Guten Morgen, Genosse Elefant

by Christopher Wilson, Bernhard Robben (Translator)

Der rührendste Romanheld aller Zeiten.
Die lustige, traurige, spannende, lehrreiche, herzzerreißende Geschichte von Juri Zipit, der ein paar Wochen in Stalins Datscha verbringt und sein Vorkoster Erster Klasse wird. »Mein Name ist Juri Zipit. Ich bin zwölfeinhalb Jahre alt und lebe in einer Personalwohnung im Hauptstadtzoo gleich gegenüber vom Seelöwenteich hinter der Bisonweide, direkt neben dem Elefantengehege. Mein Papa ist Doktor Roman Alexandrowitsch Zipit, Professor für Veterinärmedizin, Fachgebiet Neurologie der Großhirnrinde, also ein Spezialist für alles, was im Kopf der Tiere schiefgehen kann. Als ich sechseinviertel Jahre alt war, passierte mir das größte Pech. Ein Milchwagen ist von hinten in mich reingerumst. Hat mich durch die Luft gepfeffert, bis ich auf den Boden geknallt bin, kopfvoran aufs Kopfsteinpflaster. Dann kam hinterrücks die Straßenbahn und ist über mich rüber. So was hinterlässt einen bleibenden Eindruck.Ich möchte Ihnen erzählen, wie ich einmal ein paar Wochen im Zentrum der Macht verbracht habe. Es waren höchst vertrauliche Angelegenheiten und dubiose Ereignisse, die zu düsteren Geschehnissen führten. Geheimnisse versteckt in der Geschichte. Ich baue auf Ihr Schweigen. Außerdem will ich Sie beschützen. Zu Ihrer eigenen Sicherheit. Also, psssst.«
»Lust und Vergnügen wuchsen, je länger und enger ich mit Juri zu tun hatte. Ein großartiger Roman.« Der Übersetzer Bernhard Robben

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Satire, Russia, Book Club, Adult

272 pages, Hardcover

First published July 6, 2017

Reviews

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this cleverly written satire about the last days of Stalin's regime in 1954, Yuri Romanovich Ziput is the twelve year old son of a vet at a Moscow Zoo. He is mentally damaged as the result of a childhood accident but has a simple, engaging personality and an open face that people trust. One night his father is called in to treat Stalin after a stroke (because all the doctors have been gaoled or put to death), taking Yuri with him to assist. After his father gives Stalin advice he doesn't want to hear about drinking and smoking, he disappears leaving Yuri with Stalin who takes a shine to him and appoints him as his official food taster. Stalin's inner circle treat Yuri as a simple idiot but he hears much of what is going on in the dying days of Stalin's rule, the paranoia, sadism, drunkeness and other excesses while his people live in fear of disappearing after saying or doing the wrong thing. Yuri is the perfect witness to the events unfolding around him with his naive but intelligent view of the world. Humorous and edgy, this satirical novel would be almost farcical if it were not for the fact that that it is based on real events.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher Faber and Faber for a copy of the book to read and review

[Luca · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the zoo Christopher Wilson lets you read about the Soviet Union through the eyes of a 12-year-old boy. The boy, Yuri Zipit, lives at the Kapital Zoo where his father is a professor of Veterinary Science. Somehow Yuri suddenly finds himself at Comrade Iron-man’s (Stalin) quarters as food-taster technician first class.

Yuri’s head is damaged as the result of a truck accident when he was younger. Some people mistake him for a fool. What is more is that Yuri has a kind face. This combination makes that people easily trust him.

The book is funny, brutal at times, and definitely satirical. I loved how reading through Yuri’s eyes made everything so unbelievably logical and light. The book itself was light too because it has only 230 pages. This makes it a quick read which can either be a good or a bad thing depending on the type of reader you are. Personally, I think compact size makes historical fiction more approachable to readers who are not so familiar with this genre. However, I do think that the Zoo had some elements that I would have loved to see further explored.

There was a single element in this book that stood out to me in a not so positive way. On page 6 Wilson writes: “her breasts smelled of turpentine”. Well, that was confusing... What on earth does this sentence have to do with the rest of the book? Not sure… It sure feels a little out of context. What I do know is that I have never encountered some one whose breasts smell of anything, let alone turpentine. Actually, I am pretty sure neither has the author. It is just tiresome to hear male authors talk about female characters this way. Therefore, I am politely going to ask Mr. Wilson to refrain from using randomly placed sexualized sentences ever again.

My little rant aside, this book was fun. It is the kind of thing you should read when you like history, but consider most books about history (either historical fiction or non-fiction) to be long-winded. The Zoo is not, it is a quirky and quick read. Perhaps even the kind of thing that you are looking for to take with you on vacation this summer!

Taken together I rated this book with 3,5 stars out of 5 (rounded up in this case).

I received a review copy of this book from Faber & Faber in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are entirely my own. My review is susceptible to changes in the final copy of this work.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

this satire of the last days of stalin is funny in parts seen through the eyes of yuri zipit the child and really enjoyed this novel was fast paced and easy to follow

[Brittany (whatbritreads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have no idea whether I didn’t enjoy this book because I didn’t properly understand it, or whether it was just not for me. Either way, I didn’t enjoy it.

I think most of my dislike for it stemmed from the fact it’s strongly a political satire, and I didn't entirely understand the politics so most of the satire went over my head. I think without that context it’s a bit of a struggle to read. I understood bits and pieces, but didn’t overly find it entertaining. Actually, this book ended up being quite depressing and sad. It got really quite graphic as well. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it took me by surprise.

It was a really quick read yet I still found myself getting kind of bored and confused by the plot. I think I’ll forget anything significant that happened here pretty quickly. If you get it, you’ll probably have a lot more fun than I did.

[SueKich · Rating 3 out of 5]

The exploits – and exploitations – of a smiley kid.

I’m very much in two minds about this book. On the one hand, I find it a beguiling rendering of how a boy of 12 gets caught up in the Soviet Union’s inner circle of power because of his smiley-faced innocence and innate likeability. On the other, it strikes me as a very manipulative piece of work, using a brain damaged child to throw a beam onto the mad machinations of Stalin in his dying days.

Yuri was injured in a terrible accident when he was six. Although he has a fierce intelligence, the brain damage has left him excessively naïve in some respects and subject to fits. Meanwhile, Stalin’s distrust of doctors has led to their banishment. When he falls ill, he must seek help from another quarter and Yuri’s father, the state zoo’s leading veterinary scientist, is called to examine the ailing leader. Yuri accompanies him but his father disappears and he is left alone with ‘Comrade Iron-Man’ for several hours. Unlikely though it may seem, the boy ends up as Stalin’s official food taster at the dacha. Here he witnesses Stalin’s gang of ministers in action. It is not a pretty sight.

Where I have a problem with books like this that use, for want of a better word, idiot-savants for their main protagonists, is that the author shuffles in and out of their character’s intelligence to suit the exigencies of the plot or even just to amuse. Admittedly, this novel is very, very funny – but it’s also quite unbearably sad. Parts of it - the torture scenes - are also decidedly harrowing. One of the obligatory famous author quotes on the front cover says: “Disgracefully entertaining” which just about sums up the problem for me. It felt jolly uncomfortable to be quite so diverted. 3.5*

[Nemo ☠️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

with classic wry, british humour to rival terry pratchett, douglas adams and jasper fforde, wilson spins a masterful and heartbreaking tragicomedy. i am considering suing for emotional distress.

[Mateicee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Der 12jährige Juri, Sohn des Zoodirektors wird durch Zufall und sein Engelsgesicht Zeuge der letzten Tage Stalins und sein Vertrauter.

Es ist unfassbar unterhaltsam gewesen diese letzten Tage und politische Verflechtungen durch die Augen einen naiven und unschuldigen Kindes zu erleben. Man fühlt mit ihm mit, gerade gegen Ende an seinem Tiefpunkt. Es gibt aber wenigstens sowas ähnliches wie ein Happy End, so ist die Kost nicht ganz so schwer

[Gabriel Ducate]

Extremely interesting to view Stalin through the eyes of Yuri, a 12-year-old with brain damage. Through his eyes, we see the horror, madness and brutality of the last days of Stalin's rule. I wouldn't have thought this book would be funny but it was very enjoyably funny. I also really liked Yuri.

[MisterHobgoblin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Zoo is a farcical romp through the last days of Stalin’s reign of terror in the Soviet Union.

Yuri is a twelve year old boy who claims to have suffered some form of brain damage as a child, leaving him a functional idiot. He can see everything that goes on around him, he can learn facts, but he hasn’t the guile to understand people. Yuri takes everyone at face value, all the time. By a quirk of fate, he ends up meeting Stalin who likes having a confidant he can trust completely. So he immediately appoints Yuri to be his food taster, thereby necessitating Yuri’s witnessing of the last days of the Great Leader’s life.

And this is not a glamorous end to a glorious life. Basically, Stalin is holed up in his dacha with this inner circle (Beria, Khrushchev, Bulganin and Malenkov), all of whom want to usurp the crown. These five do not like each other, they do not trust each other, but they end up spending all their time together watching films and playing drinking games. The plotting, aside from the crazy drunken antics, the stunt doubles follows Harrison E. Salisbury’s 1983 account of Stalin’s last days faithfully. It is a surprise – indeed a frustration – then that Christopher Wilson insists on using near approximations of the protagonists real names. Stalin (man of steel) becomes Iron-Man; Beria becomes Bruhah; Molotov especially irritatingly becomes Motolov, etc. It feels like it is cheapening what could otherwise have felt like a satire to take seriously.

Because, underneath all the drunken japes, this is a pretty good study of the paranoia of a brutal regime waiting for its leader to die. As a kitchen cabinet, the regime has the power of life and death over anyone unfortunate enough to cross its path, but yet remains powerless to bring about any meaningful social or economic change. Stalin himself is portrayed as a tired, sick and unsatisfied man, troubled about the legacy he would leave. He was lonely and desperate for unguarded, non-judgemental company, yet he had created a world in which only an idiot boy could fulfil that function. If anything, Yuri’s role was that of the mediaeval court fool, speaking truth to a king by dressing it up as wit.

In a neat story arc, we see Yuri come from ordinary society to mix with the elite; and then we see him return to ordinary society. It feels like completing a circle, albeit a rather sad circle because, as Khrushchev says to Yuri: “Poor child… You see it all. Yet you understand nothing”. But in a way Yuri inhabits a fool’s paradise. Right up to the end, as his world disintegrates around him, Yuri still remains optimistic.

This really is a great read. Short, lively, humorous but thoughtful. Yuri’s narrative voice is fabulous and his perpetual innocence is captivating. Stalin’s inner circle is well drawn and Beria, in particular, is a standout character – vain, foppish, ambitious and sadistic. He is a well-rounded psychopath. Given the way history played out, it might have been interesting to dwell just a little more on the character of Khrushchev whom history has treated with affection – it would have been nice to explore his role in the purges, his role in the Ukraine and his personal relationship with Stalin a little more closely. But this is a minor complaint in a tight and entertaining novel.

[Andrei Bădică · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mai degrabă, romanul acesta este mai mult despre comunismul din Rusia (sfârșitul lui Stalin) decât despre o grădină zoologică, așa cum se intitulează. Nu pot să afirm că m-a fermecat cartea aceasta, dar mi s-a repovestit, cât de cât, odiosul regim comunism.

„Îmi place să ajut. Chiar și străini. La urma urmei, suntem cu toții prieteni și tovarăși, aduși pe lume să ne ajutăm unii pe alții și să facem față vieții împreună.”

[Sid Nuncius · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought The Zoo was very good. It's a sharp and original observation of the brutality, self-delusion, self-centredness and self-regard of dictators and their entourage which is intelligent, at times rather funny and at others utterly horrifying.

Set in Moscow in 1953, a 12-year-old Yuri finds himself in the dying Stalin's inner circle as a food-taster. Yuri had a serious accident as a child which damaged his brain. This has left him still highly intelligent but with a naïve directness and inquisitiveness, and a face which leads people, even strangers, to confide in him. People often also believe him to be an "idiot boy" and forget his presence, so he hears a great deal which is not intended for other ears.

The story is narrated by Yuri and we see Stalin, Beria, Khrushchev and others through his eyes. It is a clever device, showing their monstrous behaviour in a new but no less horrifying light. We also get comments like this from the innocent Yuri, when a friend tells him that his uncle "got twelve years for doing precisely absolutely nothing at all. Zilch, Zero.
But that's Life. You don’t know what to believe for the best. Because, everyone knows, for *nothing* you only get nine."

I found Yuri's voice very convincing (although once or twice he does use slightly more poetic and advanced language than seems appropriate for his character) and the whole thing extremely engaging and readable. It's a fine satire which more than one current world leader would do well to take note of, as well as being a rather touching story as I became more and more engaged with Yuri and his understanding deepens of what is really happening. It's a very good read which will stay with me and which left me with plenty to think about. Warmly recommended.

(I received an ARC via NetGalley.)

[Calzean · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quirky way to bring to life the weird social world of Stalin and his inner circle in the last few weeks of Stalin's life. The hero of the story is just a quirky, a 12 year old boy with a presence that attracts people who then feel obligated to reveal all of their problems. Yuri finds himself the official taster for Stalin and witnesses the nightly chaos of Stalin's court - movies, feasting, drinking, dancing, joking - all dominated by Stalin.
Some good jokes relating to the times too.

[Magdelanye · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a ride!
Imagine 1984, only narrated by an enfant sauvage whose naivety hits the mark every time.

[Byron · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good solid read. Powerful and intriguing.

[Kent Monkey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I went into this book cold, with no previous knowledge or expectations. After reading it, I remained cold.

It's starts off well, with some intriguing characters introduced and a hint of the brutality to come for the majority of them...but it never really delivers on the early promise.

Yuri, the main character, narrates the novel, which jarred with me as at times it read in the present text, and at others in the past. He is also unconvincing as a character - somebody who is presented as having either learning and/or social challenges, due to previous events, but often falls in to using dialogue or understanding of events that feels in contradiction to the character we are lead to believe he is.

I also found it hard to feel any sympathy or empathy towards any of the characters. The ending could have been poignant and emotional had it not been so easy to predict very near the start of the book, and delivered in the way in which it was.

It's not a terrible book by any measure - I just didn't feel that it matched the early promise it showed, and lacked the ability to make me feel anything for any of the characters, unlike other books I've read have done recently.

[Christopher Farrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this look at the inner workings of Russian politics through the eyes of a young boy is interesting, I think it could have done with some finer tuning and maybe a bit more fleshing out. It feels like a bit of a skeleton where the author could have a done a lot more with it. Great jokes though.

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny, and yet not, all at once. Told through a 12 year old boy perspective, Yuri, who I absolutely loved!! Very well written, super fast and easy to read, I highly recommend it to everyone!

[Andy Weston · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Tragi-comedy’ is a tough mix to get right, especially when it concerns the Soviet Union. It is rarely attempted, notably though Iannucci writing the Death of Stalin as an absolute riot.
This is in a similar vein. It is also set in 1953 and is narrated by a very unfortunate 12 year old, Yuri Romanovich Zipit. Physically he was run over by a milk cart as a young boy from which he still has disabilities. He is also an epileptic.

I am damaged. But only in my body. And mind. Not my spirit, which is strong and unbroken.

Mentally he is different also. He has an innocent and trusting manner, and comes over as ‘half-witted’, though the reverse is true.

I attract confessions. Strongly. From all directions.
I only have to show my face in public and total strangers form an orderly line, like a kvass queue, to spill their secrets into my ears.

He lives with his father, who is a professor of veterinary sciences, in a apartment at the Moscow Zoo.
The story opens with him and his father taken by the Ministry of State Security to deal with a medical emergency, a high profile patient, Comrade Iron-Man, who will only trust himself with veterinarians.
The man is of course, Stalin. Though there is little his father can do, Yuri finds he has much in common with the seriously ill Stalin, and is soon appointed ‘food tester’; thus finding himself in Stalin’s innermost circles in his final days.

This all works remarkably well. Wilson voices Yuri really well, his naïvety coming across with charm and gentle humour, in what of course is a grimly dark tale. It’s an odd story, but all that much better for it.

[dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

oh i really enjoyed this one! well-written, fast-paced political satire and child's pov in the middle of stalin's last days :D

[Aaron Guzzwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a pleasant surprise. A shockingly amusing but heartfelt look into Stalin's final days, with all of the grit and dark humor you'd expect out of the Soviet Union.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting satirical account of life under Stalin. Despite the horrific themes, (murders, torture of people for the most minor things… or not doing anything at all!) Yuri is a fantastic narrator. Hearing his perspective as a 12 year old with a brain injury, is refreshing, funny and tragic.

I’m sure there are clever references and nods to history, which I missed, not knowing much in detail about the history of the Soviet Union, but I didn’t feel like that mattered.

An easy-to-read, engaging book. And somehow not so heavy, despite the content.

[Sam Still Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a thing for books that are set in Communist era Eastern Europe. Maybe it’s because I have people close to me that lived through it, maybe it’s just me being nosey. Whatever the reason, give me a book set there and I’ll devour it. I don’t think The Zoo was in my possession more than 24 hours before I’d slipped it into my handbag to read at any convenient break.

The Zoo is a quirky satire of the last days of Stalin’s regime in the Soviet Union. All the details are a bit obscure, but if you know some Communist history, you will find several familiar faces and actions. To lighten the mood, the story is told in the first person by Yuri, a 12 year old boy who is broken. Not in spirit, but in body. Yuri has to be the unluckiest little boy in the Kapital after being hit by multiple things. There’s a part of his brain that doesn’t quite work, but he’s all heart. Plus, Yuri’s father has given him rules to live by including never to mention politics and changing your underwear. When Yuri and his father are suddenly taken from the apartment at the Kapital Zoo, they are naturally frightened. Yuri’s father has been asked to treat someone who is, but definitely isn’t, Comrade Iron-Man. Uncle Joe. The problem is that Yuri’s dad is a vet, not a human doctor. But Comrade Iron-Man takes a special liking to Yuri and his bald, but well-meaning questions. He makes Yuri his official food taster, which means he sees a lot of the Kapital’s finest at their not so fine…

The Zoo is a cleverly written satire with both obvious and not-so-obvious clues and symbols as to life in the 1950s Soviet Union. I loved how Yuri exchanged a zoo of animals for a zoo of politicians (maybe there’s something to say about the current political climate). Uncle Joe is a character that you can’t love, but you can’t quite hate either. At this point, he’s a broken, dying man who occasionally shows a flicker of compassion in Yuri’s presence. With his subordinates, he tries desperately to hold the fort, forcing his staff to do a lot of degrading things. But he never quite reaches the heights of power that Yuri tells us. And as for his fate…I found the ending not quite surprising as I knew these people were capable of everything, but a little sad. Yes, sad for Stalin. Or not Stalin. Because he was never there, you see.

Christopher Wilson adds to the satire by including some tender scenes that come almost out of the blue. I don’t mean that in a bad way, but they are unexpected and bring a tear to the eye. He reminds us that beyond the drinking, eating and drunken humiliation lies something more sinister in the Kapital. The casual references and actual violence of some of the inner members of the Kapital take the reader backwards to remind us that this wasn’t all fun and awkward questions from Yuri. Yuri is adorable, but the darker parts of the book help to make the story feel a bit more personal rather than a caricature.

Overall, The Zoo was equal parts dry wit and satire. Definitely worth reading if you like your books razor sharp!

Thank you to Allen & Unwin for the copy of this book. My review is honest.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com

[Latkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short, entertaining novel set in the 1950s in Soviet Russia, as Josef Stalin approaches the end of his life. Narrated by Yuri, an unusual boy who finds himself at the heart of the power struggle between those at the top of the Soviet government, who are all vying to take over once Stalin dies, it has an humorous, absurdist edge to it, and exposes the brutal and farcical elements of the regime. After his father (a vet at the zoo) is taken away for giving Stalin the advice that he should perhaps stop drinking and smoking after his stroke, Yuri is left to be Stalin's new food taster and confidante. But there are others who want to use him for their own ends. In the 'post-truth' world we know live in, it's easy to forget that propaganda and 'fake news' has actually been around forever, and was particularly prevalent in the Soviet Union. Funny and incisive, this novel would be rather ridiculous if it wasn't based on reality.

[Sarah Perry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won a copy of this book.

This story is told from the perspective of a 12 year old boy, Yuri Zipit who gets appointed as the official food tester for the leader of the Soviet Union.

I thought this was a unique story and told in a way that was at times humorous, and at other times horrific. I read it quickly and enjoyed the flow between chapters.

I had never read anything by Christopher Wilson before but am excited to discover a new author. I will definitely be watching for more of his work.

[Isabelle Verebelyi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is written from the perspective of a 12 year old boy who has brain damage, so it took me a while to get used to the style that this was written in. Overall, I did enjoy the novel, but found that the genre isn't necessarily for me.
At its heart the book is a satire, but also covers some pretty harrowing themes from the time of Stalin in which the walls had ears and there was a lot of violence, so the choice of narrator was interesting and I liked the unique perspective that the book took.
It's a short novel, and one that I think would appeal to a lot of people!

[Robin Marsden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a real pleasure to read: a shameless page-turner with a very endearing narrator. It starts off as what looks like a quirky, only slightly uncomfortable take on Stalin’s Russia. But as the revelations and twists fly by, it quickly becomes something more complicated. I don’t quite know how he did it, and I’d gladly read it again to find out. Recommended. Note: easily offended or squeamish readers may wish to avoid.

[Ruth Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

First book from my subscription to A Box Of Stories.
I chose a mixed fiction box as my go to genre is crime thrillers mainly. This is not like any other book I have read. Refreshingly easy to read told from the point of a young boy of 12 who had mental challenges due to a childhood accident. His time working as a food taster for a great leader in Russia is written with warmth and humour.
A touching story.

[Jonkers Jonkers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this. Not for the faint-hearted but overall I found it both funny and horrific. Cleverly and intelligently written.

P.S watched the film 'The Death of Stalin' shortly after reading this and although some of the back-story is similar, the book deals with the subject in a much more impressive way. 5 stars for this book, 1 star for The Death of Stalin (in my opinion).

[Georgina Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

a really charming look at the absurdity of the spinning wheels of power, as explicated by a child observing the many madnesses of Stalin. a delightful translucent simply satirical novel.

[•°• gabs •°• · Rating 4 out of 5]

i'm torn between 3 and 4 stars. i'm not used to historical fiction but i'm trying to branch out and this was a good start.