One of the most ambitious and wildly inventive novels to have come out of Russia in years, this short novel embraces the Brehznev years, the USSR's disintegration, and capitalist shock therapy in the post-Soviet blocThe eponymous hero, part of a brood of bored science students, helps concoct a strategy game set in different eras where each "ruler" of his territory competes in Orwellian permanent war. But the KGB uncovers highly plausible and suspicious military plans and a long penance for each "combatant" ensues. All too late, Istemi is the first to realize the mysterious and disturbingly prophetic nature of a seemingly innocent invention. He is powerless as events long foretold for each unfold, including a hellish tour of duty in Afghanistan, incarceration in an asylum, and mindless bureaucratic drudgery—but what fate awaits Istemi as communist absurdist reality turns into postcapitalism nightmare?
One of the most ambitious and wildly inventive novels to have come out of Russia in years, this short novel embraces the Brehznev years, the USSR's disintegration, and capitalist shock therapy in the post-Soviet blocThe eponymous hero, part of a brood of bored science students, helps concoct a strategy game set in different eras where each "ruler" of his territory competes in Orwellian permanent war. But the KGB uncovers highly plausible and suspicious military plans and a long penance for each "combatant" ensues. All too late, Istemi is the first to realize the mysterious and disturbingly prophetic nature of a seemingly innocent invention. He is powerless as events long foretold for each unfold, including a hellish tour of duty in Afghanistan, incarceration in an asylum, and mindless bureaucratic drudgery—but what fate awaits Istemi as communist absurdist reality turns into postcapitalism nightmare?
