will stop at nothing to save their city.

Shot through with Kurkov's unique brand of black humour and vodka-fuelled magic realism, Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv is an affectionate portrait one the world's most intriguing cities.

Genres: Ukraine, Fiction, Magical Realism, Music, Ukrainian Literature, Audiobook, Literary Fiction

416 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Andrey 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).

Reviews

[Adina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Longlisted for Booker Prize International 2023

2.5*
International Booker Prize is usually the highlight of the year for me. Through the years I discovered many gems and a few new favorite writers. Unfortunately, this year has proved underwhelming. This is the last novel I’ll managed to read until the shortlist is published on Tuesday. So far, from the 7 titles I read (or tried), there are only two that I believe are worth the graduatiom to the next phase, one of which I read before the longlist was announced. I don’t even know what to wish for, that the books I’ve already read are shortlisted so I do not have many left to go through? Or that others are on that list so there will be a chance for me to read better literature?

Saying that, let’s return to the matter at hand, Kurkov’s novel. I’ll say from the start that I believe this book was nominated for political reasins and as a homage to other, better novels writen by the author. The novel was written following the invitation from the Mayor of Lviv and it also includes characters that are inspired by real life people known by the author. These aspects limited the author’s creative process and what resulted was a slow paced quirky adventure story with humour which felt staled and unninspired.

The subject matter was interesting, the characters had the potential to shine in their quirkiness but…

[Matthew Ted · Rating 2 out of 5]

72nd book of 2023.

Anyone friends with me will have seen my recent gushes for Kurkov and his Death and the Penguin. So naturally I was excited to get to this, another Kurkov, and also longlisted for this years MBI. Sadly, though, full of disappointment. A supposed 'love letter' to Lviv (though I didn't think Lviv was evoked all that much), the plot of this novel is fairly thin. It mostly involves the small but wacky array of characters drinking and wandering around. There's aggressive seagulls, a girl working in the bureau de change despite being allergic to money, a weird barely mentioned thing about Jimi Hendrix's right hand (but he plays with his left), etc. The humour wasn't really there either compared to the two Penguin books. It just felt like a nothing read, but for 400 pages. Maybe they realised they had to put Kurkov on once and it just happened to be this one, which is supposedly what happened when McEwan won the MB for Amsterdam when really it should have been Atonement to win. Who knows these judges. For the MB this year we have Jeremy from Peep Show so it really is a wildcard on who will end up on it.

[Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the characters and the story on the whole. I did have a problem with the pacing. I accepted the slow start, wanted it to move more quickly in the middle and enjoyed the end.

Kurkov delves in light magical realism but for the life of me I cannot connect the dots if he was referring to politics or internal Ukranian affairs as I only know a little bit from the outside.

What I enjoyed the most was the unhurried life his characters lived. They just flowed from one thing to another and had time for coffee and vodka and to talk to friends and all that created a sense of quiet, peace inside of me.

An ARC kindly provided by author/publisher via Netgalley.

[Paul Fulcher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Longlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize

With this I've completed the list of 13 books, but unfortunately this was a disappointing conclusion to a generally disappointing list. The finest of translation fiction this wasn't.

Here I think part of the issue is the nature of the book - it isn't so much a novel as a tribute to the author's friends and to the city of Lviv, at the invitation of the mayor of the city, as Kurkov's afterword acknowledges. Three of the key characters are indeed based on real-life acquaintances of his, even if the story is magic-realismised:

- the novelist Yurko Vynnychuk who appears as himself

- Alik Olisevych, who, like the character Alik in the novel, really was under KGB surveillance for being a hippie.

- Oksana Prokhorets, who appears an an actress Oksana in the novel, who features in a trip to Lviv in Kurkov's Ukraine Diaries: Dispatches From Kiev

Which means that the story is all very, well, Patrick Nice.

I was with my hippie friends, at a memorial to Jimi Hendrix in Lviv, when a stranger came up and introduced himself as a former KGB agent who had us under surveillance for many years. However, through watching us, he and his fellow KGB agents had themselves become Jimi Hendrix fans. And they'd arranged to have his body in the US exhumed and his hand removed and reburied her in Lviv at this very memorial. We soon became firm friends:



My business involves driving tourist fast over cobble stones at night to dislodge their kidney stones. I fell in love with the girl who works in the overnight bureau where I exchange the foreign currency I receive. Unfortunately she suffered from severe allergies, even to the money she has to handle, and certainly to be able to touch or kiss me. Fortunately, one of my client's kidney stones actually proved to be a pearl with healing powers than cured her all allergies, so we could get married:



The book even concludes with a they all-lived-happily-ever-after coda in case there were any lingering worries in the reader's mind.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a culinary tradition in Slavic countries such as Russia and Ukraine: When you drink vodka, you eat zakuski, which literally means “something to bite after.” It sounds like a delicious culinary tradition. Except for one thing: I’ve never had vodka.

After reading Ukrainian writer Andrey Kurkov’s Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv (2012), I just might get myself a bottle. Throughout the novel, the characters are dealing with a strange anomaly. The inland city of Lviv has strange incidents of seagulls, starfish, a stench of seaweed, and salt water crabs appearing in various places throughout the city.

Several residents band together to try to identify the problem, which they do after the consumption of a whole lot of vodka and zakuski. Their Lviv is a magical city in which the hand of the late Jimi Hendrix is buried in a local cemetery, having been supplied by the KGB with the help of Lithuanian operatives. Why? Apparently to study the speed of the spreading of rumors in Soviet society.

This is the fifth work of fiction by Ukrainian author Andrey Kurkov that I have read. They are all of them sweet and gentle—especially as they come from a land that is now mired in a brutal invasion by Russian forces. I cannot help but think that Kurkov’s whimsy can be as deadly to Putin’s aims as any weapons in his arsenal. Anyhow, let’s hope so. I have a lot more of Kurkov that I want to read; and I hope he continues to live a long and productive life.

[Darryl Suite · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m gonna just say what I think here: my guess is that this novel was put on the International Booker longlist more to do with the Ukrainian political conflict than with the actual merit of the book itself. There are several factors in this novel that intrigued me and would make me seek out more Kurkov (I mean I’m a magical realism devotee), but this book didn’t come together both as art work or as a reading experience.

It had such a strong, surreal (and very weird and wacky start). It had me, it really had me, but I came to realize that had more to do with trying to figure out where it was all heading. But that’s the thing, it’s almost like this novel lost its nerve along the way, and fizzled out into something lackluster and underwhelming.

When you read the backstory on why Kurkov decided to write this book in the first place, it starts to make sense why the book didn’t get a lot dirtier or take more leaps and risks. I didn’t hate it, but it also didn’t leave a mark. Sure, it’s quirky, quick to get through, and held my attention for the most part, but it’s also surprisingly forgettable. I feel lukewarm towards it. Not bad, but didn’t light my world on fire.

[Rachel Louise Atkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pleasantly surprised by this book because I absolutely loved it. This is a Bulgakov/China Mieville style tale about a cast of characters living in Lviv and trying to get to the bottom of an environmental anomaly which is making the city smell like sea and the birds go insane.

I have to say this is one of the funniest books I have ever read and at one point I was laughing so much I was wiping away years. It is such a hilarious little novel and I found myself to drawn into the characters and the world. It was brilliantly paced and structured with a mix of comedy and political criticism.

Had so much fun with this book and I honestly adored it. I don’t know if I can take it seriously enough for the International Booker but I will be backing it with a glass of vodka all the way if it wins.

[Kate O'Shea · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I read this book piecemeal, partly because I'd a lot of other books on the go and partly because it didn't really grab me.

I struggle with the International Bookers. I've only read one or two that have blown me away but I am beginning to think its my fault, not theirs.

I lived the title, which is what prompted the Netgalley request, however I was disappointed that so little reference was made to the supposed grave where Hendrix's hand was alleged to have been placed.

The only parts I really enjoyed was the love story between Taras and Darka, which was funny and sweet.

I am assuming that the main section about the strange atmosphere and the seagull attacks etc was a metaphor for something but I'm afraid I'm too stupid to have understood what. Don't bother explaining it to me. It was interesting but not entertaining.

Altogether an okay book for me. I'd like to read Death and the Penguin though. The writer interests me enough to want to read more of his work.

[flaminia · Rating 4 out of 5]

mi ha ricordato il maestro e margherita, per l’atmosfera di follia collettiva e i personaggi uno più tuonato dell’altro, ai quali non si può evitare di volere molto bene.
menzione speciale per la copertina, starei a guardarla tutto il giorno.

[None Ofyourbusiness Loves Israel · Rating 2 out of 5]

The novel begins with the intriguing tale of Jimi Hendrix's right hand, covertly transported into the USSR by the KGB and interred in a Ukrainian cemetery. Each year, on the anniversary of his death, devoted fans gather to honor his memory. Among them is a retired secret policeman, once assigned to monitor long-haired individuals, who now finds himself a fervent Hendrix enthusiast, burdened with regret.

The protagonist, Taras, is a young man with an unconventional medical practice, treating Polish clients suffering from kidney stones by driving them over Lviv's cobblestones. This peculiar remedy proves effective. The vibrant city of Lviv, with its baroque churches and art deco villas, has a rich history, having been part of Poland, Austria-Hungary, and the USSR. Kurkov depicts its Polish houses and subtle culture, as his characters traverse this historically rich metropolis by foot, taxi, or yellow moped.

Amidst rumors of a rising prehistoric sea beneath Lviv, accompanied by seagull attacks a-la The Birds and a persistent iodine scent, Taras' tender romance with Darka, a currency exchange clerk with an allergy to money, unfolds. Despite her unusual condition, Taras is captivated by her, and their relationship blossoms against the city's enchanting and enigmatic backdrop. Captain Ryabtsev, a former Soviet officer, embarks on a similar quest, adding a touch of melancholy to the otherwise lighthearted narrative.

Kurkov introduces a delightful ensemble of characters, offering a strange portrayal of life in an old European city. Unfortunately all these great hooks fail to coalesce into an interesting plot. None of the humor lands hard and not much strikes as profound, new or worthwhile. Skip

[Jolanta (knygupė)]

Man patinka šis viršelis. Jis tinka knygai. Angliškas žydrai geltonas su Ukrainos vėliava gitaros viršuje - klaidinantis politiškumu. Romanas parašytas 2012 metais. Tos besiveržiančios į paviršių požeminės jūros ir agresyvios žuvėdros, tokie anomalūs reiškiniai Lvive, galbūt ir simbolizuoja tą išsipildžiusį vėliau nerimą, kuris, greičiausiai, buvo jaučiamas Ukrainoje. Galbūt. O gal aš jau čia pritempinėju. Šiaip, man buvo mielas šis skaitins. Kurkovas rašo puikiai, o čia dar ir Lietuva neretai paminima, ir epizodinis veikėjas Audrius. Hendrixo, beje, čia tik čiut čiut. Žodžiu, patiko, bet...ir net nežinau į kurią pusę apvalint.
3,5*

[Malise · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv' was longlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize and at first, I remember thinking this seemed like a strange pick for the prize based purely on the title. However (and listen up Jimi Hendrix superfans) this book had quite literally nothing to do with Jimi Hendrix - he was probably briefly mentioned by name about four or five times throughout the duration of 400 pages which I am kind of glad about as I didn't think I'd enjoy some sort of Jimi Hendrix historical fiction/memoir mix.

Instead, we are given a magical realism novel that is very reminiscent of Bulgakov's writing who I loved. We follow two plot lines - Taras and Alik whose paths never actually overlap but they show us how they are experiencing a very strange environmental anomaly in different parts of Lviv. The characters themselves were all very likable, if not a little bizarre.

I would never have picked this book up on my own accord, had it not been nominated, but this was actually a good book with just all round good vibes.

[Lada Moskalets · Rating 4 out of 5]

Дивна книжка, яка місцями дратує, але в кінці справляє миле і затишне враження. Я знайома з трьома персонажами і так, у романі вони точно такі як у житті. Головне, за що хочеться подякувати автору, що Львів тут не такий ванільний, як у решті літератури, а химерно-тривожний і часом гидкий, і герої його не сентиментальні панночки, а диваки з пляшками горілки на дитячих майданчиках. І немає всіх цих коліжанок-філіжанок і решти псевдогалицької гвари, яка мене бісить.
Курков мабуть добрий психолог, якщо йому вдалося зразу впіймати головний комплекс і біль львів'ян - брак води, а ще краще моря, і побудувати з цього цілу розповідь.

[Yahaira · Rating 3 out of 5]

This IB list is full of books doing nothing

2.5
The novel is set in the city of Lviv, Ukraine, and begins with a group of hippies who are meeting at a cemetery for their yearly tribute to Jimi Hendrix. This group includes Alik who works at the theater. This time they are joined by a former KGB member Ryabtsev - who claims to have helped smuggle Hendrix’s hand that is buried in the grave. He fell in love with his music after hearing it so much during his spying on the hippies.

On the way home, Alik is almost run over by Taras- who drives people with kidney stones over cobbled streets to help them pass their stones. Every night after being paid he goes to the exchange where Darja works. She’s always locked behind the glass and she’s allergic to money! Taras is neighbors with Yezhi, an old hairdresser, and is friends with Oksana, an actress who also volunteers with the homeless.

Most of the book is Taras driving customers around at night and meeting his friends during the day. Or it’s Alik and Ryabtsev chatting and riding a scooter around Lviv. This becomes very circular and repetitive, with not much new happening in any of these events. Something odd is happening in Lviv though- seagulls are attacking people (or Ryabtsev’s birds), starfish are found, and the air smells of sea water. I’m just going to remind you that Lviv is landlocked and closer to the Polish border than the ocean. I guess this is where hijinks ensue? Insert your favorite gang-solves-things show or cartoon reference here.

This book is mostly all good vibes and a love letter (or an ad depending on your view) to Lviv. Unfortunately it never rises above this. The stakes never felt very high and the writing is just fine. If you want to read about Ukraine but don’t want to do anything too political (or too exciting), then this is the book for you.

[Pavlo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Читав давно. Для львівʼян, причетних і шанувальників, книжка буде місцями цікава і цінна. Плюс дитяча радість впізнавання місць і типажів, або ностальгійна зворушливість. Але це щось таке "для внутрішнього вжитку," ну може ще для якогось "пострадянського простору," якщо від нього щось залишилося. Для чого це перекладати, там, англійською, і що з цього почерпне той таки англомовний читач поза контекстом - не знаю. Певно, десь стільки само, як із перехваленого "Все ясно" Фоера.

Водночас, дивлячись на недавню скажену популярність "Джентльмена в Москві," хтозна, хтозна...

[Magdelanye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rock songs...engaged the animal instincts of joy, the sense of freedom, of sudden urges. It was impossible to manage a person who loved such music. p162

This was a very different kind of person, and a very different kind of life that was lived by a very different set of rules. p44

The old world was held together by conventions, and that was why it fell apart.... This world is held together by conventions too, just different ones! It'll fall apart too, with time. The most important thing is to protect your own personal internal world from all these conventions. p123

Indubitably, it would be absurd to demand or even expect rational logic to apply to this theatre of the absurd. Unless you are a sour contrarian or a determined masochist, don't even bother to try. Just relax, maybe with a glass of vodka or a cup of tea, and allow yourself to immerse yourself in the ridiculousness.

Lviv is one of the larger cities in Ukraine, which welcomes tourists, even now. It retains a patina of past times and a deceptive peace.

Time....doesn't follow the clock. It sits down next to you at the table....It's in no rush. p90

[Sarah (sarahanneisreading) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Creedling · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5* for being totally mad. Thoroughly enjoyed the world and characters even though I had no idea what was going on half the time.

[Arafat Rahman Aumi · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.25 stars

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

"He was like a word in an endless conglomeration of words, which didn't follow the laws of punctuation and was thus unable to form a sentence."

An accurate summation of my take on this book, unable to form a novel. Some reviews mention "Kafka" and some mention "magical realism." I am reaching for words like "dissociative" and "neologistic jargon." Quirky characters mixed with peculiar events don't necessarily produce a brilliantly creative novel. Particularly in this case--the whole was not greater than the sum of its parts.

I felt the writing was largely stilted and rough, and I wonder how much of that was the book itself or the translation (or both?). It was also dialogue heavy in a way that made it seem shallow and hollow.

There were, of course, one or two more radiant parts:

Time always "chatters away" more quickly and stealthily at night. It doesn't follow the clock. It sits down next to you at the table, an invisible third party protecting your conversation, letting you relax and sink into reminiscing. It's in no rush.

But once the chatter is long behind you, and you come out of your cozy little private world into the less cozy one you share with everyone else, where it also happens to be night and it's just about to rain, then time starts hurrying again, and there's nowhere to run from it, because instead of ticking hands it counts with clapping soles on cobblestones or tarmac.

I loved Death and the Penguin and still recommend it wholeheartedly (I'm delighted that my son picked it up for some of his summer reading). But this one deserves a pass...

[Johann Guenther · Rating 3 out of 5]

KURKOW, Andrej: „Jimi Hendrix live in Lemberg“, Zürich 2014
Wenn mein kleiner Neffe unwahre Geschichten erzählt und ich ihn ermahne meint er „Das ist nur im Märchen so und im Märchen kann alles sein.“ So ein Märchenerzähler ist Kurkow. („Der Mythos ist immer wichtiger als die Wahrheit.“ Seite 400) Er bringt Geschichten aus Lemberg, die man nie erwarten würde und die in eine unreale Welt führen. In eine Welt, wo es nach Meerwasser riecht, wo es gar kein Meer gibt und wo auch Seemöwen fliegen.
In diesem Buch endet seine Geschichte aber relativ primitiv. Ich hatte beim Lesen das Gefühl, dass er das Ende rasch und primitiv herbeiführte.
„Die Vergangenheit häuft sich an, während die Gegenwart einen Augenblick verweilt und dann genau dorthin, in die Vergangenheit, davonsickert.“ (Seite 62)
„Manche Städte gibt es nur, damit jemand davon träumen kann, dort hinzukommen. Das Träumen ist manchmal wichtiger als das Hinfahren …“ (Seite 66)

[Serhii]

Дитячий містичний алкотрилер у якому непереконливо вибудовані персонажі постійно п'ють горілку, каву та безцільно блукають берегом моря якого не має.

[Tripfiction · Rating 5 out of 5]

Novel set in LVIV



First, pointing out that, despite its title, this book has very little to do with Jimi Hendrix. One of his hands is allegedly buried in a cemetery in Lviv and every year, on his birthday, a group of ageing hippies gather to pay homage. That is about it. The book gently explores the lives of these hippies and others in the city. Taras earns his living by driving clients (often Poles) around the city’s cobbled streets late at night in a beaten up old Opel in an attempt (which is normally successful) to dislodge their kidney stones. Just before dawn every night he takes his currency earnings to a Foreign Exchange booth manned by Darka, a girl with whom he begins to fall in love. His best friend, Oksana, is an actress who runs a shelter for the homeless. She also knows Alik, another of the ageing hippies, and his former KGB ‘tormentor’ Captain Ryabtsev – now reformed but staying on in the city. Ryabtsev leads a lonely life focussed on his doves.

But strange events are beginning to take place in Lviv. Seagulls have appeared (and are far from friendly). There’s a smell of the sea – hundreds of miles inland – and rumblings occurring in the earth. Is a prehistoric sea bed beginning to rise again? Or do the events have anything to do with a drunken, and far from sweet smelling, old sailor who is roaming the city. Our characters in various ways sense the phenomenon and try and find the solution.

The strength of the book, as ever with Kurkov, is the nature of his characters. He describes them lovingly, and the reader receives an intimate idea of their lives and what makes them tick. The plot is a vehicle to explore them. He is one of my favourite authors.

I have not been to Lviv, but I imagine the descriptions of the city ring true. Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv is a book I would recommend.

[Fandango · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Pas mon favori de Kourkov mais on retrouve encore une fois des personnages très attachants, une histoire loufoque et une ambiance surnaturelle.
Sur le quatrième de couverture une des critiques décrit Kourkov comme "un cousin ukrainien des Monthy Python." et je pense que c'est très adapté.

"d'habiles artisans capables (...) d'assembler l'empeigne d'une chaussure et sa semelle avec plus d'efficacité que le régime soviétique n'en a jamais déployé pour réunir les parties occidentales et orientales de l'Ukraine."

"Un être humain, ce n'est jamais, en gros, qu'un vivant «appareil», très ordinaire et élémentaire, de transformation du futur en passé."

" Le temps la la nuit, passe vite quand on s'oublie à bavarder. Il ne s'écoule pas au rythme de la montre. Il s'installe à côté de vous à table, telle une tierce personne invisible qui veille au plaisir de votre conversation, en vous permettant de vous plonger sereinement dans les souvenirs. Il ne se fait jamais pressant.
Mais quand la conversation est déjà du passé, que l'on a quitté le petit monde confortable de la sphère privée pour celui moins douillet de l'espace public, espace qui plus est nocturne et menaçant à tout moment d'accoucher d'une averse, alors Chronos force à se hâter. Et impossible de lui échapper, car au lieu du tic-tac des aiguilles s'égrène un claquement de semelles sur l'asphalte, et tel un singulier mécanisme d'horlogerie, on accélère son propre mouvement."

"À la maison, ce sont de tout autres idées qui me viennent. Si ça se trouve, ce ne sont même pas mes idées, mais celles des voisins!"

"Peut-on être un ex-Polonais ou un ex-Russe?
- Impossible d'être un ex-guébiste ou un ex-communiste: ces marques ne s'effacent ni du corps ni de l'âme. Mais à l'époque soviétique on a extirpé de moi tout ce que j'avais de polonais, il ne m'en est rien resté à part mon prénom et mon nom de famille."

"Il inclinait déjà de plus belle au sommeil alcoolique, lequel se distingue du sommeil normal par le fait qu'il ne choisit pas le lieu de repos du dormeur, qu'il est capable de le renverser dans n'importe quel coin, fût-ce sur un parterre de fleurs ou sur le bitume."

[Kym · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were so many factors converging at once, compelling me to request Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv from NetGalley and HarperVia: First, there was the title - which is charming, even though I was well aware that Jimi Hendrix would play a VERY minimal role going into my reading. Second, I love reading translations, generally, and try to read from the Booker International list each year. (This book was included on the 2023 Booker International longlist.) Third, I’ve never read anything by Andrey Kurkov but have always wanted to. So. There you have it – I was eager to jump into this ARC edition.

Alas, it was not entirely the book for me. I loved the characters and the humor. I just didn’t quite connect with the storyline, and I found the pacing uneven. Maybe it was the translation? Or maybe it was my own lack of contextual background for a book set in Lviv. Regardless, I’m not at all disappointed that I read it, and appreciate the opportunity to have done so.

Thank you to HarperVia and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published in the United States on August 13, 2024.

3 stars

[Jane Fudger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ireally enjoy Andrey Kurkov's books and have all his books in translation. This book was originally published in 2013 but has only recently been translated into English. If you like surreal/dystopian novels he is a master.
However I think this is the weakest of his novels so far - I'm not sure whether this is because of the translation into English or whether the story wasnot as sharp as novels such asPenguin novels or Grey Bees. Neverthless it was an enjoyable easy read.

[Piotr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Czwarta gwiazdka (a choćby i ciut na wyrost!) za urocze (i jakie skrupulatne!) opisanie tego magicznego Lwowa. Bo jeśli miejscami to opowieść nieznośnie meandruje, traci tempo - ani na chwilę nie traci serca - do miasta, do Ukrainy, do tych niezwykłych typów, jakie w tej opowieści się przewijają.
Czy dane nam jeszcze będzie napić się wina w podlwowskiej Winnicy z Wynnyczukiem?
(Trzeba czytać, modlić się, pomagać... jak kto może, jak kto potrafi. Wierzę, że będzie dane.)

[incipit mania]

Incipit
Il modo di camminare è quasi sempre un segno rivelatore dell’età.
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[Sophia_k · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charming, romantic, strange, and a little melancholy: adored "you could even hang it on the wall for aesthetic purposes, and then it'll be like Chekhov: if there's a guitar hanging on the wall, sooner or later it must make some noise!"

[Gregory Duke · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first 150 pages were cute and mediocre, but this really comes to do absolutely nothing. There is genuinely little to no plot holding this together.