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A review by thebobsphere
Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv by Andrey Kurkov
4.0
The last time I read Andrey Kurkov was back in 2002 and I didn’t really get on well with it. As I approach books with zero expectations, I was wondering how I would react to reading Kurkov again after a 20 year gap.
The inclusion of Jimi Hendrix is a bit of a McGuffin: two hippies are at his grave, when an ex KGB officer approaches them and tell the story about how Hendrix’s hand was shipped to the Ukraine.
From there we are introduced to a small cast of characters, each one with a set of eccentricities: Taras , who manages to get people to eject kidney stones by driving over bumpy roads, who is also in love with Darka, who has an allergic reaction to money and must wear gloves. There’s Taras’ neighbour Yezhi, who cuts hair for a living, his close friend, the actress Oksana, Alik who has been under surveillance of the dove loving Captain Ryabtsev even after the fall of communism.
Other than the superficial connections, what unites these people together is the fact that they are all trying to survive in a changing Ukraine. By survive, I don’t mean that these characters are suffering. It is just that they have experienced many changes and are taking it in their stride.
There is also a subplot about strange environmental problems such as vicious seagulls and renegade starfish which give the book a bit of a cli fi edge (take care of the environment or these crazy things may happen) and goes into some weird tangents involving paranormal investigators but other than a distraction this plot adds to the novel’s general feel.
Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv is a warm, charming book. It does focus on Ukraine during the communist era but it’s done in a gentle way, more like a reminder of how things used to be and now commercialism as started to dominate. There’s a feel good factor which may be maudlin in an amateur’s hands but Kurkov manages to pull it off.
The inclusion of Jimi Hendrix is a bit of a McGuffin: two hippies are at his grave, when an ex KGB officer approaches them and tell the story about how Hendrix’s hand was shipped to the Ukraine.
From there we are introduced to a small cast of characters, each one with a set of eccentricities: Taras , who manages to get people to eject kidney stones by driving over bumpy roads, who is also in love with Darka, who has an allergic reaction to money and must wear gloves. There’s Taras’ neighbour Yezhi, who cuts hair for a living, his close friend, the actress Oksana, Alik who has been under surveillance of the dove loving Captain Ryabtsev even after the fall of communism.
Other than the superficial connections, what unites these people together is the fact that they are all trying to survive in a changing Ukraine. By survive, I don’t mean that these characters are suffering. It is just that they have experienced many changes and are taking it in their stride.
There is also a subplot about strange environmental problems such as vicious seagulls and renegade starfish which give the book a bit of a cli fi edge (take care of the environment or these crazy things may happen) and goes into some weird tangents involving paranormal investigators but other than a distraction this plot adds to the novel’s general feel.
Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv is a warm, charming book. It does focus on Ukraine during the communist era but it’s done in a gentle way, more like a reminder of how things used to be and now commercialism as started to dominate. There’s a feel good factor which may be maudlin in an amateur’s hands but Kurkov manages to pull it off.