Tab Article

Ratings: ★★★★☆ (4.5/5)
Genre: Absurdist Fiction, Dark Comedy, Literary Fiction

Book Review:
Andrey Kurkov's ''The Good Angel of Death'' is a wonderfully strange and captivating novel, a journey into a world that is both familiar and utterly surreal. Fans of his earlier work, ''Death and the Penguin,'' will recognize his unique blend of deadpan humor, absurdist situations, and a deep, underlying melancholy. The novel begins in Kiev, where Kolya, a young man drifting through life, finds a mysterious manuscript hidden inside a copy of ''War and Peace.'' This discovery sets him on a quest that will take him across the vast, decaying landscape of the former Soviet Union, from the streets of Kiev to the deserts of Kazakhstan. He is searching for the truth behind the manuscript and its author, a quest that involves exhuming graves, dodging mysterious phone calls, and encountering a cast of characters that seem to have wandered out of a dream (or a nightmare). There's the chameleon that becomes his constant, silent companion. There are the ex-KGB officers who are never quite what they seem. There are the Bedouins in the desert, and a host of other oddballs and eccentrics. Kurkov's prose is spare and unadorned, which makes the absurdity of the situations all the more effective. He describes the most bizarre events with a matter-of-fact tone that is both hilarious and unsettling. ''The Good Angel of Death'' is a novel about memory, history, and the strange, lingering legacy of the Soviet empire. It's a book that will make you laugh, but it will also make you think. It's a journey into a world where the lines between reality and fantasy are blurred, and where the past is never truly past. It's a strange, tantalizing, and utterly unique reading experience. Highly recommended.