Victor Pelevin, Life in insects

• Book title: “The Life of Insects”
• Author: Victor Pelevin
• Reviews:
  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 May 2016
    • Reviewer gave the book a 5-star rating
    • Reviewer thought it was a brilliant book and had quick delivery
  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 December 2014
    • Reviewer gave the book a 5-star rating
  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 April 2012
    • Reviewer gave the book a 1-star rating
    • Reviewer found the book boring and tedious despite an interest in sci-fi/fantasy
  • Reviewed in the United States on 30 December 2021
    • Reviewer gave the book a 3-star rating
    • Reviewer has read the book several times in Russian
    • Reviewer found the translator put in real effort but had difficulty finding English equivalents for some expressions
    • Reviewer recommended reading with reservations but thought the book was both very hopeful and very depressing
  • Reviewed in the United States on 11 June 2006
    • Reviewer gave the book a 5-star rating
    • Reviewer loved the book
    • Reviewer thought the story was well-built, intriguing, and unique
    • Reviewer recommended reading despite the difficulties some English speakers might encounter with Russian names
• No information on where to purchase the book.

-Title: The Life of Insects

-Reviews:

-"Ilginç olduğu kadar okunabilirliği de yüksek olsa daha iyi olabilirdi."
    -Translation: "One of the most interesting books I have read. As interesting as it is, it could have been better in terms of readability."
-"Hiçbir şey anlaşılmıyor."
    -Translation: "Nothing is understandable."
-"Özellikle Mitya ve Dima'nın başrolü olduğu bölümler taklit edilemez bir ustalıkta yazılmıştı."
    -Translation: "Especially the sections where Mitya and Dima played the lead roles were written with unparalleled skill."
-"Ne bağımsız öykülerden oluşan bir seçki olacak kadar kopuk, ne de adına roman denmesine yetecek kadar bütünlüklü."
    -Translation: "Not separated enough to be a selection of independent stories, nor consistent enough to be called a novel."
-"Berbat bir çeviri. Hiç bir şey anlaşılmıyor."
    -Translation: "Terrible translation. Nothing is understandable."
-"Soviet Rusya'nın insana verdiği değer kardeşlerinin postallı bacaklarını yiyen generaller gibi böcek dünyasına daha bir yaraşır imgelerle güzel işlenmiş."
    -Translation: "The value Soviet Russia gave to humans was beautifully depicted in the insect world with images more fitting, like the generals who ate their siblings' leggings." 

None.

• Title: The Life of Insects
  • Author: Victor Pelevin
    • Born in 1962 in Moscow
    • Recognized as leading Russian novelist of new generation
    • Worked as an engineer to protect MiG fighter planes from insect interference in tropical conditions
  • Characters exist simultaneously as human beings (racketeers, mystics, drug addicts, and prostitutes) and insects
  • Set in a crumbling Soviet Black Sea resort
  • Novel with a motley cast of characters who are both realistic and delirious
  • A bitter parable of contemporary Russia
  • Novel acclaimed by critics
  • Fictional work filled with probing, disenchanted comedy
  • Work translated into fifteen languages
  • Other popular editions of the same title can be found in the AbeBooks Marketplace

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• Title: “The Life of Insects”
• Author: Victor Pelevin
• Genre: Fiction novels, short-stories
• Summary of the book:
  • The characters in the book swap between being human and insects of various kinds, highlighting different facets of life in a dysfunctional society and complicated relationships.
  • The characters deal with their official and secret identities and their need to survive in a constantly changing world.
  • The deaths of some characters are highly dramatic and touching, despite the comical aspects.
• Other authors mentioned with similar writing style:
  • Marquez
  • Kafka
  • George Orwell
• Not a book for everyone and has a surrealistic and absurd style.
• The book was originally written in Russian.
• Reviews about the book:
  • Some found it difficult to understand, while others appreciated the satire and humor.
  • Overall, the reviews were mixed but the majority found the book interesting and unique.

• Title: The Life of Insects by Victor Pelevin
  • Description:
    • A satirical allegory set in a Crimean resort town with human characters who turn into insects, cleverly exploring post-Soviet Russian culture
    • Loosely linked stories that build believable characters with human struggles that match unique insect lives
    • The book is narrated by an omniscient narrator, a seeming promise of total knowledge on completion, but ambiguity reigns throughout
  • Reviews:
    • A Customer on Sep 25, 2000: The book is a shimmering satire of post-perestroika Russia, characters metamorphose into various creatures, matches their personality and personal quirks to vivid insect lives, and spoofs various aspects of Russian culture and international literature
    • By Bob Burton on Feb 04, 1999: Pelevin’s ability is magnificent, his subject matter is immense, and he does it all with a light touch, the protagonists are neither insect nor human in the usual sense, but transcendent creatures who flicker back and forth between the two, the absurdity of human’s full force of biology and social organization are portrayed, and the book’s message is thought-provoking
    • An organic picture of Russian society by C. Matthew Curtin on Nov 16, 2005: Pelevin opts to tell several stories in a single novel, allowing a picture to emerge of a society as a whole, not from the top-down as if by some Soviet-style central design, but rather from the bottom-up, where individuals live their lives. Each of the stories has meaning in modern Russian society and similar lessons can be drawn for other social structures.

• Title: The Life of Insects by Victor Pelevin
  • Author: Victor Pelevin
    • Born in 1962 in Moscow
    • Recognized as the leading Russian novelist of the new generation
  • Summary:
    • Set in a crumbling Soviet Black Sea resort
    • Characters who exist simultaneously as human beings and insects
    • Extended the surreal comic range for which Pelevin’s first novel Omon Ra was acclaimed by critics
    • Bitter parable of contemporary Russia
    • Pelevin creates a satirical bestiary which is as realistic as it is delirious
  • Condition: Used - Very Good
    • Book picture is for illustrative purposes only
    • Actual binding, cover or edition may vary
    • It will show signs of wear and previous use
  • Customer Reviews: None
  • Additional Information:
    • Work has been translated into fifteen languages
    • Novels Omon Ra, The Life of Insects, The Clay Machine-Gun and Babylon, and two collections of short stories, The Blue Lantern and A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia, have been published in English to great acclaim
    • Selected by the New Yorker as one of the best European writers under the age of thirty-five

• Title: The Life of Insects
  • A book by Victor Pelevin
  • Allegorical novel chronicling life in post-Soviet Russia
  • Masterful portrayal of post-Soviet search for identity, laying bare the Russian psyche
  • Prosecution of Chernomyrdin’s ‘Shock Therapy’ and pillaging of Russian people
  • Difficult to fully understand some passages without knowledge of current Russian history
• Content
  • 15 loosely linked stories
  • Characters constantly metamorphose from human to insect to hybrid forms
  • Spoofs various aspects of Russian culture and international literature
• Reviews
  • Some readers suggest book must be read in Russian to truly appreciate brilliance
  • Pelevin’s command of the language and the style of Russian thought praised
  • A brilliant and thought-provoking work
  • Author’s ability is magnificent, subject matter is immense and is done with a light touch.

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