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Not Russian: A novel
A gripping, illuminating novel about recent Russian aggressions and the humans caught in the crossfire.
One evening in 2015, journalist Pavel Vladimirovich and his wife Tatyana are at home when the news breaks that there has been a terrorist attack. Over a hundred people have been taken hostage in the Church of the Epiphany in the village of Nikolskoye near Moscow. As they watch, on the TV screen appears the face of one of the Vadim Petrovich Seryegin, an old friend of Pavel's.
The friendship between the two men evolved through periods of conflict, war, peace, emigration, and isolation. Pavel may be one of Vadim's only friends, and when others realize this, he is asked to negotiate with Vadim.
The Church is horrifyingly silent when Pavel enters. Vadim welcomes Pavel but refuses to capitulate. As the stakes get higher and higher, Vadim's story including his connection to the wars in Chechnya and the Ukraine is revealed and it becomes clear that the first meeting between the two men was not all it first seemed to be to Pavel.
Back in the church, Pavel learns that the terrorists have one and only one demand, and that it concerns the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.
One evening in 2015, journalist Pavel Vladimirovich and his wife Tatyana are at home when the news breaks that there has been a terrorist attack. Over a hundred people have been taken hostage in the Church of the Epiphany in the village of Nikolskoye near Moscow. As they watch, on the TV screen appears the face of one of the Vadim Petrovich Seryegin, an old friend of Pavel's.
The friendship between the two men evolved through periods of conflict, war, peace, emigration, and isolation. Pavel may be one of Vadim's only friends, and when others realize this, he is asked to negotiate with Vadim.
The Church is horrifyingly silent when Pavel enters. Vadim welcomes Pavel but refuses to capitulate. As the stakes get higher and higher, Vadim's story including his connection to the wars in Chechnya and the Ukraine is revealed and it becomes clear that the first meeting between the two men was not all it first seemed to be to Pavel.
Back in the church, Pavel learns that the terrorists have one and only one demand, and that it concerns the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.
156 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 2, 2023
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January 12, 2024
Americans and Russians fighting for world dominance while other countries doing their own little thing, that my friends, is the condensed world history of the 20th century.
This fight brought more problems. Problems to them & other countries too. This book is about the former, about the internal problems of Russia.
First thing you need to know about this book is it is really witty, it is a psychological thriller that deals with complex issues like terrorism, sense of belonging in a larger picture, political ideologies & the Russian history, all within 150 pages. Translation from the Russian by Brian James Baer and Ellen Vayner makes the prose lucid, although, a prior knowledge of Russian history & politics would be imminent. Reading the glossary before starting the novel itself would do the work. A lucid prose is not necessarily synonymous with a good prose, but the idea behind the title name (revealed towards the end of the book) fascinated me a lot.
NOT RUSSIAN by Mikhail Shevelev starts in 2015 when one evening a bunch of terrorists attack a village church near Moscow and take more than 100 people hostage further threatening to kill them all, if their demand is not met. Just 1 demand - The big headed President Putin should publicly apologize for his aggression in Chechnya and Ukraine. Vadik is the leader of those terrorists and for negotiating their terms he calls upon Pavel, a reporter by profession and also an old friend of Vadik. Pavel was shocked seeing this new avatar of Vadik and even more worried as now hundreds of lives are at stake & he has to be this protagonist in the negotiation.
Evil begets evil. The circumstances under which the political becomes extremely personal and affects you to a level of forcing you to take action, are well ingrained in our society especially today. Right, wrong, moral, illegal - nothing matters. All boils down to 'But who started it first?'
Does the president apologise? The novel concludes in an unforeseen manner, leaving you desire for altered circumstances. For Vadik. For Pavel too, for the Russians and the Ukrainians & the Chechens all alike.
This fight brought more problems. Problems to them & other countries too. This book is about the former, about the internal problems of Russia.
First thing you need to know about this book is it is really witty, it is a psychological thriller that deals with complex issues like terrorism, sense of belonging in a larger picture, political ideologies & the Russian history, all within 150 pages. Translation from the Russian by Brian James Baer and Ellen Vayner makes the prose lucid, although, a prior knowledge of Russian history & politics would be imminent. Reading the glossary before starting the novel itself would do the work. A lucid prose is not necessarily synonymous with a good prose, but the idea behind the title name (revealed towards the end of the book) fascinated me a lot.
NOT RUSSIAN by Mikhail Shevelev starts in 2015 when one evening a bunch of terrorists attack a village church near Moscow and take more than 100 people hostage further threatening to kill them all, if their demand is not met. Just 1 demand - The big headed President Putin should publicly apologize for his aggression in Chechnya and Ukraine. Vadik is the leader of those terrorists and for negotiating their terms he calls upon Pavel, a reporter by profession and also an old friend of Vadik. Pavel was shocked seeing this new avatar of Vadik and even more worried as now hundreds of lives are at stake & he has to be this protagonist in the negotiation.
Evil begets evil. The circumstances under which the political becomes extremely personal and affects you to a level of forcing you to take action, are well ingrained in our society especially today. Right, wrong, moral, illegal - nothing matters. All boils down to 'But who started it first?'
Does the president apologise? The novel concludes in an unforeseen manner, leaving you desire for altered circumstances. For Vadik. For Pavel too, for the Russians and the Ukrainians & the Chechens all alike.
Displaying 1 of 1 review