{"product_id":"death-and-the-penguinisbn-9781935554554","title":"Death and the Penguin","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"No summary can do justice to the strange appeal of this unusual,  short book, which is at once a crime novel, a comic novel and a serious  political satire on contemporary Ukraine.\" —Anne Applebaum\u003ci\u003e, The Wall  Street Journal \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eWith the collapse of the Soviet Union, newly-free Ukraine is a shell-shocked land . . .\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn poverty-and-violence-wracked Kyiv, unemployed writer Viktor Zolotaryov leads a down-and-out life with his only friend, Misha, a penguin that he rescued when the local zoo started getting rid of animals it couldn't feed. Even more nerve-wracking for Victor: a local mobster has taken a shine to Misha and wants to borrow him for events.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut Viktor thinks he’s finally caught a break when he lands a well-paying job at the Kyiv newspaper writing “living obituaries” of local dignitaries—articles to be filed for use when the time comes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe only thing is, the time always seems to come as soon as Viktor finishes writing the article. Slowly understanding that his own life may be in jeopardy, Viktor also realizes that the only thing that might be keeping him alive is his penguin.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Andrey Kurkov is often called Ukraine’s greatest living writer, and it is a gift for crime fiction fans that he writes in this genre. (Read “Death and the Penguin” and its sequels — they are a delight.)” \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e- The New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"No summary can do justice to the strange appeal of this unusual,  short book, which is at once a crime novel, a comic novel and a serious  political satire on contemporary Ukraine.\" —\u003cb\u003eAnne Applebaum, The Wall  Street Journal \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cu\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/u\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Death and the Penguin\u003c\/i\u003e comes across as an almost perfect little novel ... fast-paced and witty and on the side of the angels.\" \u003cb\u003e—John Powers, NPR's \u003ci\u003eFresh Air\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Pathos and humor shine through to make this a black comedy of rare distinction, and the penguin is an invention of genius.”\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e —The Spectator\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A striking portrait of post-Soviet isolation. . . . In this bleak moral landscape Kurkov manages to find ample refuge for his dark humor.”\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e —The New York Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"No summary can do justice to the strange appeal of this unusual, short book, which is at once a crime novel, a comic novel and a serious political satire on contemporary Ukraine.\"\u003cb\u003e —Anne Applebaum\u003ci\u003e, The Wall Street Journal \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Delicious... when Viktor finally finds Misha it is as if Woody Allen had gone to meet Kurtz.”\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e —The Spectator\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The deadpan tone works perfectly, and it will be a hard-hearted reader who is not touched by Viktor’s relationship with his unusual pet.”\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e —The Times\u003c\/i\u003e (London)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Misha, the most memorable character of his thriller \u003ci\u003eDeath and the Penguin,\u003c\/i\u003e left web-footed prints all over my imagination\" \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNPR\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I loved the f*ck out of it.” —\u003cb\u003ePaul Constant, \u003ci\u003eThe Stranger\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e“\u003ci\u003eDeath and the Penguin\u003c\/i\u003e successfully  balances the social awkwardness of Woody Allen, the absurd clashes of  Jean-Luc Godard and the escalating paranoia of Franz Kafka.”  —\u003cb\u003eVikas Turakias, \u003ci\u003eThe Cleveland Plain Dealer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eAndrey Kurkov\u003c\/b\u003e, born in St. Petersburg in 1961, now lives in Kiev. Having graduated from the Kiev Foreign Languages Institute, he worked for some time as a journalist, did his military service as a prison warder at Odessa, then became a film cameraman, writer of screenplays, and author of critically acclaimed and popular novels. He is the author of \u003ci\u003ePenguin Lost\u003c\/i\u003e, a sequel to \u003ci\u003eDeath and the Penguin\u003c\/i\u003e, and\u003ci\u003e The Case of the General's Thumb\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGeorge Bird\u003c\/b\u003e has translated extensively from German and Russian. In 1986 he won the Pluto Crime Prize for his novel \u003ci\u003eDeath in Leningrad\u003c\/i\u003e.","brand":"Melville House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46299732574437,"sku":"NP9781935554554","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781935554554_e76730ad-34e1-4b16-aeea-352ceb0ca6b0.jpg?v=1730742421","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/death-and-the-penguinisbn-9781935554554","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}