Reviews with content warning for Violence - День опричника

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

День опричника by Vladimir Sorokin, Владимир Сорокин

9 reviews

tildafin16's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Wow so interesting to read a Russian futuristic dystopia like this! I can see why Sorokin is in exile. Not for the faint hearted and quite surreal but still manages to find a hint of the psyche I think around Orthodoxy / the Emperor etc

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aelien's review against another edition

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dark funny

4.0

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selabatareyka's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad medium-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This is my first time reading Sorokin and I honestly I still fluctuate on the rating.

+ I loved the setting a lot
The narrative is set in AU Russia, which comprises an oxymoronic combination of sci-fi-ish near future and restored Tsardom. So, the world-building is impeccable, there are high-tech gadgets, everything is computerized but in addition to this there are also some anachronistic Russian realias. I mean, imagine a bloke wearing a traditional embroidered kaftan and shooting his gangsta laser gun.

+ the language is delicious
If you like me enjoy classical rus lit, you are bound to like this style imitation. There's all you can imagine, lots of inversion, elaborate vocab. Here's a funny quote to illustrate:

"Хороша была идея отца Государева, упокойного Николая Платоновича, по ликвидации всех иноземных супермаркетов и замены их на русские ларьки. И чтобы в каждом ларьке — по две вещи, для выбора народного. Мудро это и глубоко. Ибо народ наш, богоносец, выбирать из двух должен, а не из трех и не из тридцати трех. Выбирая из двух, народ покой душевный обретает, уверенностью в завтрашнем дне напитывается, лишней суеты беспокойной избегает, а следовательно — удовлетворяется. А с таким народом, удовлетворенным, великие дела сотворить можно."

+ the idea

Even though it saddens me, the satire is on point. The plot centers around a government henchman going through a single busy day of grotesque events. Man, the guy is so buzzed on his junk that he managed to do so many thing in a day I wouldn't find energy for in my lifetime (and I don't even want to, here's why-).

He and his buddies burned down a dude's mansion because he fell from Tsar's grace, *bleep* his wife, got high, then he travelled two or three times across the country to do some business (and yk how ginormous Russia is right?), accepted some bribes, got high again, participated in a gay orgy (формируя "гусеницу опричную" во славу государства аминь) and killed a guy.

Like. Whoa. Kudos to him, so full of beans. And most of these actions are done collectively with other Tsar's minions, all this violence and atrocities unite them into one collective brainless mass.

- Now to the downsides. I have to point out that these do not play down the general message, they just made my personal experience with the book extremely unpleasant. The descriptions of the protagonist's "shenanigans" were so repulsive and sickening so that at times I considered putting it down. That was the whole point, I suppose, to illustrate the degradation of those in power but..I mean…barf. And on top of that, just thinking about that this disgusting mess could sound close to life, I just can't bear it.

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