6/26/2023 0 Comments Penguin lost andrey kurkov![]() ![]() Ryabtsev’s fears are matched by Taras’s ominous dreams. Meanwhile, it turns out that the former KGB man Ryabtsev is troubled by some bizarre developments that are affecting all the characters in the novel: the pervasive smell of seawater and the presence of aggressive seagulls in landlocked Lviv suggest that the prehistoric Carpathian sea is going to emerge from under the ground and inundate present-day Ukraine. And Darka happens to be allergic to the money she’s compelled to handle. Taras is falling for Darka, a woman in the bureau de change he frequents. We’re introduced to another plot strand: minicab driver Taras, who specialises in jolting excursions through Lviv’s cobbled streets to help foreign clients pass their kidney stones. I would have happily settled for an entire novel about these two, but the author has something different in mind. There is something potentially brilliant in the relationship between the ageing hippy Alik and the KGB man Ryabtsev, who is more in sympathy with those he was paid to spy on than with the organisation he served. It turns out that Ryabtsev is a Hendrix fan, too. ![]() As the novel opens, in September 2011, the depleted bunch of hippies are joined by an unexpected guest: Captain Ryabtsev, the former KGB officer who kept tabs on them in Soviet times. ![]()
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