Sunday 26 May 2019

Death and the Penguin, Andrey Kurkov

Bleak, atmospheric and quietly funny. Viktor has a pet penguin, which he got from the zoo when they were giving away animals they couldn't feed. He also has a job writing obituaries for people who are not yet dead. It's an intriguing story, a 'mafia' story far removed from fast paced US films. It seems like a much more 'realistic' portrayal of the someone's life if they got caught up in professional criminal plots. Viktor is intriguing too, seemingly frozen and unfeeling, but still he makes an intriguing character, and one we want to  succeed.