Death and the Penguin in Read a book from each country

Sep 03, 2009 Erma Odrach rated it really liked it

Andrey Kurkov is a Ukrainian writer writing in Russian. Viktor, a lonely, struggling writer is hired by a local newspaper to write obituaries for the dignitaries of Kiev, even though they are still alive. He lives with Misha, a penguin he rescued from the bankrupt Kiev zoo.

There is a lot of dark humor in the book with much to be said about the troubles in post-Soviet life. Here's a sample, "The buildings loomed grey over the pavement. Everyone was in a hurry, as if afraid of finding their block ...more

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May 04, 2022 Nina ( picturetalk321 ) rated it liked it

Shelves: zchallenge-readtheworld22, z-read-gelesen-2022, europe, author-white, author-man, genre-fiction, a-reviewed, transl-russian, europe-ukraine, z-challenges-2022

A clever, neat, dark political satire with a dose of whimsy and a dose of unreconstructed masculine assumptions, to wit, that it is OK if a 40-year-old man has sex with the 17-year-old nanny of the little girl who lives with him.

The underage sexploitation really marred things for me. Up to the halfway mark, this book was an enjoyable and biting four-star-read with its aimless and hapless male protagonist who is a bit of an unreliable narrator although he is more of an ostrich-in-the-sand narrato A clever, neat, dark political satire with a dose of whimsy and a dose of unreconstructed masculine assumptions, to wit, that it is OK if a 40-year-old man has sex with the 17-year-old nanny of the little girl who lives with him.

The underage sexploitation really marred things for me. Up to the halfway mark, this book was an enjoyable and biting four-star-read with its aimless and hapless male protagonist who is a bit of an unreliable narrator although he is more of an ostrich-in-the-sand narrator. For me as reader, the organised crime/political undertones of events became evident quite early on in the book. It takes the narrator longer to cotton on (although cotton on he does) but his not-wanting/pretending-not-to know is a nice symptom of life in a bankrupt political situation. One cannot help getting implicated and involved. The best thing is to try and lie low, and certainly, as one character expressly says, it's best not to know anything. So the narrator makes sure he doesn't know anything.

The narrator lives with a penguin, and Misha the penguin is really the heart of the story. The one time I had feelings was when it regards poor old Misha who has to live in a too-hot flat, away from ice holes and fellow birds, because the zoo is basically defunct and has to give away its animals to private citizens.

The found family is very nice -- until it's not. Why on earth the male narrator needed to go to bed with the 17-year-old young woman I will never know. Actually, I will know: it's because of unexamined bias on the part of the male author. The story itself would have worked just as well; in fact, it would have worked better if the narrator had 'adopted' the nanny as a stand-in daughter. Why not have paternal feelings towards her as he does to the little girl also in his care, and the kind of caring feelings he has for his penguin? Clearly, as soon as somebody has little breasts (and they are mentioned as soon as the girl is introduced; apparently they tremble when she shrugs [!]), that person apparently becomes a free-for-all for sex.

The 'relationship' of middle-aged-man and teenager stuck in my craw, and in its wake, I began to notice the other women characters in the novel. Besides the teenager and the child, there are only marginal secondary women who appear in serving roles (waitress, secretary) or subject to ageism (in a group of men, there are a handful of women 'of a mature age', and the prostitute he encounters at one point is 'ageless' and 'dumpy').

It is a pity, but not unfortunately not a rare occurrence, that people of the unthinking heterosexual masculine persuasion can be sharp as tacks when it comes to politics and stumble along with the biggest of blind spots when it comes to gender politics.

As far as I recall, the even more biting satire Omon Ra by Victor Pelevin does not have any uncomfortable-making sex roles but I'd need to re-read it. Another satire, Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu has none at all (I read it more recently and it, too, is sharp and dark but also with heart).

I read this Ukrainian novel because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. I read it in May because that's the #readtheworld21 challenge month for books from Eastern Europe. It also happened to fulfil the #popsugar reading challenge prompt: 'found family' (though possibly not in the way that the prompt issuers desired).

Format: Pleasant Vintage paperback edition with classic typeface (uncredited), wide line spacings and suitably grainy cover art, (possibly on purpose) reminiscent of A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, by Pablo Amargo. ...more

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Jul 21, 2009 Michael Scott rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction, humor, politics

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

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Feb 22, 2009 Anna rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A little bit absurdal story of a journalist who writes obituaries of people who are still alive and die same day or couple of days after obituary is published. He lives alone with a penguin which he took from the Kiev zoo on the edge of bankrupcy. Later little daughter of his far friend joins him as someone was shooting at windows of house she was living in.

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Aug 23, 2017 Sue Kozlowski rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 196-countries, murder, z-196-read-ukraine, mob-related

I enjoyed this novel - I read it as part of my quest to read a book written by an author from all 196 countries in the world. This author is from the Ukraine.

It is set in the early 1990's. Victor lives in the Ukraine and he owns a penguin named Misha. He is an unsuccessful writer. He is hired to write obituaries for a newspaper.

The author is always describing the weather and how it affects Victor's moods. The winter in the Ukraine is very long and bitterly cold. Spring is very slow to come. Vict ...more

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