Moscou Babylone

by Owen Matthews, Karine Reignier-Guerre (Translator)

" En Russie, j'ai aimé et j'ai tué. Et j'ai découvert que, des deux, c'est l'amour qui est le plus terrible. "

Expatrié à Moscou, Roman Lambert s'épanouit dans la jungle postsoviétique des années 1990. Orgies, violence, luxe, corruption : une jouissive métamorphose pour ce jeune Anglais enviant la dépravation de ses nouveaux " amis ". Jusqu'à sa rencontre avec Sonia, aussi belle et tragique qu'une peinture du Caravage, et cet acte irréparable, qui précipiteront sa descente aux enfers... Avec ce récit vertigineux, l'auteur remarqué des Enfants de Staline offre une troublante et lucide plongée au cœur de l'âme russe. Fascinant.

" Moscou Babylone se boit cul sec comme une vodka glacée. "

Livres Hebdo

Traduit de l'anglais (UK) par Karine Reignier-Guerre.

Genres: Roman

401 pages, Pocket Book

First published August 22, 2013

About the author

Owen Matthews is a British writer, historian and journalist. His first book, Stalin's Children, was shortlisted for the 2008 Guardian First Books Award, the Orwell Prize for political writing, and France's Prix Medicis Etranger. His books have been translated into 28 languages. He is a former Moscow and Istanbul Bureau Chief for Newsweek Magazine. Matthews has lectured on Russian history and politics at Columbia University's Harriman Centre, St Antony's College Oxford, and the Journalism Faculty of Moscow State University.

Reviews

[Gaëlle · Rating 3 out of 5]

On oscille entre passages un peu ennuyeux et passages plus intéressants... ce n'est pas trop mon genre de lecture (je suis tombée dessus vraiment par hasard) mais ça reste quand plutôt sympa à lire dans l'ensemble.

[Lottie (The Book Bump) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5⭐

Unfortunately, the story lacked cohesion. Overall, I feel it's a lot of words for not a lot of anything else 🤔

[Dima Fischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this novel (in the german translation), and a long time it is just turning around itself. Then - with the act of murdering - the whole misunderstanding of what is justice in this Moscow came up to the surface. Even if he is half Russian, and even if he knows the life and the society here, he misunderstands so enourmosly the real aims of Sophie and his despairing attempt of being condemned for his deed fails - and so he never will be free, he has to stay a figure in this "Moscow-Babylon", where never ever anybody will forgive him.

[Marion · Rating 2 out of 5]

3,5