Fish: A History of One Migration

by Peter Aleshkovsky, Nina Shevchuk-Murray (Translator)

This mesmerizing novel about the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman was shortlisted for the prestigious Russian Booker Prize. Fish is an expansive, gripping, often controversial story of the intimate fallout of imperial collapse, from one of Russia's most important writers.

In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera ("Faith" in Russian) from the desert of Central Asia, to exile in Southern Russia, to a remote forest-bound community of Estonians, to the chaos of Moscow. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, Vera swims against the current of life, countering the adversity and pain she meets with compassion and hope. Suffering through rape, abuse, dislocation and exile, Vera personifies Mother Russia's torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration. Nicknamed "Fish" by her abusive husband, who feels she is cold and unfeeling, Vera in fact discovers she has a powerful gift to alleviate the suffering of others, while she can do little to fend off the adversity that buffets her own life.

Aleshkovsky's work is remarkable for his commitment to the realistic novel tradition. Indeed, Fish is the first Russian novel to grapple with post-Soviet colonial otherness without transposing it into a fantastic, post-apocalyptic realm or reducing it to black-and-white conflicts of the popular detective genres. Stylistically, Aleshkovsky s prose most closely resembles the work of Vassily Aksyonov or Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, with its mastery of evocative detail and mystical undercurrents. The male author's choice of a first-person, female narrator (extremely rare in Russia) makes Fish all the more significant.

Genres: Russia, Russian Literature, Fiction

230 pages, Nook

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Pyotr Markovich Aleshkovsky (Russian: Пётр Ма́ркович Алешко́вский; born 22 September 1957) is a Russian writer, historian, broadcaster, television presenter, journalist and archaeologist.

Peter Aleshkovsky was born on 22 September 1957 to historian Mark Khaimovich Aleshkovsky and Natalia Germanovna Nedoshivina in Moscow. Russian bard and writer Yuz Aleshkovsky is his uncle. Aleskhovsky is the husband of Tamara Eidelman, a son-in-law to Natan Eidelman, and he is the father of photographer Dmitry Aleshkovsky. He graduated with a degree in history from the Moscow State University in 1979.

Working with "Союзреставрация" (Soyuzrestaurations) from 1979 to 1985, he restored several monasteries in northern Russian regions, among them Novgorod, Kirillo-Belozersky, Ferapontov and Solovetsky. He began writing stories since 1989 in the journal Wolga, then switching to numerous other magazines, among them The Youth, October and The Capital. From 2000 to 2002 he worked at the literary magazine Book's Revue, and hosted the TV show with the same name on Rossiya. From 2007 to 2008 he maintained a weekly column in the journal The Russian Reporter. In 2008 he also wrote essays there. He hosted the television show Alphabet of Reading on Culture. Themes and style of his literary works are individual, ranging from Gothic and realistic stories, fairy tales and historical narrations, often with a touch of humour. "His works are richly descriptive and evocative of the uniquely Russian worldview, while at the same time tapping into universal human emotions and experiences".

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a Russian saying: Fish seek where it’s deeper and humans seek where it’s better. So they both are always in search, going from place to place…
Her school nickname was Fish… Her wretched childhood and disastrous adolescence she has left behind in Panjakent…

It’s been a long time since I lived on Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya Street in Panjakent. For twenty-seven years I have not woken up to the rooster’s crow and the bleating of the neighbors’ black goat; I have not peered out my window at the nightly gathering of a terrifying dog pack under the streetlamp.

Then she finds herself in the capital of Tajikistan…

From 1969 until ‘92 – for twenty-three years, I lived in Dushanbe. The city was created overnight, on Stalin’s order, out of a mountain village, and development continued the entire time I lived there. Trucks, cranes and construction crews were raising apartment blocks in the center and in the suburbs; they even went back and installed elevators in some buildings engineered in the seventies.

Her life isn’t sweet… She is studying in the medical college… She is working in the hospital doing the most unpleasant jobs… For her warmheartedness she was nicked Candy… There she falls in love with a young patient…

When Gennady began getting better, we talked often and at length. He had a single fear: that he would be left with a limp, would be decommissioned, and would no longer be able to catch bandits. I reassured him that everything would be all right, and he believed me. It was funny: he was like a kid, so grateful for the sympathy.
“Hello, Candy!” he would shout as soon as I entered his room. I felt at ease with him; he was strong.

Now she is married but there is no happiness… She is a mother of two sons… Her family life turns into a catastrophe… In the year nineteen ninety one the civil war starts in Tajikistan… It’s time to flee…

On an early March morning, the diesel “Noah’s Ark” loaded with three families left Dushanbe. Uncle Styopa drove; nestled behind his seat was the carbine with the optical sight, a present from a general who had visited in happier times.
What I did not know, a fact carefully concealed from us women, was that the men had also hidden a sub-machine gun in the truck. They equipped themselves for the worst, and it turned out they were right.

The thing that is known as ordinary life is a life full of anxiety, hardship, troubles and sadness.

[Helin Puksand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Venelanna Vera on medõde, kellest saab surijate toetaja-hooldaja. Tema elu on olnud kirev ja samas täis kannatusi. Lapsepõlves ja nooruses elas ta Tadžikistanis, kus nooruslik naiivsus toob kaasa vägistamise. Haiglatööga kaasneb armumine sümpaatsesse miilitsasse, kuid abielu temaga on täis alkoholi ja vägivalda.
Romaani tegevus toimub enne ja pärast Nõukogude Liidu lagunemist, mis toobki kaasa rändamise vajaduse. Kohati elatakse täielikus vaesuses ja nii viib elu Vera kokku Venemaal elavate eestlastega, kellelt ta saab tuge ja jõudu.
Raamat on kirjutatud realistlikult, nii et kogu aeg on tunne, et tegemist on kellegi reaalse inimese elulooga. Lugu on haarav, lugemisel tulevad kasuks teadmised nõukaajast.
Lugu mulle meeldis, aga ma ei teagi, kellele ma seda soovitada julgeksin. Kes eelistab kerget lugemist, siis sellele see raamat ei sobi.

[Elisa-Johanna Liiv · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tadžikistanis üles kasvanud vene tüdruku, Vera, lugu. Ja milline lugu see on! Trauma noorpõlves, mees, kes kukub jooma ja siis hakkab paadunud usklikuks, koos perega Venemaale põgenemine, töö ja söögi otsingud, lahked eesti taadid ja memmed, kes õigel hetkel Vera elu päästavad (kaudselt ja otseselt), elu Moskvas. Uhhh... see on lugu kõige kiuste elamisest ja inimestes hea leidmisest.
Autor on ajaloolane ja seetõttu on kohati pildi loomiseks faktide ja kirjeldustega üle koormatud, aga need veidi tüütud ja venivad lehed teenivad loo huve.

[Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

peaks endale kuhugi kirja panema (noh, panengi siis siia praegu), et aegajalt tasub lugeda selliseid kõige tavalisemaid raamatuid. üks väljamõeldud lugu ühe väljamõeldud inimese elust, mis võiks sama hästi olla (olnud) ka päriselt. on üks tüdruk, kasvab üles, käib koolis ja tööl, abiellub ja lahutab, on sünde ja on surmasid ja kuna taustal laguneb N Liit, siis on veidike kodusõda ja ühest kohast teise kolimist ja vaesust ja vaevanägemist ja palju eri rahvaid (ka eestlane saab siit aimu sellest, "mida elevant minust mõtleb", väga kasulik).

kogu see heietus tuleb meieni muide minajutustaja varastest neljakümnendatest, aga näe, selleks ajaks võib olla juba kogunenud küll elu, millest pajatada, ja asju, mida meenutada. ja ongi natuke huvitav, et jutt saab läbi ja elu ju mitte - mine tea, mis seal veel edasi saada võis. igatahes muhe lugemine, mulle väga meeldis.

[Linda O’Leary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. This woman is about my age, but she has lived many more lifetimes than I have. I read this book with her history going along the timeline of Russia's growing pains just as this country is going through its "baccanalia of avarice," during the Christmas season of buying. I couldn't help but compare and contrast along the way. Vera is a strong woman, but even steel has to be able to bend in a storm so it won't break. I am not nearly as strong as this woman, but I could identify with her. Powerful, powerful book.

[Richard Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not the kind of book that I normally like or read -- the journey through life of a brave woman who muddles through and finds meaning in life despite its many hardships and defeats. But I was captured by the setting in the collapsing Soviet Union. The heroine grows up a Russian among the Turks in Soviet Tadjikistan where she is separate from the culture around her, but still strangely at home. She manages to build a life for herself, but it is punctuated by violence and tragedy -- rape, an alcoholic husband, fleeing from Tadjikistan to Russia at the collapse of the Soviet Union, the death of her son and personal betrayal when things finally seem to be going right for her, but along the way she meets kind strong people who support her in her times of need and help her find the inner strength to survive, while others around her succumb to the pressure, turning to alcohol, drugs and crime as their ways of coping with the disintegration of society. The book is filled with two recurring symbols, the fish and the donkey. The heroine's husband calls her "fish" for being cold, which of course is inaccurate, but the fish is also a creature that quietly swims through changing waters and is, of course, one of the symbols of Christ. The donkey is the opposite -- loud, stubborn, overtly sexual, but also infinitely enduring and hard working. These two creatures epitomize different sides of the Russian character that are seen again and again in the story.

[Miina Lindberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ei oskagi midagi öelda. Jube hea oli. Milline elu! Väga hästi kirjutatud. Ja ilus!

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intense and sometimes mystical story of a woman who was born to geologists in Russian Central Asia and her struggle to survive after the end of the former Soviet Union.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating novel of an ordinary woman's life in post-perestroika Russia, with a truly authentic feel to it

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Translated from the Russian; Vera from Tajikistan nurses others; after losing her son, she moves to Moscow to work. This is a well written, moving story of a heroically hard-working woman and the people she meets.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

While interesting, Fish felt flat in my opinion. The main character certainly led a varied life, and met an enormous number of characters, but the overall tale just seemed to be an endless progression of experiences without cohesion or a larger "message".

[Sandra Oberbroeckling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful writing.

[Chrissie]

This is currently (2014-04-29) available on Kindle for only 4 or 5 USD, but the sample was so depressing I couldn't push myself to buy it. If I buy it I must read it now, and I don't want to. I don't pile up a million unread books any more.