Twelve Stories of Russia: A novel, I guess

by A.J. Perry

When an eager American moves to Moscow to teach Russians the difference between the and a, he begins what will become an eventful six-and-a-half-year descent into the murky entrails of language, culture, and the world's greatest metro system. Part surrealistic travelogue, part historical serendipity, Twelve Stories is at its most enduring as a fanciful rumination on the elusiveness of words.

Twelve Stories of Russia was originally published in Moscow by the independent publisher GLAS, where it quietly gained a following among expats and locals alike. Unique in its appeal to both sides of the linguistic and cultural divide, the work has remained largely unknown beyond Russia. Now, almost a generation after its narrator's lively quest for the word that changes and is changed, this emphatic "novel, I guess" is being released to a wider audience for the first time, its subject matter as universal and its themes as timely as ever.

Genres: Russia, Fiction

414 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

A. J. Perry was the author of 'Twelve Stories of Russia: A Novel, I guess' (Glas, 2001); 'Douze histoires cul sec: Un roman, je presume' (Editions Intervalles, 2006); and 'The Old People' (Carrying Woman Originals, 2021).

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly accurate, surprisingly personal. The narrative with all its twists and turns is fun to follow, and sprinkles of calculators, German dictionaries, high vs tall, the Russian soul are sprinkled throughout.
I usually avoid literature from or discussing my birthplace. Especially now, Russia feels like a sinking ship. Russians are an easy enemy, probably the easiest enemy in the world. They have been depicted as stone cold stereotypes in the media for decades but novels like this remove that illusion and get to the core of the Russian soul - poetry and kind hearts is just the tip of the iceberg. It pains me to see some people here and there hating over 200 million people because of the war of one man that nobody actually wants. They hate that illusion of a stereotype, and once again make the same age old mistake of seeing a race, gender, appearance etc of a person and not the actual soul of that person. I am not a Russian stereotype. I'm probably the least Russian Russian that ever lived. My soul is not very tied to that cold, barren wasteland. My name was given to me at birth and I never chose it. So many people are given not only their names at birth but their lives and live out their lives according to their names. I may one day change my name to something more out of this world, but for now I will not out of spite to blind prejudice. Sinking ships can resurface. People can swim like otters.

[Nathan "N.R." Gaddis]

Saw this little title yesterday in the Feeds as Friends Jack and Justin ADD'd it and thought to myself, hey, that title belongs on that one list Moore put together in the Intro to his first volume which begins with that other provocatively titled This Is Not A Novel. And which paragraph ends with "but there have never been limits to the novel form, as I will show. The sky's always been the limit for the best novelists, who couldn't care less how critics label their fictions." And then Ali links me today to this article in which Moore is quoted as saying, sure, I made a brief mention of Perry's first novel in the first volume of my novel book. Here's the article :: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/12...
But now I continue reading that article and my heart drops as the article's author says, 'Using Amazon’s “look inside” feature, I searched Moore’s book The Novel: An Alternative History: Beginnings to 1600 for mentions of “Russia”' instead of picking a physical copy off of his reference shelf as I just did. Page 33, btw.

Now, if only this attention could be divided up among a few other talented Pynchon=fan=worthy novels ;; Evan Dara of course, but if you're true=blood Pynchonian, you already know this. Also, I think Bursey's two novels are radically underread. And then there's, well, jeebbuz people, do you know how few people really actually read Coover? Move over Tom, there's more to this world than is dreamed of by a few Cow Patties.

Nevertheless, a very elegant lesson in rhizomatic HYPE=machinery. Not to be discounted lightly, even by you besser=wisserei HYP=sters.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

My friends and I stumbled across this book in a Moscow bookstore and bought it on a whim. It is so weird, it's like a distillation of all the kinds of crazy shit that happened to us during our time in Russia. And hand to God, some of the things that happened to the hero of this book happened to us after we read it and it was super meta. For example, the protagonist is at a party where everyone is singing and they ask him to sing Beatles songs. Yesterday, specifically! "Oh that's so silly," said me in November when I was reading this. Until December, on my last night in Russia when we went to a karaoke bar and all the Russians started imploring us to PLEASE sing Yesterday. You are Americans so clearly you must know this song!

If you lived in Russia for any length of time greater than a vacation I'd highly recommend this book. Otherwise you'll probably just think it's the non-sensical ramblings of a drunk American in Russia. Actually if I ever publish the journal I kept while I was living in Russia I'll probably call it "The Non-Sensical Ramblings of a Drunk American in Russia". But this book is better than mine would be, so never mind.

[Shashi Martynova · Rating 4 out of 5]

На сей раз хоть книга и на английском, ее можно нарыть на наших территориях, поскольку публиковало ее 13 лет назад московское издательство "Глас" (в котором выходила, среди прочего, дорогая моему сердцу "The Russian Word's Worth" чудо-женщины Мишель Бёрди, а сама Мишель навещала "Додо" году в 2010-м). Ужасно жаль, что "Глас" закрылся, но некоторые книги еще добываемы, в частности — "Twelve Stories of Russia".

Мне увлекательно и интересно — а кому нет? — слушать и читать иностранцев, которые провели в этих местах не пару недель, а заметные несколько лет, обжились, заговорили по-русски и совершили труд акклиматизации в наших затейливых широтах. Это всякий раз уникальный эксперимент на живых людях — полное и продолжительное погружение в чью-то другую жизнь, и в определенной мере читать такие отчеты — как смотреть "Подводную одиссею капитана Кусто", только с позиции кальмара.

Дальше тут: http://dodo-space.ru/lobster/2016-03-05/

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book for those who have lived in Russia. Okay, it's a bit ridiculous and some of the stories in it are almost certainly not entirely true, but it does do a great job of describing some of the more bizarre aspects of living in Moscow.

[Veronika Hsu · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a hilarious book about an American living and working in Moscow during post Soviet time when Russia was not yet Russia.

Amazing read for those who know the cultural peculiarities of Russians, and linguists.

Back in 2004 this book was our course project. As a student majoring in English I was supposed to translate some of the chapters of the book.
At that point I didn’t have a chance to visit the US, so even after reading the book for 2 times I couldn’t quite get author’s perspective.

Now as a IS citizen I reread it with my book club girls and oh, girls, I liked it soooooo much!!!
I couldn’t stop laughing. It’s worth mentioning that Mr. Perry did such An amazing job describing Russia, Russians and Russian mentality using his own observations, experience and … the English Language!

If you ever have been interested in Russian Soul, this book is for you!

[Viktoriia Mota · Rating 4 out of 5]

Интересный flash back в 90е, через книгу можно прочувствовать атмосферу России того времени. Книга наполнена юмором, трагедией, душевными моментами как «уборщица, которая приютила героя книги у себя в коморке, чтобы на утро он мог восстановить визу и улететь». Приятно было вспомнить московское метро, через книгу как будто можно прочувствовать запахи того времени.

Перестройка, падение рубля, русская душа, рекитиры, свадьба с селедкой под шубой в маленькой двушке, менты со своим «предъявите ваши документы», водка и прокуренная кухня.

Ставлю 4-, с минусом, потому что много монолога в головн автора и нудные диалоги.

[Suz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it.
'To master a language you must understand the people that created it, the culture that provoked it. To understand a people & its culture you must master the language that shapes them both.'
Adventures in Moscow as experienced by an American.
Absurd & surreal.
Fueled by vodka & cigarettes

[Max Nemtsov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Великолепный идиосинкратичный роман о 90-х, Москве и москвичах (тм) от бессчастного и довольно бестолкового экспата (это, понятно, лирический герой у него такой). Порой даже подозреваешь в нем шифрующегося русского писателя, хотя я представить себе не могу, кого именно, потому что Михаил Гаёхо живет в Питере. Много приветов от Хармса и Венички, а также Ильфа и Петрова (и да, название НЕ переводится как «12 историй о России», как считали в некоторых русских СМИ, когда роман вышел в «Гласе»).
Ну и кроме того, с хорошей точностью это действительно первый роман человека с инициалами Э.Дж.П. — на это указывает не только стилистическое сходство, но и некоторые речевые обороты (вы их и сами найдете, если сравните с «Коровьей страной»).
Эх, перевести б его да издать — он актуален до сих пор.

[Serian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, I didn't get along with this at all. I thought it was well written, but very very tired. If you like stories where the protagonist is generally disatisfied, then I'd recommend it! However, personally, I found the hero unsympathetic and irritating. (Which I do appreciate is intentional, but meant that I didn't enjoy it).

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an amazing story and depicts the inside of the Russian "soul" very perceptively and amusingly. When I lived in Kazakhstan I was often perplexed by many behaviors of the Russians. This book helps to put a perspective on things.

[Sera · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the way it was written.

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is full of interesting themes, great content and lots of humor! This could have been a 4-5 star book, but simply needed some good editing to whittle things down and refine the story.