THE KUKOTSKY ENIGMA is a historical panorama written in the best traditions of Russian literature. It's one of those rare books that treats big issues
like abortion, mental illness, and death
very seriously, yet manages to remain tremendously entertaining.
Lara Vapnyar, author of Still Here Ulitskaya's novel is a true enigma
it is mysterious, layered, and fascinating... this novel, without ... Read moreany hesitation, is a must-read.
World Literature Today A voice of moral authority for differently minded Russians, and one of Russia's most famous writers....
Masha Gessen, The New Yorker Ulitskaya exposes sudden shifts in relationships and fortunes without intense dramatic buildup, and without lengthy introspection afterward. This lean approach, which favors events over character, makes the work all the more revealing, as though the pressures of Soviet life can not permit the luxury of lingering. Men and women must simply continue to play the hands they've been dealt. If there is a sense of inevitability in the novel, there is also hope. However flawed it is, love sustains Pavel and Elena through decades of silence. Even a vision of the afterlife contains redemptive features, as bodies are revived and remade. At its core, this novel is a masterful portrait of individuals who find solace where they can, and who endure through personal disillusionment with the strength that only the pragmatic can find.
Foreword Reviews This is a novel of great warmth and scope, leavening precise realism with metaphysical excursions, that will enthrall and delight.
Publishers Weekly .. . historians of Russia will especially appreciate this book, but historians in general, as well as other readers, will discover much of value in this latest translated novel of one of Russia's greatest living writers.
History News Network Praise for Ludmila Ulitskaya: A voice of moral authority for differently minded Russians, and one of Russia s most famous writers.... ?Masha Gessen, The New Yorker Show Less