Scottish writer Kalder (Lost Cosmonaut: Observations of an
Anti-Tourist, 2006, etc.) offers tales of weird, occult doings in
the land of Rasputin.Unless you're a longtime reader of Outside -
in which Erin Arvedlund did a more economical job of telling the
same story - you might not know that the sewers of Moscow, Russia,
are home to an odd tribe of postmodern bohemian intellectuals who,
tired of the impossibility of utopias aboveground, are trying their
hands at creating a paradise below. Some of the subterraneans are
more normal than others, relatively speaking, but it's no easy
matter to distinguish those who have lost their marbles and claim
to work directly for Vladimir Putin via secret telephone from those
who truly do work for Putin via secret telephone ("That connects me
directly to the Ministry of Emergency Situations!"). Whatever their
motivations and connections, the Diggers, as they're known, have
made a wondrous city beneath the city, a world into which Kalder
guides readers. Meanwhile, aboveground, he writes, psychics and
clergy are doing a land-office business conducting exorcisms "with
the same frequency that plumbers patched up the pipes in the
crumbling tower blocks of the former Soviet Union." One such
exorcist divides his time between the underground and the surface
world, and Kalder accompanies him on his chases after Satan,
"catastrophe surfing" in the quieter corners of the erstwhile Evil
Empire. In Siberia, a former traffic cop has concocted a
millenarian sci-fi cult that makes cousins such as Scientology look
rational. According to them, God is "a light that doesn't burn,
which is cold and white and tender and gentle." Naturally enough,
subterraneans and exorcists figure in it.A tangled travelogue that
lacks much of a thesis beyond the unstated one that the world is a
strange place. Too long by a quarter, the narrative frequently
drags but is often a hoot to read. (Kirkus Reviews)
When Daniel Kalder, acclaimed author of Lost Cosmonaut, descended
into the sewers of Moscow in pursuit of the mythical lost city of
tramps, he didn't realise that he was embarking on a bizarre,
year-long odyssey that would lead him thousands of miles across
Russia to the Arctic Circle. After exploring the depths of Moscow's
'Underground Planet', Kalder chases down demons and exorcists in a
post-Orange Revolution Ukraine, meets Vissaron Christ, messiah to
thousands of followers in Siberia, enters the world's only wooden
skyscraper and encounters a man with a bizarre secret that may
explain everything . . .
General
Imprint: |
Faber and Faber
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
February 2009 |
Authors: |
Daniel Kalder
|
Dimensions: |
198 x 126 x 26mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - B-format
|
Pages: |
416 |
Edition: |
Main |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-571-23124-9 |
Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
Genre fiction >
Adventure / thriller >
General
|
LSN: |
0-571-23124-1 |
Barcode: |
9780571231249 |
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