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Product Description
Time Out
‘Kurkov is hugely talented. Truly very funny’
(Omer Ali, Time Out)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Although I discovered Kurkov's writing a while ago, I have so far resisted the urge to read everything at once. Instead, I've been rationing his novels, much like one of his characters might eke out a wad of ill-gotten dollars stashed under the mattress. This is the third, and it doesn't disappoint.
A Matter of Death and Life is shorter than Kurkov's other works. Almost a short story in fact, and it has a plot to match - man wishes to die, but decides assassination is more glamorous than suicide, and hires a hitman to take him out. You can probably guess what happens after that.
The book packs in Kurkov's trademark black humour around this simple and engaging idea. His characters are their usual listless selves, with their rounds of cafes and bars, their unintentional involvement in murky underworld dealings. You can read it in an evening, and it'd time well spent.
A Matter of Death and Life is shorter than Kurkov's other works. Almost a short story in fact, and it has a plot to match - man wishes to die, but decides assassination is more glamorous than suicide, and hires a hitman to take him out. You can probably guess what happens after that.
The book packs in Kurkov's trademark black humour around this simple and engaging idea. His characters are their usual listless selves, with their rounds of cafes and bars, their unintentional involvement in murky underworld dealings. You can read it in an evening, and it'd time well spent.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
After the slightly contrived, overly coincidental dissappointment that was Penguin Lost, Kurkov returns to form with his twisted view on the everyday, as ever the humour is served rich and dark as the central character having hired someone to kill him tries to undo the events that he has already set in motion. This is a short book and the unrelenting pace does at times seem to thunder through situations without really accounting for or exploring them. Kurkov seems more intent on the outcome, it is the idea he is exploring and so the chapters run like adrenalin as if the reader were the character in this precarious situation. Other characters a drawn in greys and have a seedy repressed quality that adds to the story and setting. If You liked Death and the Penguin this is written in a similar vein and retains that mix of melancholy and wit. A Matter of Death and Life delivers a sharp burst of humour and pathos that will leave you with a darkening glow inside.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Maybe I've just become a little jaded; this is the fourth novel by Andrey Kurkov that I've read. I loved both of his 'penguin' novels [Death and the Penguin and Penguin Lost], and The Case of the General's Thumb proved an enjoyable change of pace, but "A Matter of Death and Life" feels simply derivative.
Kurkov writes terse, deadpan prose, welcomely free of unnecessary padding. However, this book takes it to the extreme. Even with a fairly large font and well-spaced text, it only runs to 112 pages.
That might be forgivable if the story was brilliantly original. However, I found Tolya, here, remarkably similar to Misha's master. We have another aimless, job-hungry, dissociated male in his middle years, who through completely amoral behaviour improves his material position; he then finds a purpose in life by taking over the family of someone whose death he has caused, having previously been unable and/or unwilling to form family relationships of his own.
Also, I'm beginning to find the latent misogeny in these novels grating. All women appear to be solely motivated by sex and/or money; therefore they are ultimately disposable, and invite no sympathy when the hero discards them for a better offer. When I first met this attitude, I assumed it to be a quirk of the alienated protagonist, but the theme seems common to all the stories. Definitely irritating, but not, of itself, a good reason to give up on the book.
So, an acceptable addition to the Kurkov canon; but I would not start reading Kurkov here - unless you have a very short attention span!
Kurkov writes terse, deadpan prose, welcomely free of unnecessary padding. However, this book takes it to the extreme. Even with a fairly large font and well-spaced text, it only runs to 112 pages.
That might be forgivable if the story was brilliantly original. However, I found Tolya, here, remarkably similar to Misha's master. We have another aimless, job-hungry, dissociated male in his middle years, who through completely amoral behaviour improves his material position; he then finds a purpose in life by taking over the family of someone whose death he has caused, having previously been unable and/or unwilling to form family relationships of his own.
Also, I'm beginning to find the latent misogeny in these novels grating. All women appear to be solely motivated by sex and/or money; therefore they are ultimately disposable, and invite no sympathy when the hero discards them for a better offer. When I first met this attitude, I assumed it to be a quirk of the alienated protagonist, but the theme seems common to all the stories. Definitely irritating, but not, of itself, a good reason to give up on the book.
So, an acceptable addition to the Kurkov canon; but I would not start reading Kurkov here - unless you have a very short attention span!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A great short story that should not have been extended to a novelette
Tolya lives in a one room flat in Kiev. He is unemployed, his marriage has ground to a halt and his wife is seeing another man. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Lost John
Another gem from Kurkov
Kurkov is one of my favourite authors; although the enjoyment I get from his novels varies. This is a good example of his work. Read more
Published 7 months ago by A. J. Kubicki
Not a penguin sequel
Though it explores the same murky areas as his Penguin books - ordinary people coexisting in a lawless society - it is rather light compared to his Penguin novels.
Published 20 months ago by BrusselsAl
So tradgic that you must laugh
I read most of Kurkovs novels, but I like this one best. It trully shows the mental situation in most post-sovjet countries. Also it is very funny.
Published on 15 Sep 2008 by Ivanna Rosendal
quick light read
not a bad little book at all.
perhaps a bit predicatable, but lighthearted when dealing with something a bit dark. Read more
perhaps a bit predicatable, but lighthearted when dealing with something a bit dark. Read more
Published on 13 Nov 2006 by Omri S. Suleiman
Excellent read!
I am becoming a big fan of Andrey Kurkov and this book did not let me down. it is shorter than his previous novels but Kurkov still is able to develop the characters. Read more
Published on 22 Aug 2005 by Misha The Penguin
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