A Terrible Country by Keith Gessen

A Terrible Country
by Keith Gessen
narrated by Ari Fliakos

Find out more about this book and author:
Goodreads
BookExcerpt

Published: 2018
Publisher: Viking
Genre: Contemporary, Russia
Hardback: 338
Rating: 5

First sentence(s):
In the late summer of 2008, I moved to Moscow to take care of my grandmother.

When Andrei Kaplan's older brother Dima insists that Andrei return to Moscow to care for their ailing grandmother, Andrei must take stock of his life in New York. His girlfriend has stopped returning his text messages. His dissertation adviser is dubious about his job prospects. It's the summer of 2008, and his bank account is running dangerously low. Perhaps a few months in Moscow are just what he needs. So Andrei sublets his room in Brooklyn, packs up his hockey stuff, and moves into the apartment that Stalin himself had given his grandmother, a woman who has outlived her husband and most of her friends. She survived the dark days of communism and witnessed Russia's violent capitalist transformation, during which she lost her beloved dacha. She welcomes Andrei into her home, even if she can't always remember who he is.

Andrei learns to navigate Putin's Moscow, still the city of his birth, but with more expensive coffee. He looks after his elderly--but surprisingly sharp!--grandmother, finds a place to play hockey, a cafe to send emails, and eventually some friends, including a beautiful young activist named Yulia. Over the course of the year, his grandmother's health declines and his feelings of dislocation from both Russia and America deepen. Andrei knows he must reckon with his future and make choices that will determine his life and fate. When he becomes entangled with a group of leftists, Andrei's politics and his allegiances are tested, and he is forced to come to terms with the Russian society he was born into and the American one he has enjoyed since he was a kid.

A wise, sensitive novel about Russia, exile, family, love, history and fate, A Terrible County asks what you owe the place you were born, and what it owes you. Writing with grace and humor, Keith Gessen gives us a brilliant and mature novel that is sure to mark him as one of the most talented novelists of his generation.

My two-bits:

THE state of current Russia in regards to people, culture and politics are captured well.

The foodie in me loved the meal scenes.

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of the Tournament of Books 2019 (here)

World Reads: Russia

World Reads
hosted by Stephanie Jane
details | my world posts
World Reads blog series challenge is to encourage and promote the reading of global literature. On the 5th of each month Stephanie Jane highlights five books. Everyone is welcome to join in by reading one or more books from a different country each month, write a post about them and include the World Reads banner.

For the next two months arm-chair traveling to... RUSSIA

My reading list:

Red Sparrow
by Jason Matthews
-Espionage, Mystery, Thriller
Amazon | Goodreads | my review | my rating: 4

A Gentleman in Moscow
by Amor Towles
-Historical, Russia, Mosco
Amazon | Goodreads

The Snow Job: The Great Game by Jenni Ferchenko

The Snow Job:
The Great Game
by Jenni Ferchenko

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
BookExcerpt
Website

Just released: February 1, 2018
Publisher: Clink Street Publishing
Genre: Contemporary, Russia
Paperback: 340
Rating: 3

First sentence(s):
There is nothing which you might not hear.

When young associate Katya Kuznetsova loses her job at Lehman Brothers in London, she takes up a new investment banking role in Moscow, Russia. Determined to succeed, Katya finds herself trapped by her lifestyle.

At the same time she tries to prove her self-worth but subconsciously engages in self-punishment, including ever more destructive sex, alcohol and drug abuse.

Eventually, things get out of control, leading to the dreadful consequences Katya is trying to fix, humiltating herself and losing everything she owns; but she finds something, which was always there, she just couldn't see it, something priceless...

PeekAbook:



My two-bits:

I found this to be a convoluted story with shady dealings, financial doings and steamy sex scenes.

The characters were varied, they felt flat which made them unlikable. But there is some character growth which pulled me along.

~*~
* review copy courtesy of book tour

Excerpt: The Snow Job: The Great Game by Jenni Ferchenko

The Snow Job:
The Great Game
by Jenni Ferchenko
-Contemporary, Russia
Release date: February 1, 2018
Amazon | Website
When young associate Katya Kuznetsova loses her job at Lehman Brothers in London, she takes up a new investment banking role in Moscow, Russia. Determined to succeed, Katya finds herself trapped by her lifestyle.

At the same time she tries to prove her self-worth but subconsciously engages in self-punishment, including ever more destructive sex, alcohol and drug abuse.

Eventually, things get out of control, leading to the dreadful consequences Katya is trying to fix, humiltating herself and losing everything she owns; but she finds something, which was always there, she just couldn't see it, something priceless...

Excerpt:
First chapter where Katya is returning to her desk at Lehman Brothers in London after having sex with her boss.

The familiar smell of money is everywhere.

I put on my tried-and-tested professional smile and pass by the senior management’s glass offices, where the smell is the most intense, but all the offices are empty this morning. I let my smile take on a naughty shade as the thoughts of Alex restricting my breathing … covering my mouth and nose, so I could feel his fingers with my gums … inflame a shiver. Our little secret … a soundless elation we never see here on the production line.

Tugging my skirt down, I rapidly proceed to my desk, right in the middle of the beehive.

‘Katya, are you working a half day?’ an intimidating senior German colleague remarks. She theatrically taps on her Cartier, showing me it is 7.15 a.m. ‘Half day, half pay.’ She pronounces every word in sharp staccato, in the manner of a concentration camp guard, with her gelled brown hair scraped into an immaculate bun and angry makeup-free face contributing to the image.

‘Mm, I was here earlier. I just went out to grab a coffee,’ I lie, defending myself against the frigid grouch, who’ll never even get close to the fifth floor showers. She truly deserves her nickname – Virgin Mary.

‘You seem to like a lot of milk with it,’ smirks the slutty Polish blonde next to her. ‘Don’t forget to wipe the mustache off,’ she titters, drinking her cappuccino.

‘You have a bit of … ’ I point at the cappuccino foam on her upper lip.

Without saying a word, she rapidly wipes it off and looks very busy reading the morning paper.


About the author:

After growing up under Communist rule in the Ukraine Jenni Ferchenko established a career in the finance sector after achieving an internship with Lehman’s Brothers, London back in 2006. Her years within the sector working between London and Moscow has provided the inspiration behind her debut novel. Today Jenni Ferchenko lives in an undisclosed location enjoying a quieter life as a singer-songwriter and author. She has also written original songs to accompany the release of her debut novel.

~*~
* courtesy of book tour

Happy Release: The Snow Job: The Great Game by Jenni Ferchenko

The Snow Job:
The Great Game
by Jenni Ferchenko
-Contemporary, Russia
Release date: February 1, 2018
Amazon
When young associate Katya Kuznetsova loses her job at Lehman Brothers in London, she takes up a new investment banking role in Moscow, Russia. Determined to succeed, Katya finds herself trapped by her lifestyle.

At the same time she tries to prove her self-worth but subconsciously engages in self-punishment, including ever more destructive sex, alcohol and drug abuse.

Eventually, things get out of control, leading to the dreadful consequences Katya is trying to fix, humiltating herself and losing everything she owns; but she finds something, which was always there, she just couldn't see it, something priceless...

Still Here by Lara Vapnyar

Still Here
by Lara Vapnyar

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
BookExcerpt

Just released: May 2, 2017 reprint
Publisher: Hogarth
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, New York, Russia
Paperback: 336
Rating: 4

First sentence(s):
Promise me you won't call it 'virtual grave,' Vica said as they turned onto the West Side Highway.

Zombie sighting:
She could just eat them in dumb silence like an animal, like a stupid zombie, or she could do the more civilized thing and turn on episode two. -ch 3, page 76

A profound and dazzlingly entertaining novel from the writer Louis Menand calls "Jane Austen with a Russian soul."

In her warm, absorbing and keenly observed new novel, Lara Vapnyar follows the intertwined lives of four immigrants in New York City as they grapple with love and tumult, the challenges of a new home, and the absurdities of the digital age.

Vica, Vadik, Sergey and Regina met in Russia in their school days, but remained in touch and now have very different American lives. Sergey cycles through jobs as an analyst, hoping his idea for an app will finally bring him success. His wife Vica, a medical technician struggling to keep her family afloat, hungers for a better life. Sergey’s former girlfriend Regina, once a famous translator is married to a wealthy startup owner, spends her days at home grieving over a recent loss. Sergey’s best friend Vadik, a programmer ever in search of perfection, keeps trying on different women and different neighborhoods, all while pining for the one who got away.

As Sergey develops his app—calling it "Virtual Grave," a program to preserve a person's online presence after death—a formidable debate begins in the group, spurring questions about the changing perception of death in the modern world and the future of our virtual selves. How do our online personas define us in our daily lives, and what will they say about us when we're gone?

My two-bits:

Delightful read with Russian characters and some scenes in Russia.

The experience of modern day Russian immigrants in the world with social media and apps is explored. Four different perspectives are equally engaging with their issues that intertwine.


~*~
* review copy courtesy of Blogging for Books