"A latter-day Bulgakov . A Ukrainian Murakami." --Phoebe Taplin, Guardian "A post-Soviet Kafka." --Colin Freeman, Daily Telegraph "Kurkov draws us with deceptive ease into a dense complex world full of wonderful characters." --Michael Palin "A kind of Ukrainian Kurt Vonnegut." --Ian Sansom, Spectator "This time, the Ukrainian author of Death and the Penguin, known for his brilliantly dark humor, has written a modern-day odyssey, with a return that is ambiguously hopeful." --India Lewis, Arts Desk "Strange and mesmerizing . In spare prose, Ukraine's most famous novelist unsparingly examines the inhuman confusions of our modern times and the longing of the warm-hearted everyman that is Sergeyich for the rationality of the natural world.

" --John Thornhill, Financial Times "A warm and surprisingly funny book from Ukraine's greatest living novelist." --Charlie Connelly, New European "Carries top notes of Beckett and Pinter, along with a slug of Kafka." --Strong Words, One of the Top 20 Books of the Year "Sergey is at once a war-weary adventurer and a fairy-tale innocent . His naive gaze allows Kurkov to get to the heart of a country bewildered by crisis and war, but where kindness can still be found . Translated by Boris Dralyuk with sensitivity and ingenuity." --Uilleam Blacker, Times Literary Supplement.