This is the rather good 2002 sequel to the rather good 1996 Ukrainian semi-surrealist crime caper Death and the Penguin. We rejoin our rather stoic narrator Viktor, the former obit-writer, as he attempts to relocate Misha, his lost penguin, in the post-Soviet states of Ukraine and Chechnya. If you liked Death and the Penguin, and I did, then you’ll like this one too. According to Wikepedia, Kurkov was born in Leningrad, is a trained Japanese translator and wrote children’s books while serving as a prison guard in Odessa. He self-published his first novel and was rejected by 500 publishers before finally making it in trad publishing. Amusing fact: His penguin novels were translated from the Russian by a chap whose name is George Bird. And his wife is English. (Kurkov, unsure if there is a Mrs Bird or what nationality, if any, she has. Kurkov, thanks to the Russian Invasion of his home in Ukraine, has none. Nationality, that is. Wife, as mentioned earlier, there is at least one of).
No. 3 of 24 books I intend to read and review in 2026.
I’m Patrick Sherriff, an Englishman who survived 13 years working for newspapers in the US, UK and Japan. Between teaching English lessons at my conversation school in Abiko, Japan, I write and illustrate textbooks for non-native speakers of English, release Hana Walker mystery novels, short stories, paint, and write essays and Our Man in Abiko, a monthly newsletter highlighting good writing in English, often about about Japan, art, crime fiction and teaching.
Patrick Sherriff 