| ||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'comical, charming... funny and distinct' -- The Daily Telegraph
Review
`Kurkov's...multi-layered satire sheds a surprisingly mellow light on life and lies before and after the iron curtain.'
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funny, moving, and memorably unique,
By
This review is from: The President's Last Love (Paperback)
Kurkov's previous books have been short and simple, and usually based around one quirky premise. I was wondering what he would do with a much bigger book. The answer is that this is basically three such stories woven together around the same character.Written a little like diary entries, the novel flits between Bunin as the beleaguered president of Ukraine in 2016, and his earlier years as a student, or as a deputy minister. Some might find the cutting back and forth a little irritating. I thought it was quite effective. Each era has its own key characters and surreal elements, contributing their own aspects to the overall portrait and building well towards the final conclusion. Fans of Kurkhov will find much they recognise - the seedy underbelly of Ukrainian society, a listless, unemployed protagonist, the regular quaffing of vodka - but this reaches further than any of his previous novels. It has a new breadth and depth, and Bunin feels like a much better developed, more complex character. And so he should be, with 40 years and 440 pages to play with. Kurkhov still can't write a decent female character unfortunately, the several here all being as capricious as any of those in his earlier works. That remains his only real weakness, in my opinion. If you haven't read Kurkhov before, Death and the Penguin is still the place to start, but read this second. You'll find it funny, moving, and memorably unique.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Absurdly wonderful,
By
This review is from: The President's Last Love (Paperback)
Ukrainian President Sergey Bunin wakes from heart transplant surgery to find his country careering absurdly out of control: an oligarch is threatening to cut the nation's electricity supply, giant Vatican recognised miracle potatoes are sprouting in the east and, to make matters worse, a crazed widow is demanding visitation rights to her deceased husband's heart. It is just another day in the life of a president. But Bunin hates this life; all he wants is to go ice swimming with his friends. The question arises: how did he ever become president?The President's Last Love chronicles Bunin's dubious rise up the political ladder, from catering college and failed romance to tragedy and the birth of a political career. But as he lives and loves it becomes apparent that there are some things beyond even the power of spin to remedy. The heart, you see, is not a potato. Kurkov is a wonderful writer, humane and hilarious, and this may be even better than Death and the Penguin. Read it; you are in for a treat.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absurd as only Soviet literature can be!,
By
This review is from: The President's Last Love (Paperback)
After reading 'Death and the Penguin' by Kurkov, I was compelled to go out and buy another of his books. I have to admit, I didn't even read the blurb - I just paid! And I did great - this book makes for compulsive reading! Following the main character Sergey Pavlovich through 3 eras of his life simultaneously, it's a little like being on a rollercoaster at times, and it's pretty damn hard to put down - there are not many points at which you think, 'well OK I can wait a little while to find out what happens next'. If you've read and enjoyed anything by Russian or Ukrainian authors, then I highly recommend Kurkov - he writes in the wonderfully absurd and satirical style that seems peculiar to that part of the world, and he does it really well. One of my top 5 authors at the moment!
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
