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Крысобой : Удивит. похождения участника тайной операции по расширению "Золотого кольца" России
Rats and human beings aren't that far apart from each other in "The Rat-Killer". As the political intrigue of phantasmagorical post-communist reality develops into nightmare, the greed, cunning and malice of the humans more and more resemble the behaviour of the large communities of destructive rodents, while the rats acquire more and more human features. Svetloyar is bidding to be included in the list of historical towns making up Russia's famous "golden Ring" around Moscow, a lucrative tourist route. However, aside from the problem that it has no history (having been entirely constructed during the Stalinist period), the place is over- run by rats, so two pest-controllers are summoned from Moscow.What follows is an astute interrogation of the nature of both humanity and history, as Terekhov subtly sets alongside the narrator's desire for the re- ional dictator's wife with his perpetual concern for the destruction of rats. Whilst clearly a novel of the classical Russian tradition, "The Rat-Killer" also incorporates the more experimental and satirical aesthetic of Soviet writers such as Bulgakov, and as the narrator's perception of reality be-comes increasingly warped, so does our experience of the almost comically grotesque landscape around him.
270 pages, Unknown Binding
First published March 3, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 25, 2010
I tried with this book, I really did. I picked it up at Half Price and was totally hooked by the end of the first paragraph. Then it just got... boring. The idea of writing a book about rat exterminators in post-communist Russia as allegory for the quixotic political climate of the time--people, in essence, behaving more and more like rats and vice versa--is a novel one (pun intended!). It's just... I don't know. Perhaps something was lost in translation, or I just don't know enough about Russia to "get it" some of the time. The main character's obsession with rats and his often hilarious and fascinating interludes about their nature and habits are what got me hooked and kept me reading to the end. Some of the broader political commentaries were also interesting but unfortunately, Terekhov's fidgety, unfocused storyline becomes an unjustifiable task to keep together in the reader's mind. Too bad.
December 21, 2014
This was pretty awesome. Dark, funny, very smart, quite lyrical and increasingly surreal...it could have done the surreal a little better maybe, it doesn't maintain it quite the way Kafka would so perhaps that's what had other reviewers confused and searching. I wasn't sure if its slips were on purpose or not, but I really liked it. It's not quite at Bulgakov's level yet, but this is a writer who with a little more stretching could be up there with the very best -- as Terkhov, I hate the way the publishing industry compares authors. This was definitely the first Russian novel I've read compared to The Master and Margarita that didn't take Bulgakov's name in vain though...
July 18, 2009
My Summary:
Alexander Terekhov's "The Rat Killer" tells of a tale of two exterminators enlisted to deinfest the banquet hall of a hotel stricken with the peculiar issue of rats raining from above. As the political intrigue of the post-communist reality develops into nightmare the greed, cunning and malice of the humans depicted begin to develop to resemble the behaviour of the large communities of destructive rodents. All the while it is revealed that the rats acquire somewhat human qualities. Terekhov introduces descriptions and explanations of the complex social organisation of rat society, with its dominant and subordinate males, and of the means used to fight rats, up to and including other rats specially trained to kill and disrupt communities. It is clear what the writer's intentions are here and the parallel drawn gains momentum throughout before ringing loud and clear at the story's close.
(Some of) My Discourse:
Terekhov's depiction of the novel's Russian backdrop doesn't entirely engender wishes to visit the "quaint" town of Svetloyar as I come to the conclusion of the work. Despite this, I must say I enjoyed the book; in particular the elaborate factual content pertaining to rat ecology, behaviour and death. There was something fascinating about the various encounters and stories told by the experienced duo, perhaps even a perverted fascination some would say. Each time I put the book down I found myself wishing to complement its words with the visual viscerity of Glen Morgan's 2003 movie "Willard". For me, in those instances the narrator and his mentor took on the strange aloof nature of Crispin Glover's incarnation of Willard. At the risk of sounding controversial, by social standards it seems natural for quiet, subservient and slightly creepy folk to be associated with such a job role so when it comes to our attention that the narrator has an eye for the ladies I was shocked and thrilled in many ways. As an author he teases his reader. Perfect testament to this is the fact that he chooses never to indugle us fully in the main character's luck with women, a luck we realise is ever present but never at the forefront of any narrative. Just as his activities are sneaky, so too are the accounts of them; seeming to have hardly occurred at all. Nevertheless, this is a book of many twists, which Terekhov takes a little too far at times, at least in my opinion. I say this because I was often left asking "where did that come from?"; which is all well and good; but this was often followed by "but what happened to that part of the story?". In all the loose ends rattled me a little as they accumulated throughout.
Knowing little about the Russian literary scene I cannot comment on amazon.com's decree that this is a "novel of a very Russian tradition", but I must say I finish this book feeling culturally enlightened and glad to hear a fresh literary voice. Terekhov's writing is witty and nicely sarcastic, "packed with forceful imagery and the slang of modern Russia" as well described by another reviewer. I particularly enjoyed the "countdown to D-day" introduced from the beginning, tying all the chapters together and serving to set some sort of target for the story. I also greatly appreciate the art of having chapter titles, so this was a detail not lost on me. In saying this, I must point out that at times the narrative style was nothing but perplexing and found myself feeling completely bogged down in too much "boring" detail. I usually enjoy reading about all the detail the author deems fit to include as long as the narrative style pushes it forward and continually keeps my interest. Here I found myself often hurrying to get through these parts of each chapter and sadly I soon realised that there would be these areas at least once in each.
My Final Verdict:
My motivations in choosing to read this book were to open my horizons. I wanted to read and write about a book I would generally never have taken the time to read. So if those feelings resonate with you I'd highly recommend it. Also if you take pleasure in reading sarcastic works with historical and political content written in a fresh way once again I'd say "try it". Conversely, if you'd like a nice light read that flows well and seems to have some sort of in your face point (other than to comment on human/animal behaviour), I'd suggest you try elsewhere.
Alexander Terekhov's "The Rat Killer" tells of a tale of two exterminators enlisted to deinfest the banquet hall of a hotel stricken with the peculiar issue of rats raining from above. As the political intrigue of the post-communist reality develops into nightmare the greed, cunning and malice of the humans depicted begin to develop to resemble the behaviour of the large communities of destructive rodents. All the while it is revealed that the rats acquire somewhat human qualities. Terekhov introduces descriptions and explanations of the complex social organisation of rat society, with its dominant and subordinate males, and of the means used to fight rats, up to and including other rats specially trained to kill and disrupt communities. It is clear what the writer's intentions are here and the parallel drawn gains momentum throughout before ringing loud and clear at the story's close.
(Some of) My Discourse:
Terekhov's depiction of the novel's Russian backdrop doesn't entirely engender wishes to visit the "quaint" town of Svetloyar as I come to the conclusion of the work. Despite this, I must say I enjoyed the book; in particular the elaborate factual content pertaining to rat ecology, behaviour and death. There was something fascinating about the various encounters and stories told by the experienced duo, perhaps even a perverted fascination some would say. Each time I put the book down I found myself wishing to complement its words with the visual viscerity of Glen Morgan's 2003 movie "Willard". For me, in those instances the narrator and his mentor took on the strange aloof nature of Crispin Glover's incarnation of Willard. At the risk of sounding controversial, by social standards it seems natural for quiet, subservient and slightly creepy folk to be associated with such a job role so when it comes to our attention that the narrator has an eye for the ladies I was shocked and thrilled in many ways. As an author he teases his reader. Perfect testament to this is the fact that he chooses never to indugle us fully in the main character's luck with women, a luck we realise is ever present but never at the forefront of any narrative. Just as his activities are sneaky, so too are the accounts of them; seeming to have hardly occurred at all. Nevertheless, this is a book of many twists, which Terekhov takes a little too far at times, at least in my opinion. I say this because I was often left asking "where did that come from?"; which is all well and good; but this was often followed by "but what happened to that part of the story?". In all the loose ends rattled me a little as they accumulated throughout.
Knowing little about the Russian literary scene I cannot comment on amazon.com's decree that this is a "novel of a very Russian tradition", but I must say I finish this book feeling culturally enlightened and glad to hear a fresh literary voice. Terekhov's writing is witty and nicely sarcastic, "packed with forceful imagery and the slang of modern Russia" as well described by another reviewer. I particularly enjoyed the "countdown to D-day" introduced from the beginning, tying all the chapters together and serving to set some sort of target for the story. I also greatly appreciate the art of having chapter titles, so this was a detail not lost on me. In saying this, I must point out that at times the narrative style was nothing but perplexing and found myself feeling completely bogged down in too much "boring" detail. I usually enjoy reading about all the detail the author deems fit to include as long as the narrative style pushes it forward and continually keeps my interest. Here I found myself often hurrying to get through these parts of each chapter and sadly I soon realised that there would be these areas at least once in each.
My Final Verdict:
My motivations in choosing to read this book were to open my horizons. I wanted to read and write about a book I would generally never have taken the time to read. So if those feelings resonate with you I'd highly recommend it. Also if you take pleasure in reading sarcastic works with historical and political content written in a fresh way once again I'd say "try it". Conversely, if you'd like a nice light read that flows well and seems to have some sort of in your face point (other than to comment on human/animal behaviour), I'd suggest you try elsewhere.
February 27, 2013
Modern Russian literature in the vein of Gogol, meaning surreal, humorous and full of biting social satire and criticism. The plot revolves around the town of Svetloyar, vying to make itself attractive to tourists and their cash by inventing a glorious pre-Soviet past, complete with a fake archaeological dig (it was actually built in the 1950s). Only one problem: the town is plagued by rats. So two pest controllers (and embittered former academics now trying to navigate the free market) are imported from Moscow. Hijinks ensue.
I really wanted to like this book, because I love Gogol. But it is only mediocre. The narrative is rather confused at times, to the point that it was hard to follow what was going on. Due to poor character development, it was hard to tell who was who. And the protagonist's constant success with seducing women was stupid, and seemed more like the author's wish fulfillment than anything else. I did like the descriptions of rat behavior and rat-catching, and the ways in which provincial corruption and bureaucratic ineptitude were pictured. Grade: C-.
I really wanted to like this book, because I love Gogol. But it is only mediocre. The narrative is rather confused at times, to the point that it was hard to follow what was going on. Due to poor character development, it was hard to tell who was who. And the protagonist's constant success with seducing women was stupid, and seemed more like the author's wish fulfillment than anything else. I did like the descriptions of rat behavior and rat-catching, and the ways in which provincial corruption and bureaucratic ineptitude were pictured. Grade: C-.
February 8, 2013
It's about a pair of rat catchers summoned from Moscow to exterminate the rats in a hotel in a provincial city which is about to be visited by a party of grandees. It had great reviews on the cover, and I really wanted to like it, but it just wasn't that funny, which has got to be a major problem with a book that's meant to be a comic novel.
To be fair to the author, that might be down to the translation which is so weird that sometimes it just fails to make any sense at all. Or maybe these inexplicable parts are part of what the reviewers describe as the novel's absurdism. I don't know, I just know that I got tired of trying to figure out what the hell was going on and I didn't laugh much.
To be fair to the author, that might be down to the translation which is so weird that sometimes it just fails to make any sense at all. Or maybe these inexplicable parts are part of what the reviewers describe as the novel's absurdism. I don't know, I just know that I got tired of trying to figure out what the hell was going on and I didn't laugh much.
April 17, 2011
I've never read something that went from fun and intriguing to tedious and boring so quick. It may be translated from Russian, but that's no excuse for letting a fun plot rot in the sun after 50 pages.
Two bumbling rat killers head to a rodent-infested town just after the fall of Communism in the USSR. They get mired in the politics of their assignment, as officials wrangle over methods and credit. On top of that, the killers' mild celebrity status attracts some scandal.
Then the............
I'm sorry, the fun stops right about there. There's still 3/4 of the book left, most of it grating and not fun.
Two bumbling rat killers head to a rodent-infested town just after the fall of Communism in the USSR. They get mired in the politics of their assignment, as officials wrangle over methods and credit. On top of that, the killers' mild celebrity status attracts some scandal.
Then the............
I'm sorry, the fun stops right about there. There's still 3/4 of the book left, most of it grating and not fun.
September 9, 2013
Interesting and entertaining first 100 pages or so, then, oh dear... I actually started to lose track of what was going on and indeed who was who.
Oh well, something a bit different at least.
Oh well, something a bit different at least.
May 16, 2011
Very interesting, but confusing at times. A book that should not be read in one sitting.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews