What a strange and beautiful book this was. Set in Ukraine in the immediate post Soviet era the book follows Viktor, a wannabe writer who takes a job for a newspaper writing obituaries for (not yet dead) important people.
Viktor lives in a small flat with his penguin (the local zoo was so short of funding it gave away animals to anyone who would take them) and drinks a lot of vodka. The book is funny and touching while also being deeply tragic and bleak and very compelling – I wouldn’t have expected to be so gripped by a book with this description!
Sarah Wray Writer 