Food for Thought

“This is a surreal and dark book, with moments of black humour” (Julias-books.com)

Personally I prefer more than moments of humour whatever its hue. You could never say Wodehouse books have moments of humour. Anyway I read this book about six years ago and did not expect to read the author again. The author is Ukraine’s most famous writer, Andrey Kurkov, and the book Death of a Penguin, a satire. It’s worth noting he was born near St Petersburg and writes in Russian.

Recently I was given The Silver Bone and felt compelled to read at least the first few chapters. To my surprise and pleasure he has switched to a different genre but with a few twists. It is a detective mystery set in Kyiv in 1919 ruled by the Red army. Law and order has broken down and the Whites are advancing on the city. The Reds have Chinese soldiers and the Directorate of the Ukrainian People’s Republic had been established at the end of 1918. Food for thought.

There is a new Brunetti novel, the 33rd, by Donna Leon: The Refiner’s Fire. I read the early books but grew to dislike the way the plots became dark and psychological. By the way I once met Donna – a story for another day – and all I can remember is her saying querously “milk whistle?”. All the Brunetti books describe his meals – he always goes home for lunch cooked by his wife. There is a Brunetti cookbook.

Kurkov subverts this theme describing the meals in 1919 Kyiv in the grip of famine: potatoes, uncleaned herring and a lot of millet porridge with gravy. The young detective is an amateur and of course has a deformity. This is essential to the genre exemplified by authors from Dick Francis to CJ Sansom. There are some well drawn characters and love interest left unresolved. The plot has plenty of mystery and everything is revealed at the end. I enjoyed it and am pleased Kurkov has already written a sequel; there’s no reason it shouldn’t become a series. I’m very glad to have been given this book because otherwise I wouldn’t have read it.