Metro: A novel of the Moscow Underground

by Alexander Kaletski

When Sasha comes to Moscow as a drama student to avoid the drudgery of life in a provincial
munitions factory, he learns many things. He also quickly encounters the Moscow a
group of friends and allies who are artists, students, benders of rules, who manage to survive
and enjoy life in spite of the system. Drawn into a world of smuggling, subversion and black-market food and drink, Sasha experiences both freedom and a stifling sense of confinement, until, torn by his love for Lena, another student, and for the Russian land and people, he finally considers the possibility of escape ....
'Hard to match for exuberance, for youth and for outrageous, cheerful invention' IRISH TIMES

Genres: Fiction, Russia

372 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Alexander Kaletski is a Russian born American contemporary artist. Kaletski became famous with Cardboard paintings he created by using cardboard boxes he finds on the streets of New York. He works in the varieties of medias and styles. Kaletski makes oil paintings, collages, sculptures and videos.

Alexander Kaletski studied acting in Moscow from 1965 to 1969 and went on to a highly successful career in stage, television and film productions. At the same time he held underground concerts and shows of his anti-Soviet songs and artworks. After emigrating to the United States in 1975, Mr Kaleski, among other endeavours, taught Russian, designed fashion fabrics, illustrated books (including Metro), held art shows, and gave a nationwide concert tour of his folk songs, eventually appearing on national television. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

[lynne fireheart · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just realised I read the wrong book! Not a problem, I enjoyed this book a lot, I just didn't quite understand why Patrick Rothfuss said it was like Gaiman's Neverwhere. Mystery solved - wrong book, LoL! He was actually referring to The Secret History of Moscow, by Ekaterina Sedia - if I manage to remember the name, I'll go look for it in the library today :-)

Anyways.

If you want more than a glimpse into how life was like in the USSR, but presented in such a way that you can't help but laugh while your heart cries out at the tragedy of it all, well, this book is excellent! A young boy visiting from the country gets lost in the Moscow subway and falls in love with it. Later he returns, determined to get into acting school not only because he wants to perform, but also to get out of getting drafted into the army. He meets and gravitates to a small but varied bunch of people, and together they go through trials and tribulations of life in Russia, no, in Moscow - pursuing propiskas (Moscow residency permits), careers, dealing with homelessness, politicians, government policies, etc etc etc. The portrait of the people, the attitude, the situation behind the iron curtain was eye-opening, amusing yet sad.

What makes it also a bittersweet read is the realisation that this is probably semi-autobiographical, and that the author lived through most, if not all, the events detailed in the book.

[Jens · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a random pick from a used bookstore, picked with knowledge of a trip to Moscow. Some great characters, and an interesting sense of the late-Soviet zeitgeist. Definitely fun to read before a trip to Moscow to stay with a historian and talk with a human rights advocate. I laughed at out loud repeatedly. It begins stronger than it ends though.

[Elea Bekkers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of fantasy and colour, yet so real and life-like. This is one of the rare books I might want to re-read.

[Namrirru · Rating 4 out of 5]

A touching and funny memoir of a Russian student struggling with his career, life, and all the pitfalls of living in Soviet Moscow.

[Julia Simpson-Urrutia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this while in Saudi Arabia. As I was cut off from all former cultural activities (concerts, movies, operas, ballet) and recreation (learning sports, flying kites, roller skating), the parallel of country dysfunction was obvious. At the beginning of Sasha's first term in drama school, the Dean announces, "For the first two weeks of school, you have to contribute to the welfare of your country. This semester is going to begin at a vegetable storage house. The boys will be unloading potatoes, and the girls will be sorting and cleaning cabbage." Naturally, the cabbages were rotting. The friends of Sasha are wonderful, from cool and calculating Stas who is able to accomplish miracles with something like reverse psychology to Sasha's girlfriend and future wife, Lena, who introduced him to the Kremlin Ration in the form of a pineapple. I totally disagree with those who are disappointed in the ending . . . it is Shakespearean, moving from comedy to a serious life-or-death finale. The boy Sasha has to grow up somehow, doesn't he? As the story moves forward, I felt that maybe most people seemed to conform to the system, but they probably inwardly would have liked to have seen the Russian hierarchy destroyed or to have escaped to America (like the author did in real life, look him up!). This book takes on relevance with the recent hacking by Russian tech experts into US elections on the orders of Putin and various munchkins of our own. I invite everyone to take a little journey back down memory lane with this entertaining and scary book to remember why sane young Russians wanted to GET THE HELL OUT. Kaletski is in New York and he is now American, whether Putin likes it or not!

[Alejandro Teruel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Recuerda a los satiristas soviéticos como Abram Tertz (El experimento de hacer la paz o Lubímov), MIkhail Bulganov (El Maestro y Margarita), Vladimir Voinovich (Una mudanza en Moscú, M. Zoshchenko (Aventuras de un Mono), Ilf y Petrov o, en mucho menor grado, Vladímir Dudíntsev (No sólo de pan vive el hombre) pero sin la concisión devastadora de Tertz, el surrealismo alucinante de Bulganov o la ferocidad antiburocrática de Voinovich o Dudíntsev.

Encontré el humor de Kaletski más crudo y la narrativa más esquemática. Debo confesar que abandoné la lectura del libro antes de llegar a la mitad de él.

Si no hubiera leído a Tertz o Bulganov, probablemente me hubiera gustado más esta novela de Kaletski.

[Artur Atson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vürtsikas autobiograafia minu jaoks tundmatust vene kunstnikust/näitlejast. Väga hästi kirjutatud sügavast NSVL ajast Moskva elust. Kuidas inimesed ei tea midagi ananassist ja kuidas KGB-l on igal pool koputajad. Kuidas üldse kõik inimesed on üksteise peale kadedad ja tigedad. Kus alkoholism lokkab, kuna see tundub tõesti ainuke leevendus selle eluga toime tulla. Uskumatud seiklused autori endaga ja uskumatud kohtumised varasemalt juhuslikult kohatud inimestega(Krepka). Ja Stass-iga taaskohtumine kui viimane on kontrolör. Väärt lugemine ja annab selge pildi ette kui halb oli Nõukogude Liidus elada.

[gabriela · Rating 3 out of 5]

el problema con los artistas es que cualquiera en el mundo del arte es un genio hoy en día. tenemos muchos problemas con esos genios; nos tienen constantemente ocupados. se está haciendo cada vez más difícil encontrar un hombre normal que un genio. y lo gracioso es que nuestro régimen no necesita genios; necesita trabajadores, así que nuestro objetivo es convertir a esos genios en personas normales.

[Randy O'Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life is hard in Moscow.
And when Sasha comes to Moscow as a drama student he finds opportunities in the underground subway system. There he makes friends, but not all the kind that will help him find a happy life. Sasha joins a group of minor criminals and alcohol abuse.

[Amalia Terranika Tadday · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. I think that I read it in early January. It gave me Demons vibes, particularly in relation to the somewhat erratic, hyperbolic characters.

[Maria Georgieva · Rating 3 out of 5]

All along I thought this book is about "the russian underground" thinking this means the russian mafia. I waited and waited until the hero turned from actor to a mafia guy, until I reached the end. And I was quite relieved. I loved some of the characters in the book and the inner struggles of the main character, but the end was a bit of a dissapointment. I wanted to read more about his new life in the States - was he happy he left his friends in Russia, did he have friends like that in USA? I don't think so...

[Velvetink]

$2. Lifeline.