Penguin Lost

August 15, 2011
In this supersonically-paced, but ultimately tedious sequel to Death and the Penguin, Viktor Zolotaryov searches for his beloved missing penguin Misha. At the behest of ailing Muscovite Bronikovsky, heartbroken Viktor leaves the Drake Passage and returns to Kiev, where, under an assumed identity, he becomes involved in a hodge-podge of shady dealings. Whether disguised as Bronikovsky, dealing with a Chechen warlord, or rigging elections for a corrupt politician, Victor constantly longs for Misha. However, his journey to find Misha becomes a burdensome trudge as Kurkov piles on muddled events and an unmanageable cast of characters. Despite its seemingly simple premise, the novel suffers from an uncoordinated plot and an awkward translation: "Viktor was struck by one full-face portrait showing scar and broken nose to maximum advantage, with the plus of an animal-at-bay expression much at variance with the smug Hollywood smile of the airbrush portrait." Readers should be prepared for confusion.

October 1, 2011

Focusing on one man's intense search for his missing penguin, this sequel to Kurkov's Death and the Penguin is suffused with mystery and intrigue. The novel begins with Viktor's return to Kiev, Ukraine, where he embarks on a circuitous journey to locate Misha, the penguin he was forced to abandon at the end of the last book. As he searches the underworld of Kiev, Moscow, and Chechnya, Viktor becomes entangled in the activities of a series of criminal figures. Kurkov vividly renders locations afflicted by war, upheaval, and corruption. Throughout this dark yet fascinating journey, the question arises: "Why this tortured quest to find a penguin?" The answer, we discover, lies in the way Misha's fate is tied to the question of Viktor's ultimate redemption. VERDICT At times, the translation into English from the original Russian interferes with a fluid reading of the text. Still, the story delivers a level of intrigue sufficient to capture and sustain the reader's attention. This novel will be of great interest to readers of eastern European literature and lovers of intricate plotlines.--Catherine Tingelstad, Pitt Community Coll., Greenville, NC

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