What do you think?
Rate this book
Almost Zero
Spanning decades of Russian history - from the repressive stagnation of the gerontocracy to the confused restructuring of the market to the global financial crisis of 2007 - ALMOST ZERO is at once a satire, a mystery, and a confession by Russia's notorious operative, the "Gray Cardinal." Bloody, hilarious, despicable, and intensely revealing, this is the first complete English-language translation of Surkov's novel and is a glimpse into the mind of one of the world's most insidious politicians.
Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
24 people are currently reading
764 people want to read
About the author
Vladislav Surkov
6 books13 followersVladislav Surkov was born Aslambek Andarbekovich Dudayev in the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Republic and later changed his name to Vladimir Surkov. He is a Russian businessman, former Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, and was a close advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Under the pen name Dubovitsky, Surkov has published a number of works of science fiction, including the “gangsta fiction” novel Okolonolya (“Near Zero”). Surkov initially denied that he was the author of Okolonolya and wrote a preface to the novel stating, “The author of this novel is an unoriginal, Hamlet-obsessed hack.” Surkov was subsequently discovered to be, in fact, the author.
He is one of the Russian government officials recently sanctioned. The Guardian quoted his reaction: “The only things that interest me in the U.S. are Tupac Shakur, Allen Ginsberg, and Jackson Pollock. I don’t need a visa to access their work. I lose nothing.”
Under the pen name Dubovitsky, Surkov has published a number of works of science fiction, including the “gangsta fiction” novel Okolonolya (“Near Zero”). Surkov initially denied that he was the author of Okolonolya and wrote a preface to the novel stating, “The author of this novel is an unoriginal, Hamlet-obsessed hack.” Surkov was subsequently discovered to be, in fact, the author.
He is one of the Russian government officials recently sanctioned. The Guardian quoted his reaction: “The only things that interest me in the U.S. are Tupac Shakur, Allen Ginsberg, and Jackson Pollock. I don’t need a visa to access their work. I lose nothing.”
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 16, 2020
Centered on a poetry-loving and gun-toting PR guru thriving as a publishing bootlegger in the ruthlessly capitalist state of post-Soviet Russia, Almost Zero is a sardonic, absurdist tale satirising the corruptions and contrivances of the postmodern theatre that is contemporary Russian politics. However, what makes this book even more significant is that it allegedly comes from the very architect of the stage-managed democracy it seeks to expose—the grand vizier of the Kremlin court, Vladislav Surkov, who was only recently dismissed as Putin's political aide (a position that gave him the nickname of 'the grey cardinal') in February 2020.
Trained in avant-garde theatre with a background in Public Relations, Surkov put his knowledge to use in setting up the extant Russian political circus as a shapeshifting, indefinable environment where entertainment, authoritarian repression, and the co-option of all political discourses has rendered everyone confused as to what is real and fake, government and opposition.
As a biting satire, Almost Zero exposes this political reality through the world of publishing and PR that the protagonist, Yegor Kirillovich, inhabits: the world of publishing is akin to that of drug cartels, and gang-members shoot each other over rights to publish Nabokov and Harry Potter. Absurdist short stories and poetry, often thinly-veiled copies of existing Russian and western literature, punctuate the narrative, and together these perhaps reflect the oligarchic looting that followed the dissolution of the USSR.
Meanwhile, Yegor, a corrupt PR man himself, buys stories and poetry from impoverished young writers and sells the rights to bureaucrats and gangsters with literary ambitions (or at least, ambitions to create a literary public image) on the one hand, and pays journalists to make negative remarks on his clients' policies and then refute them skillfully under these selfsame clients' names on the other. In other words, it is exactly the kind of book that the regime has its lackeys attack and burn publicly, and therefore, exactly in line with the brand of political theatre that Surkov engenders.
Moreover, Almost Zero, in a fashion similar to the works of Kurt Vonnegut and Haruki Murakami, alternates between socio-political satire and exploring the inner world of its protagonist, whose journey is defined by a Hamletian quandary about the superficiality of the world around him. At the same time, Yegor is deeply apathetic—until he is thrown into chaos by the possibility of his ex-girlfriend having been murdered in an alleged snuff film—chaos that he often comes to terms with in soliloquy's quite like Hamlet's.
Pranks, Postmodernity, and Authorship
Although Surkovian theatre makes it hard to be absolutely certain, not everything in this book is fictional—there are quite a few obvious similarities between the 'grey cardinal' and the protagonist of this novel: Yegor's provincial Russian childhood and being brought up by a single mother match Surkov's; his bribery of journalists to renounce a story critical of his client and arranging phony television debates echo Surkov's own work as a PR operative. Yegor is a bohemian poet and editor of Allen Ginsberg's works before he turns over to the gang, and is also described as being “perhaps the first in his lilywhite, rhythmless country to hear the curse words in the lyrics of American rappers." Vladislav Serkov, too, used to be a long-haired poet, and is famously known as an admirer of Ginsberg's poetry and Tupac Shakur's music.
Surkov's authorship of Almost Zero is no less than obvious: the pseudonym 'Natan Dubovitsky' resembles too closely his wife's maiden name, which is Natalya Dubovitskaya. The puppet-master, however, continues to deny having written the book, while maintaining his association with it at the same time: He wrote a berating review under his own name in the magazine Almost Zero first came out, and later declared it "a wonderful novel" and that he hadn't read anything better. Still later, the book was turned into a play by a celebrated liberal auteur, and Surkov attended the premier (This continues to be a trend with anything published under the name of Natan Dubovitsky: Surkov called a yet-untranslated 2011 book "the last book [he'd] ever read in [his] life", while the main subject of a 2014 Dubovitsky short story is a style of 'non-linear warfare' that Surkov has theorised).
However, although Surkov's involvement definitely lends the book intrigue, Almost Zero is a commendable work of absurdist fiction on its own, a dark and surreal page turner full of interesting commentary that is enjoyable with or without the facts of its political origins being known.
Trained in avant-garde theatre with a background in Public Relations, Surkov put his knowledge to use in setting up the extant Russian political circus as a shapeshifting, indefinable environment where entertainment, authoritarian repression, and the co-option of all political discourses has rendered everyone confused as to what is real and fake, government and opposition.
Novel PoliticsPutin (R) conferring with deputy Surkov (L) in 2012
As a biting satire, Almost Zero exposes this political reality through the world of publishing and PR that the protagonist, Yegor Kirillovich, inhabits: the world of publishing is akin to that of drug cartels, and gang-members shoot each other over rights to publish Nabokov and Harry Potter. Absurdist short stories and poetry, often thinly-veiled copies of existing Russian and western literature, punctuate the narrative, and together these perhaps reflect the oligarchic looting that followed the dissolution of the USSR.
Meanwhile, Yegor, a corrupt PR man himself, buys stories and poetry from impoverished young writers and sells the rights to bureaucrats and gangsters with literary ambitions (or at least, ambitions to create a literary public image) on the one hand, and pays journalists to make negative remarks on his clients' policies and then refute them skillfully under these selfsame clients' names on the other. In other words, it is exactly the kind of book that the regime has its lackeys attack and burn publicly, and therefore, exactly in line with the brand of political theatre that Surkov engenders.
Moreover, Almost Zero, in a fashion similar to the works of Kurt Vonnegut and Haruki Murakami, alternates between socio-political satire and exploring the inner world of its protagonist, whose journey is defined by a Hamletian quandary about the superficiality of the world around him. At the same time, Yegor is deeply apathetic—until he is thrown into chaos by the possibility of his ex-girlfriend having been murdered in an alleged snuff film—chaos that he often comes to terms with in soliloquy's quite like Hamlet's.
Pranks, Postmodernity, and Authorship
Although Surkovian theatre makes it hard to be absolutely certain, not everything in this book is fictional—there are quite a few obvious similarities between the 'grey cardinal' and the protagonist of this novel: Yegor's provincial Russian childhood and being brought up by a single mother match Surkov's; his bribery of journalists to renounce a story critical of his client and arranging phony television debates echo Surkov's own work as a PR operative. Yegor is a bohemian poet and editor of Allen Ginsberg's works before he turns over to the gang, and is also described as being “perhaps the first in his lilywhite, rhythmless country to hear the curse words in the lyrics of American rappers." Vladislav Serkov, too, used to be a long-haired poet, and is famously known as an admirer of Ginsberg's poetry and Tupac Shakur's music.
Surkov's authorship of Almost Zero is no less than obvious: the pseudonym 'Natan Dubovitsky' resembles too closely his wife's maiden name, which is Natalya Dubovitskaya. The puppet-master, however, continues to deny having written the book, while maintaining his association with it at the same time: He wrote a berating review under his own name in the magazine Almost Zero first came out, and later declared it "a wonderful novel" and that he hadn't read anything better. Still later, the book was turned into a play by a celebrated liberal auteur, and Surkov attended the premier (This continues to be a trend with anything published under the name of Natan Dubovitsky: Surkov called a yet-untranslated 2011 book "the last book [he'd] ever read in [his] life", while the main subject of a 2014 Dubovitsky short story is a style of 'non-linear warfare' that Surkov has theorised).
However, although Surkov's involvement definitely lends the book intrigue, Almost Zero is a commendable work of absurdist fiction on its own, a dark and surreal page turner full of interesting commentary that is enjoyable with or without the facts of its political origins being known.
August 13, 2012
Wow! Gegen diesen finsteren Zynismus wirkt Shtyngarts super sad true lovestory fast wie Rosamunde Pilcher. Dubowizki, angeblich das Pseudonym eines ranghohen Strippenziehers in der russischen Regierung, beschreibt sein Land, die Menschen und das politische System in schockierender Offenheit. Sehr unterhaltsam, wenn man sich auf seinen Humor einläßt.
March 31, 2018
Sharp and subtle commentary, darkly humorous and surreal yet still believable. The controversial authorship and scarcity in the US only enhances the experience. Would recommend to people interested in contemporary Russia or the meandering character based narratives of Murakami, Dostoyevsky or Vonnegut.
February 28, 2019
Total crap.
March 29, 2020
Even in modernity, Russian literature embraces the melancholic, the absurd, the ugly. I therefore loved Almost Zero.
November 28, 2018
Лучшае что доводилось читать на русском языке, советую...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 30, 2020
The narration highlights absurdity with occasional dark humor and interspersed commentary on post soviet Russia. Appropriately short.
April 11, 2022
Surkov obviously thinks highly of himself. It’s almost a pretentious Generation П knockoff, but somehow even more grotesque. Rated this highly because of its intriguing origin.
April 20, 2022
Surprisingly good.
Definitely recommend.
It took me a long while to figure out what it was reminding me of, but it’s V. by Thomas Pynchon
Definitely recommend.
It took me a long while to figure out what it was reminding me of, but it’s V. by Thomas Pynchon
December 18, 2023
anyone who wants to work in PR should... idk use some inspo from this work of history, i mean fiction
February 19, 2025
Brutal and powerful insight into the psychology of an important man.
November 6, 2012
Absolutes(!) Must-Have.
Alltäglich-automatisierte Denkblockaden werden durch Surkov´s pointierte Präsentation der vergiftet-kalten, rücksichtslosen russischen Soziosphäre gesprengt wien DynamitLager.
"Nahe Null" liefert keine Antworten. Nein. Es stellt die sozialen Mainstreem-Maximen (Liebe, Familie, Autorität, Reputation, Geld) in überzeugender, nihilistisch/existenzialistischer Manier in Frage.
To be short: Lifechanging.
Alltäglich-automatisierte Denkblockaden werden durch Surkov´s pointierte Präsentation der vergiftet-kalten, rücksichtslosen russischen Soziosphäre gesprengt wien DynamitLager.
"Nahe Null" liefert keine Antworten. Nein. Es stellt die sozialen Mainstreem-Maximen (Liebe, Familie, Autorität, Reputation, Geld) in überzeugender, nihilistisch/existenzialistischer Manier in Frage.
To be short: Lifechanging.
October 3, 2024
Underrated, at points, this book is almost anti-literature - especially the last quarter of the book; which I also found fantastic. The story is perfect, and the stories told by Yegor throughout the book, are also brilliant - I think this book deserves much more attention than it received outside of Russia. Perfect length also for the story also.
December 12, 2023
Uniquely sardonic.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews