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Good citizens need not fear  Cover Image Book Book

Good citizens need not fear / Maria Reva.

Reva, Maria, 1989- (author.).

Summary:

"A bureaucratic glitch omits an entire building, along with its residents, from municipal records. So begins Reva's ingenious novel-in-stories, intertwined narratives that span the chaotic years leading up to and immediately following the fall of the Soviet Union. But even as the benighted denizens of 1933 Ivansk Street weather the official neglect of the authorities, they devise ingenious ways to survive. In "Bone Music," an agoraphobic woman survives by selling contraband LPs, mapping the vinyl grooves of illegal Western records into stolen x-ray film. A delusional secret service agent in "Letter of Apology" becomes convinced he's being covertly recruited to guard Lenin's tomb, if only he can convince a contrarian poet to officially apologize for reciting a forbidden joke. Weaving the narratives together is an unforgettable, chameleon-like girl named Zaya: a disfigured orphan in "Little Rabbit," a beauty-pageant crasher in "Miss USSR," and, when she reaches adulthood, a sadist-for-hire to the Eastern bloc's newly minted oligarchs in "Homecoming." Good Citizens Need Not Fear takes us from moments of intense paranoia to surprising tenderness and back again, exploring what it means to be an individual amidst the roiling forces of history. Inspired by her and her family's own experiences in Ukraine, Reva brings the black absurdism of early Shteyngart and the sly interconnectedness of Anthony Marra's The Tsar of Love and Techno to a fictional world that is as clever as it is heartfelt."-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9780735278424 (hardcover)
  • Physical Description: 212 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm
  • Publisher: Toronto : Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2020.
Subject: Apartment houses > Ukraine > Fiction.
Ukraine > History > 1944-1991 > Fiction.
Ukraine > History > 1991- > Fiction.
Soviet Union > History > 1985-1991 > Fiction.
Genre: Historical fiction.
Political fiction.

Available copies

  • 1 of 1 copy available at Tsuga Consortium.

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Stroud Branch FIC Reva 31681010189538 FICTION Available -

  • Random House, Inc.
    FINALIST FOR THE WRITERS' TRUST FICTION PRIZE
    FINALIST FOR THE RAKUTEN KOBO EMERGING WRITER PRIZE
    A GLOBE AND MAIL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

     
    "Bang-on brilliant." --Miriam Toews

    "Luminous" --Yann Martel

    "Outstanding." --Anthony Doerr

    "Bright, funny, satirical and relevant. . . . A new talent to watch!" --Margaret Atwood (via Twitter)

    This brilliant and bitingly funny novel-in-stories, set in and around a single crumbling apartment building in Soviet-era Ukraine, heralds the arrival of a major new talent.


    A cast of unforgettable characters--citizens of the small industrial town of Kirovka--populate Maria Reva's ingeniously entwined tales that span the chaotic years leading up to and immediately following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989. Weaving the strands of the narrative together is an unforgettable, chameleon-like young woman named Zaya: an orphan turned beauty-pageant crasher who survives the extraordinary circumstances of her childhood through a compelling combination of ferocity, intelligence, stubbornness and wit.

    Good Citizens Need Not Fear takes us from paranoia to tenderness and back again, exploring what it is to be an individual amid the roiling forces of history. Inspired by her family's own experiences in Ukraine, Reva brings the dark absurdity of early Gary Shteyngart, the empathy of Miriam Toews, and the sly interconnectedness of Anthony Marra's The Tsar of Love and Techno to a sparkling work of fiction that is as clever as it is heartfelt.

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