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I Heard Lenin Laugh
In the looking glass world of the old Soviet reality, the future is certain. But the past is unpredictable and the truth a negotiable commodity. Into this changeable environment comes young Zhenya Gorevich, struggling to embrace a supposed Communist utopia.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 7, 2006
About the author
Martin Sixsmith
29 books105 followersGeorge Martin Sixsmith, British author and journalist.
Sixsmith joined the BBC in 1980 where he worked as a foreign correspondent, most notably reporting from Moscow during the end of the Cold War. He also reported from Poland during the Solidarity uprising and was the BBC's Washington correspondent during the election and first presidency of Bill Clinton. He was based in Russia for five years, the US for four, Brussels for four and Poland for three.
Sixsmith left the BBC in 1997 to work for the newly elected government of Tony Blair. He became Director of Communications (a civil service post), working first with Harriet Harman and Frank Field, then with Alistair Darling. His next position was as a Director of GEC plc, where he oversaw the rebranding of the company as Marconi plc.
In December 2001, he returned to the Civil Service to join the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions as Director of Communications in time to become embroiled in the second act of the scandal over Jo Moore. Moore was special adviser to the transport secretary Stephen Byers and had been the subject of much public condemnation for suggesting that a controversial announcement should be "buried" during the media coverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks.[1]
Sixsmith incurred the displeasure of Downing Street when his email advising Byers and Moore not to bury more bad news was leaked to the press. Number Ten attempted to "resign him", but had later to issue an apology and pay him compensation. Sixsmith was widely expected to write a memoir or autobiography in the wake of his civil service departure, but was gagged by the government[citation needed] Instead, he produced a novel about near-future politics called Spin, published in 2004.
His second novel, I Heard Lenin Laugh, was published in 2005. In 2006 he was commissioned by BBC Radio 4 to present a series of programmes on Russian poetry, literature and art.
In 2007 he wrote The Litvinenko File, an examination of the feud between the Kremlin and Russia's émigré oligarchs.
In 2008 Sixsmith worked on two BBC documentaries exploring the legacy of the KGB in today's Russia and also presented a BBC documentary, The Snowy Streets of St. Petersburg, about artists and writers who fled the former Eastern bloc.
In 2009 he wrote The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, about the forcible separation of a mother and child by the nuns of an Irish convent during the 1950s, and the subsequent attempts of the mother and child to contact one another.[2] The book was adapted into the film Philomena, directed by Stephen Frears, starring Dame Judi Dench and Steve Coogan (as Sixsmith), and written by Coogan and Jeff Pope; it premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was released in the UK on November 1 2013.
In February 2010 Sixsmith wrote Putin's Oil, about Russia's energy wars and their consequences for Moscow and the world.
He worked as an adviser to the BBC political sitcom The Thick of It, and the Oscar-nominated film, In the Loop.
In 2011, he presented Russia: The Wild East, a 50-part history of Russia for BBC Radio 4, the last episode of which was broadcast on 12 August.[3] His book Russia, a 1,000 Year Chronicle of the Wild East was published by Random House.
In 2014 Sixsmith will present a 25 part programme about the history of psychology and psychiatry for the BBC radio.
Sixsmith joined the BBC in 1980 where he worked as a foreign correspondent, most notably reporting from Moscow during the end of the Cold War. He also reported from Poland during the Solidarity uprising and was the BBC's Washington correspondent during the election and first presidency of Bill Clinton. He was based in Russia for five years, the US for four, Brussels for four and Poland for three.
Sixsmith left the BBC in 1997 to work for the newly elected government of Tony Blair. He became Director of Communications (a civil service post), working first with Harriet Harman and Frank Field, then with Alistair Darling. His next position was as a Director of GEC plc, where he oversaw the rebranding of the company as Marconi plc.
In December 2001, he returned to the Civil Service to join the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions as Director of Communications in time to become embroiled in the second act of the scandal over Jo Moore. Moore was special adviser to the transport secretary Stephen Byers and had been the subject of much public condemnation for suggesting that a controversial announcement should be "buried" during the media coverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks.[1]
Sixsmith incurred the displeasure of Downing Street when his email advising Byers and Moore not to bury more bad news was leaked to the press. Number Ten attempted to "resign him", but had later to issue an apology and pay him compensation. Sixsmith was widely expected to write a memoir or autobiography in the wake of his civil service departure, but was gagged by the government[citation needed] Instead, he produced a novel about near-future politics called Spin, published in 2004.
His second novel, I Heard Lenin Laugh, was published in 2005. In 2006 he was commissioned by BBC Radio 4 to present a series of programmes on Russian poetry, literature and art.
In 2007 he wrote The Litvinenko File, an examination of the feud between the Kremlin and Russia's émigré oligarchs.
In 2008 Sixsmith worked on two BBC documentaries exploring the legacy of the KGB in today's Russia and also presented a BBC documentary, The Snowy Streets of St. Petersburg, about artists and writers who fled the former Eastern bloc.
In 2009 he wrote The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, about the forcible separation of a mother and child by the nuns of an Irish convent during the 1950s, and the subsequent attempts of the mother and child to contact one another.[2] The book was adapted into the film Philomena, directed by Stephen Frears, starring Dame Judi Dench and Steve Coogan (as Sixsmith), and written by Coogan and Jeff Pope; it premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was released in the UK on November 1 2013.
In February 2010 Sixsmith wrote Putin's Oil, about Russia's energy wars and their consequences for Moscow and the world.
He worked as an adviser to the BBC political sitcom The Thick of It, and the Oscar-nominated film, In the Loop.
In 2011, he presented Russia: The Wild East, a 50-part history of Russia for BBC Radio 4, the last episode of which was broadcast on 12 August.[3] His book Russia, a 1,000 Year Chronicle of the Wild East was published by Random House.
In 2014 Sixsmith will present a 25 part programme about the history of psychology and psychiatry for the BBC radio.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 29, 2013
Someone who'd grown up in the Soviet Union (as i had) is sure to find this book very amusing and touching. It captures the Soviet life, its charm and frustrations, with a remarkable precision. The conclusion is quite dispiriting - the life in the USSR was likely to make one go insane, but at the same time it's clear that Sixsmith is very fond of the country he's describing.
Not sure how someone unfamiliar with Soviet reality would react to it.
Not sure how someone unfamiliar with Soviet reality would react to it.
March 3, 2024
I found this book incredible. Well written, funny, sad, tragic and witty.
I absolutely love everything about the main character and the many layers he has been given. There's surprising poetry in the writing style, and brilliant plot twists all the way through.
One of my favourite books of all time.
I absolutely love everything about the main character and the many layers he has been given. There's surprising poetry in the writing style, and brilliant plot twists all the way through.
One of my favourite books of all time.
October 9, 2007
Hmm...A Soviet Adrian Mole meets...I dunno. I really don't know and I just finished that book.
Part of what bugged me was that the book was written in broken "Russian" English. I don't mind throwing in a word in Russian every now and then, especially those words or expressions that don't translate easily...but this drew attention from the story itself.
Unexpected ending, though. That bumped the grade up one star. (Actually, the author has spent a lot of time in ex-Soviet which shows, so if I could I'd give it 2½ stars. Also, if I hadn't already heard all of those very cynical and funny jokes from the Soviet-era, I probably wouldthought the book was funnier, as those jokes are funny and heartbreaking at the same time.)
Part of what bugged me was that the book was written in broken "Russian" English. I don't mind throwing in a word in Russian every now and then, especially those words or expressions that don't translate easily...but this drew attention from the story itself.
Unexpected ending, though. That bumped the grade up one star. (Actually, the author has spent a lot of time in ex-Soviet which shows, so if I could I'd give it 2½ stars. Also, if I hadn't already heard all of those very cynical and funny jokes from the Soviet-era, I probably wouldthought the book was funnier, as those jokes are funny and heartbreaking at the same time.)
October 20, 2008
Promised to be uproariously hilarious: didn't deliver. It started off as mildy amusing, in that sort of wry humour way, but became more and more disturbing as the book progressed.
You don't need the last part (doctors' discusion) to know that he's totally lost his marbles somewhere along the way. There are plenty of clues early on that this is what's happened to him, but towards the end it becomes patently obvious. The author tries to do a 'well, what if he wasn't mad? maybe the KGB are drugging him as he knows too much/has delicate information and might spill it" scenario, but doesn't succeed convincingly enough in my view.
What began as a promising read ended up being quite disappointing.
You don't need the last part (doctors' discusion) to know that he's totally lost his marbles somewhere along the way. There are plenty of clues early on that this is what's happened to him, but towards the end it becomes patently obvious. The author tries to do a 'well, what if he wasn't mad? maybe the KGB are drugging him as he knows too much/has delicate information and might spill it" scenario, but doesn't succeed convincingly enough in my view.
What began as a promising read ended up being quite disappointing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 25, 2011
I'd probably give it 2.5 stars if I could but since I can't, let's just leave at 2...
I think I had much higher hopes for this so it ended up being quite disappointing. The narration (of the audiobook) really got on my nerves, bad Russian accent coupled with bad English grammar. Yes, it did give me an idea of Russian English but I really didn't need an entire book written in this style. Painful to say the least.
It was weird in places, with too many hallucinations and nightmares to make much sense to me though I did enjoy the stories about growing up in Belarus and also Zhenya's adventures in London, made me chuckle here and there (i.e. it wasn't entirely bad :) just not as good as I'd thought).
I think I had much higher hopes for this so it ended up being quite disappointing. The narration (of the audiobook) really got on my nerves, bad Russian accent coupled with bad English grammar. Yes, it did give me an idea of Russian English but I really didn't need an entire book written in this style. Painful to say the least.
It was weird in places, with too many hallucinations and nightmares to make much sense to me though I did enjoy the stories about growing up in Belarus and also Zhenya's adventures in London, made me chuckle here and there (i.e. it wasn't entirely bad :) just not as good as I'd thought).
November 13, 2009
A lot deeper than I initially thought. The broken-English style was funny to begin with. The book goes beyond describing stereotypical Soviet Russian life into crazy surrealism. You never know what is true and what is not towards the end, which I think helps make you more sympathetic towards the main protagonist. Original.
Update: after reading some other readers' reviews I feel that this book was somewhat missold: blurbs should never say something is "hilarious" because it sets readers' expectations too high. This is a good book but it's not just a comedy. It has funny bits but is sad too and has a tragic feel to it. (Tragic in the true sense that Zhenya was doomed from the start, despite his inate optimism.)
Update: after reading some other readers' reviews I feel that this book was somewhat missold: blurbs should never say something is "hilarious" because it sets readers' expectations too high. This is a good book but it's not just a comedy. It has funny bits but is sad too and has a tragic feel to it. (Tragic in the true sense that Zhenya was doomed from the start, despite his inate optimism.)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 14, 2011
It seems I liked this book better than it's general reviews. I would like to be able to give it 3.5, however 3 it must be. I enjoyed the prose, the broken English was both amusing and cute, and added to the likeability of Zhenya, the story's narrator and subject. Nice twist at the end (although we did get pretty clear glimpses of the way the story might end). Quite different to books I would normally read but glad I did! Entertaining and amusing, sad and tragic. It won't rock your world but I think it's definitely worth a go.
January 14, 2012
My favorite thing about this book is that the whole thing is written in the broken English style of the Russian main character, which is very enjoyable to read. The first half of the book is told simply, but later on it gets more complicated with sections that are dreams, sections that may be dreams or may be true, and then an ending which leaves you not knowing which things in the last half of the book actually happened or not. I would have preferred for the style of the story to remain the same the whole way through so I could enjoy the narration more.
August 26, 2009
Not as good as I expected.. I thought it would be a "dark but funny" social commentary on soviet life, but it really wasn't very funny! Didn't much care for the use of "broken english", it was slightly annoying and patronising. Does have some good moments describing the absurdity of Soviet society and life, but overall a bit disappointing!
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April 29, 2014I liked the idea that the whole book is written in a Russian coloured broken English. I think that was the feature I enjoyed the most, even though the story line in itself is not bad... it get's a bit surrealist towards the end (no hint of it at the beginning - which I found a bit confusing, but then, hey Martin is the author, not me).
November 30, 2008
a wonderful and amusing story. much of this amusement is due to the author`s broken english in which the story is written. really funny for anyone who speaks or understands russian and has basic knowledge on the soviet lifestyle.
May 16, 2009
If you for some reason want to torture yourself by reading an entire novel written in the worst imitation of a Russian-who-does-not-speak-English-well, then by all means, this book is for you. Otherwise, stay away.
August 3, 2011
BOOK GOOD.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews